JPH1125040A - Multi-user log-in/log-out management method, recording medium to be used for execution of the method and multi-user information processing terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain log-in processing of each user in application selecting operation at the time of using a multi-user terminal in which plural applications can be executed by plural users and to minimize the mixture or misuse of applications among plural users while considering the storage of data to be logged out. SOLUTION: When application software is selected from a pull-up menu for a user A through an input part 1, a user check part 2 checks whether a current log-in user stored in a log-in user storing part 12 has been already set up to the user A or not. When the current log-in user is a user B, a password is inputted to an accessed log-in picture, the user A is logged in by log-in processing executed by a password collation part 3 and the unstored data of a working process of the user B are saved to a temporary storage area 14t by a data saving processing part 4T.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-user information processing terminal that can be shared by a plurality of users, and more particularly, to a method of managing login / logout for a plurality of applications for each user, and an implementation of the method. The present invention relates to a recording medium used and a multi-user information processing terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when one terminal is shared by a plurality of users, one of the following utilization forms is often adopted. First, the user first enters his / her user name and password and logs in. After that, the user's login status is maintained regardless of any application until the user logs out. That is. As another usage mode, the user first selects an application to be used, and then performs a login process. The login state of the user is valid until the application is terminated.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of the above-mentioned two types of systems. FIG. 7 showing one form
In the system (A), an inquiry is made to the user information registration unit 112 registered in the system in advance for the user name being input by the user from the input unit 101, and the user is logged in. FIG. 7B shows another form of the login unit which performs login by the password collation unit 103 stored in the storage unit 111. In the system shown in FIG.
In response to the user's selection input of the application starting from 01, the application database 115 activates the required application, and saves the user's storage area 113 for saving data to be used there to the login user stored in the login user storage unit 111. Each of the systems constitutes a separate processing system, which constitutes an application unit for logging in by a more specific application starting unit 108. Therefore,
In the case of the system of FIG. 7A, the login unit is unconditionally pressed when the login button is pressed, the application start unit is unconditionally pressed when the application start button is pressed, and in the case of the system of FIG. 7B. When the application start button is pressed, the processing is uniquely determined by the input operation of the user such that the processing unconditionally proceeds in the order of the login unit and the application start unit.

[0004] As a terminal device assuming such a multi-user, there is a terminal device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-149706, which relates to a device provided with line connection means by interrupt processing. Describes the use of the line when using. Therefore, it does not propose user authentication in a terminal or an interface for multi-user use. Also,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-28616 also discloses a specification in which a plurality of users can log in to a single workstation. Instead, a high processing capability is required for the terminal.

[0005]

The former of the above two usage modes is a case where a user first logs in with his / her own user name and uses a terminal. In this mode, a user who has logged in once has: Even if the terminal being used is a shared terminal with a plurality of people, it can be used as if it were a terminal dedicated to oneself. It is easy to use different applications one after another. However, since the terminal is originally used by a plurality of users, for example, when the user A logs in and uses the word processor (the user A is called a login user at this time), the user B comes in In many cases, when trying to use the terminal, the user B sends out an e-mail or activates the accounting processing application while the user A remains logged in, and as a result, the accounting processing executed Various problems arise, for example, when the name of the user A is entered in the person in charge column.

[0006] In a terminal such as a network computer which is being introduced, which is always connected to a network and used, its files and data are stored on a server. Each user has his or her file storage area allocated on the server, and gains access to the file by logging in to the terminal. However, if the application is used by mistake while another user is logged in, the data created by the user B is stored in the file storage area of the user A on the server in the above-described example of the user A and the user B. It will be saved.

[0007] Next, the latter of the above two forms of use,
In this case, login and logout are performed for each application. However, according to this method, the login user is changed every time the application is switched, so that the above-described problem hardly occurs. However, it is necessary to input a user name and a password every time the application is switched, which is not convenient. Further, even when considering the application to home electric appliances, it is burdensome for a novice user who is not used to handling input operations such as a keyboard to perform the login process many times.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the problems in the prior art performed in the above-described form, and is intended to be used by a plurality of users and to execute a plurality of applications. When using the device,
The user can log in to each user by selecting an application.This enables easy login by multiple users, and considers saving the data to be logged out to prevent confusion and misuse among multiple users. It is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-user login / logout management method which is minimized, a recording medium used for implementing the method, and a multi-user information processing terminal device.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of users use an information processing terminal for selecting and executing one application from a plurality of applications, login / logout for execution of each application is performed. In the multi-user login / logout management method for managing, when the application is selected, user identification information is associated as selection input data of the application, and the user identification information currently in the login state and the user identification information to be selected and input are combined. Are compared, and login / logout is controlled based on the comparison result.

[0010] According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the login / logout control includes, when the collation result of the user identification information is different, logging out the user who is currently logged in and selecting and inputting. In addition to logging in the user, the unsaved data of the currently logged-in user who logs out is saved in a temporary storage area.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, a new login of the user who created the unsaved data saved in the temporary saving area is determined, and when the determination is made, The user confirms whether to save the unsaved data again and, based on the result of the confirmation, decides whether to save the unsaved data in a user-specific saving area or to discard the unsaved data.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium in which a program and data for executing the multi-user login / logout management method according to any one of the first to third aspects are readable. is there.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multi-user information processing terminal device for executing one application selected from a plurality of applications for each user in accordance with a command issued by each of the plurality of users. A login user storage unit for storing the identification information is compared with the user identification information stored in the login user storage unit and the user identification information accompanying the input application start instruction to determine whether login is necessary. A user check unit, a password verification unit that verifies a user password accompanying the input application start instruction with an already registered user password, and performs authentication, and starts by the outputs of the user check unit and the password verification unit. Controlled application launcher and log A temporary saving area for temporarily saving unsaved data of the user to be saved, and a data saving processing unit for performing saving processing for temporarily saving unsaved data of the user who is logged out to the temporary saving area by the output of the password verification unit. A user storage area management unit that manages storage or disposal of unsaved data stored in the temporary storage area based on the output of the password collation unit.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, a data storage area for each user is prepared, and the temporary storage area is provided in the data storage area for each user. The data storage area for each user is controlled by the user storage area management unit.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a multi-user information processing terminal will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an example of an embodiment of a multi-user terminal device according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart in a case where word processing software is used in an example in which the multi-user terminal device shown in FIG. 1 is applied to a computer including a network computer. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an input screen in the embodiment of FIG. 2, in which (A) and (B) show those used by different users. Based on FIGS. 1 to 3, the user A always switches the application from the pull-up menu of the user A, and the user B switches the application from the pull-up menu of the user B. The process will be described.

First, when word processing software is selected from the pull-up menu (see FIG. 3A) of the user A through the input unit 1 (step S1), the action is performed by the user A on the system side. Then, the user check unit 2 checks whether or not the current login user stored in the login user storage unit 12 is already the user A (step S2).
Here, if the user A has already been stored in the login / user storage unit 12, the application start unit 5 does not change the current screen, that is, without closing the window of another application that is already open. The word processing software newly retrieved from the application database 15 is started, and a window of the word processing software is opened (step S12).

However, if the current login user is not user A, for example, if user B,
In order to start the user A's word processing software, it is necessary to make the user A a login user.
Is called and displayed (step S3).
The process involving the login screen of the user A is performed when the user A inputs the password on the login screen (step S
4) The log-in process performed by the password verification unit 3 using the user information registration unit 13 in which information such as the password and access right of the user A is stored. If the password of A is correctly input, it is determined that the password is valid (steps S3 to S5).

If it is determined that the user who is going to log in is the user A, the data saving processing unit 4T detects whether there is any unsaved application data in the work process of the user B which has been opened up to then. (Step S6) If there is, a temporary storage process of saving the data of the unsaved application to the temporary storage area 14t of the storage area 14 of the user B is performed (Step S7). Since this temporary storage process largely depends on the memory capacity secured as the temporary storage area 14t, the user setting,
Alternatively, it can be limited by the system. Then, the data is saved (step S
The user B who has logged in together with 7) is forcibly logged out (step S8).

Thereafter, the user A is set in the system as a login user (step S9). At this time, the user storage area management unit 4M checks whether there is data in the temporary storage area 14't in the storage area 14 'of the user A (step S10), and when the user A is forcibly logged out last time. If the file temporarily stored is detected, it is checked whether the file needs to be stored (step S11). After that, the application starting unit 5 causes the application database 15
The extracted word processing software is activated (step S12). With this setting, reading and saving of the data of the application to be opened in the future are all performed by the data saving area 14 'of the user A and other data saving areas specified in particular. Here, an example in which an application selection screen is prepared for each user has been described, but this can also be realized by an interface in which a user selection screen is prepared for each application. .

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of an input screen used in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the input screen used in the embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 4 and 5 show input screens for inputting a user name associated with an application at the same time as selecting an application. In FIG. 4, the user names “word processor”, “mail”, “draw”, and “spreadsheet”. 5 shows an example in which each user is selected by a pull-up menu. FIG. 5 shows an input screen on which an application and a user name can be input by a single selection operation.

Next, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a home electric appliance will be described. For example, the present invention is applied to a device in which the whole family uses the Internet from a television in a living room. In this case, each of the members is a television program, a WWW browser,
Use while freely switching between emails. Among them, what needs to be managed for each user is the e-mail function, and "e-mail" buttons are prepared for all members of the family who use the television. FIGS. 6A and 6B show different examples of the input screen used in the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a television having an e-mail function. In this case, since the television is visually enjoyable, it is troublesome to arrange the mail buttons of the whole family in parallel. Therefore, the icons of the mail buttons are arranged in a circle, and the icons are arranged on the left and right (see FIG. 6A), up and down, A rotate menu that is rotated and displayed in the direction shown in FIG. 6B is adopted. The procedure for using the e-mail here is basically the same as the procedure in the flowchart of FIG. 2 described above. According to this procedure, first, when the father uses an e-mail, a login process is performed. Then, the father can alternately watch the television program and the electronic mail by using the “father's mail” button without performing the login process thereafter. Of course, when returning from the TV program to the e-mail function, it is possible to return to the work state before the TV program was switched. Here, while the father switches the display to the television program without performing the logout process, the child selects “child's mail” to use the e-mail. However, since the current logged-in user is a father, the child will be prompted to log in, whereby he will be automatically logged out and the logged-in user will be a child. Here, the data about the father's mail work status is saved, and the work can be continued at the next login.

[0022]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a single device having an information processing terminal is shared by a plurality of users, an application can always be selected in association with a user name, and the user name can be selected. Is compared with the current login user information, the system determines the necessity of login / logout, and manages login / logout. Therefore, work may be performed with the environment settings of other users. Or, an erroneous operation in which the created data is mixed with data of another user can be prevented beforehand, and a reliable operation as a multi-user device can be performed.

Advantages Corresponding to Claims 2 and 3: Claim 1
In addition to the effect of the above, when a new user logs in, the unsaved data of the current user is saved in the temporary saving area, and the user is automatically logged out by the previous login processing, and the unsaved data is saved in the temporary saving area. In such cases, the system checks whether there is data in the temporary storage area at the time of login, and if there is data, asks the user whether to save the data in the personal storage area again, Since data is saved / discarded as desired, user's erroneous operation of saving his / her data in another user's data storage area can be minimized, and other users can be saved. There is no such thing as a mixture of data. In addition, when the login user is changed, the system temporarily confirms whether or not it is necessary to save the data temporarily stored in the normal data storage area at the next login. As a result, there is no possibility that the user's data is discarded without his knowledge.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a program / data for executing the multi-user login / logout management method according to the first to third aspects is stored in a readable recording medium, so that the personal computer or the personal computer can be used. By installing this recording medium in an information processing device such as a device having the same information processing function,
It is possible to configure an apparatus for implementing the method of claims 1 to 3.

According to the fifth and sixth aspects of the present invention, according to the multi-user information processing terminal of the present invention, when the terminal is shared by a plurality of users, the necessity of login / logout is determined on the device side, and the login is performed. / Logout can be managed, so that it is possible to prevent erroneous operations such as performing work with the environment settings of other users or mixing created data with data of other users. As a result, reliable operation can be performed as a multi-user device. When a new user logs in, the unsaved data of the current user is saved in a temporary storage area,
Also, if the user is automatically logged out by the previous login process and unsaved data is saved in the temporary storage area, the system checks whether there is data in the temporary storage area when logging in, and if there is data Then, the user is asked whether to save the data again in the personal storage area, and the data can be saved / discarded as desired by the user. The user's erroneous operation, such as saving the data, can be minimized, and the data does not mix with other users. In addition, since it is possible to confirm whether or not it is necessary to save the data temporarily stored when the login user is changed in the normal data storage area at the next login, the login processing of another user is performed. As a result, there is no possibility that the user's data is discarded without his knowledge.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an example of an embodiment of a multi-user information processing terminal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart in a case where word processing software is used in an example in which the multi-user information processing terminal device shown in FIG. 1 is applied to a computer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen used in the embodiment of FIG. 2 according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of the input screen used in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram used in an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a television having an e-mail function.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an outline of a conventional system configuration in a use mode when one terminal is used by a plurality of users.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input part, 2 ... User check part, 3 ... Password collation part, 4M ... User storage area management part, 4T ... Data saving processing part, 5 ... Application starting part, 12 ... Login / user storage part, 13 ... User information Registration unit, 14: storage area of user B, 14 ': storage area of user A, 14t
... Temporary storage area, 14't ... Temporary storage area, 15 ... Application database, 101 ... Input unit, 103 ... Password collation unit, 108 ... Application activation unit, 11
1. Login user storage unit 112 User information registration unit 113 Storage area 115 Application database

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A multi-user login / logout management method for managing login / logout for execution of each application when a plurality of users use an information processing terminal that selects and executes one application from a plurality of applications. At the time of the selection of the application, user identification information is associated as selection input data of the application, the user identification information in the currently logged-in state is collated with the user identification information to be selected and input, and login / logout is performed based on the collation result. Multi-user login to control /
Logout management method. 2. The log-in / log-out control, when the collation result of the user identification information is different, logs out a user who is currently in a log-in state, logs in the user to be selectively inputted, and changes to a current log-in state in which the user logs out. 2. The multi-user login / logout management method according to claim 1, wherein unsaved data of a user is saved in a temporary storage area. 3. A new login of the user who created the unsaved data saved in the temporary saving area is determined, and when the determination is made, the user is asked whether to save the unsaved data again. 3. The multi-user login / logout management method according to claim 2, wherein whether the unsaved data is saved in a user-specific storage area or discarded is executed based on a result of the confirmation. 4. A recording medium storing a program and data for executing the multi-user login / logout management method according to claim 1 in a readable manner. 5. A multi-user information processing terminal device which executes one application selected from a plurality of applications for each user in accordance with a command issued by each of a plurality of users, stores user identification information in a currently logged-in state. A login user storage unit, and a user check unit that determines whether login is necessary by comparing user identification information stored in the login user storage unit with user identification information accompanying an input application start instruction, A password collating unit for collating the user password accompanying the input application activation command with the already registered user password and performing authentication, and application activation whose activation is controlled by outputs of the user check unit and the password collation unit. Department and the logged-out user A temporary saving area for temporarily saving unsaved data, a data saving processing section for performing saving processing for temporarily saving unsaved data of a user who is logged out to the temporary saving area by an output of the password matching section, and the password matching section A multi-user information processing terminal device including a user storage area management unit that manages storage or discard of unsaved data stored in the temporary storage area by outputting the data. 6. A data storage area for each user is prepared,
6. The multi-user information processing terminal device according to claim 5, wherein the temporary storage area is provided in the data storage area for each user, and the data save processing unit and the user storage area management unit control the data storage area for each user. .