KR100757393B1 - Printerchaser - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for tracking prints is provided to check a leakage route with watermark information included in a document even if the document is leaked out by installing a printing monitoring program to each computer in a company, recording the watermark information to the printed document, and enabling a central part to store/manage printing information. A user computer(100) includes the printing monitoring program(110). A server(200) manages and controls the printing monitoring program of each user computer connected through the network. A database(300) stores the printing information and an image file of the prints received from the printing monitoring program of each user computer. The printing monitoring program includes a monitoring process, a printing information process, a watermark generating process, an image file generating process, and a printing monitoring controlling processor. The server includes a program management process, a data linking processor, a database managing processor, and a manager control process. The watermark is divided in to a recognizable watermark printed in a text type and an unrecognizable watermark inserted into all printing surface in a 2D(Dimensional) barcode shape.

Description

Printer Output Tracking System {PrinterChaser}

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer output tracking system of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the present invention.

3 to 6 is a view showing an example of the administrator control mode in the present invention,

3 shows an example of a login screen.

4 shows an example of an output log information providing screen.

5 shows an example of a screen showing detailed information (output contents) of output log information.

6 shows an example of a screen providing a statistical function.

7 is a flowchart showing the execution process of the output watermark embedding method according to the present invention.

8 is a diagram showing an example of a watermark recorded on an output in the present invention.

The present invention relates to an output tracking system that enables tracking of the printing origin for output printed through a printer.

With the rapid development of computer hardware, as well as the development of various application programs and digital multimedia technologies, most of the work is performed through computers, and work data as well as important corporate information are stored and used on computers.

Recently, the leakage of information of companies has become a very serious social problem, and each company is implementing various security systems to prevent the leakage of such information.

Various security technologies such as file leakage prevention and document leakage prevention are introduced as such security systems. For example, it is common to determine whether to allow access according to the security level, but this is also serious due to the leakage of information required for authentication. Not only can it cause problems, but it can also be said to be defenseless against document leakage by an authenticated user.

The present invention is to propose a system for tracking the outflow path for all outputs output through a printer or a virtual printer.

Conventionally, such a printout (printer output) is a printer that limits the printout in each application program unit of the user's computer (PC) or leaves a predetermined output information for the printout so that a trace can be executed for the printout of the printout. The surveillance method is adopted.

However, in this way, if the actual printout (document) is leaked, the print path cannot be traced only with the document, and the fundamental printout cannot be monitored / tracked.

In addition, since the output monitoring is performed on the printer output in each application program unit, the printing party can recognize this and cause a worker's rejection at work.

In addition, since it is executed in each application program, it is difficult to maintain the system because an upgrade is required for each application when the program needs to be upgraded.

In view of the above problems, the present invention intends to propose a system for managing new output based on device control.

The present invention embeds a printing monitoring execution program in each user computer connected to a network, and when the printing monitoring execution program detects a printing execution including a virtual printer in a computer, output information of an output document (eg, an output printer). Name, output document name, output time, output computer name and user name, total number of pages, etc.) and the image file of the printout to the server on the network, and then databased in the form of output log information (output information, output image file). This can be saved and managed, and the administrator can check the output log information and output image file using the administrator tool, and the output document to be printed through the printer or similar printer (for example, virtual printer) of the user's computer (PC) Output information that can be recognized by the user of the output document (e.g., the name of the output printer, the name of the output document, the output time, and the output). Computer name and user name, the total number of printed pages, etc.) and warning information (warning text for document leakage), and prints the generated watermark in an unrecognized image state to generate an output document. The watermark printed on the printed document can be used to check the printing source.

In addition, the present invention is embedded in the printing monitoring execution program in each user computer connected to the network in a hidden form by managing and controlling it in the server, so that the management (upgrade) of the printing monitoring execution program embedded in each computer is easy, and the user It is designed to reduce the user's dissatisfaction by letting it run unknowingly.

The printer output tracking system of the present invention,

It consists of a user computer connected to the network and embedded with the printing monitoring execution program, and a server that manages and controls the printing monitoring execution program of each networked user computer.

The printing monitoring execution program embedded in the user's computer includes a monitoring process for monitoring the printing execution of the application program, an output information generating process for generating output information for the output document when printing, and a watermark to be printed on the output document. And a watermark generation process for inserting the generated watermark into an output file, an image file generation processor for generating each page of the output document file as an image file, and output information and the generated image extracted by communicating with the server. And an output monitoring control process for processing a control process related to the transmission of the file to the server and the insertion of a watermark.

The server includes a program management process that is responsible for the installation and maintenance control of the printing monitoring execution program, a data interworking process for providing information to be inserted into the watermark through interworking with the management program in the company, and from the printing monitoring execution program. Database management process for storing and managing image files of transferred output information and output documents in the database, and administrator control process for providing administrator tools for checking output information and output contents and retrieving output statistics. Characterized in that it comprises a.

The printer output tracking system of the present invention having such a feature will be described below with reference to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 8.

A user computer 100 connected to each network and having a printing monitoring execution program 110 embedded therein, a server 200 managing and controlling the printing monitoring execution program 110 of each of the user computers 100 connected to the network; It consists of a database 300 that stores the output information and the image file of the output transmitted by the printing monitoring execution program 110 of the user computer 100,

The printing monitoring execution program 110 embedded in the user computer 100 includes a monitoring process 111 for monitoring printing execution of an application in the user computer 100 and generating output information on an output document during printing. An output information generation process 112, a watermark generation process 113 for generating a new output printing file by generating a watermark to be printed on the output document and inserting the generated watermark into an output file, and a document file to be outputted An image file generation processor 114 for generating each page of the image file as an image file, and a control process for transmitting the extracted output information and the generated image file to the server 200 and inserting a watermark into the server 200 in communication with the server 200; It is configured to include an output monitoring control process 115 to process the process.

The server 200 provides data for providing information to be inserted into a watermark through interworking with a program management process 210 which is in charge of installation and maintenance control of the printing monitoring execution program 110 and a management program in the company. Database management process 230 for storing and managing the interworking process 220, the image information of the output information and the output document transmitted from the printing monitoring execution program 110 in the database 300, and the confirmation of the output information and the output contents. And an administrator control process 240 for providing an administrator tool for content search such as output statistics.

Such a present invention,

In each user computer 100 connected to a network, a printing monitoring execution program 110 for monitoring a printing output command of each application program is installed.

The printing monitoring execution program 110 is automatically installed from the server 200, is installed in a hidden state so that the user of the user computer 100 is not recognized, and is configured to be automatically upgraded by being managed by the server 200. do.

The monitoring process 111 of the printing monitoring execution program 110 is configured to monitor the driving of the printer in the application through a printer (including a virtual printer) so as to sense a printing output.

For example, an executable file (PrintChaser.exe) is used to run the driver for printing detection and the printer detection driver (PrintChaser.dll) sets the function start address for the functions of the print process in the operating system (eg Windows). Read this to monitor and detect document output from any application.

The output information generating process 112 has a configuration of converting and generating information in the form of an enhanced meta file (EMF) for extracting information of the output file and inserting the extracted watermark when printing is detected.

The output information generating process 112 copies and analyzes the corresponding spool file (SPL) of Windows to generate an EMF file of each output page from the spool file, and extracts the output information from the generated EMF file.

At this time, the extracted output information includes an output document name, a computer name and a user PC login name), an output time, an output PC IP, an output printer name, and a total number of output pages.

The watermark generation process 113 has a configuration of generating a watermark to be displayed on the document to be output and inserting the generated watermark into the document to be output.

Watermarks can be divided into cognitive watermarks that can be visible to the user and non-cognitive watermarks that are not visible to the user. The cognitive watermark is a schedule at the top or bottom of each page of the output document in a general manner. The site is described in text form, and the unrecognized watermark is inserted in the form of a two-dimensional image including predetermined information in an invisible form on each page.

8 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a watermark is printed on an output.

The recognition watermark includes an employee number, a document number, and the like, and is recorded by receiving the information from a database of a personnel program linked with the server 200.

An unrecognized watermark includes information such as output information and is inserted in the form of a company logo or the like.

The image file generation process 114 has a configuration of converting and generating an EMF file of each page into an image file (JPG, TIFF, BMP, etc.).

The output monitoring control process 115 is in charge of controlling transmission and reception of necessary data from the server 200, and has a configuration in charge of the overall control process such as output information generation and watermark insertion for the file to be printed.

The output monitoring control process 115 copies (cuts) the spooled file (SPL) to be output, generates / inserts a watermark, creates an inserted EMF file as a new spooled file, and prints watermarks such as printing output. It has a configuration to control and control the process for outputting a file.

The program management process 210 of the server 200 has a configuration for installing and upgrading the printing monitoring execution program on the user computer (100).

The data interworking process 220 has a configuration for receiving information to be included in a watermark from a corresponding database in conjunction with a human resource management program, an asset management program, and the like in the enterprise.

The database manager 230 has a configuration for storing and managing information provided from each user computer 100 in a database.

It also includes an administrator control process 240.

The manager control process 240 is for providing an administrator control tool, and the operation manager can check document information and the contents thereof output from each user computer 100 using the administrator control tool, or check output statistics. It has a configuration to make.

3 to 6 show an example of the manager screen provided in the manager control process 240.

3 shows an example of a login screen in an administrator control mode.

As in this, the administrator is allowed to access using a predetermined ID and password.

4 illustrates an example of a printer log search screen provided to an administrator after login by an administrator, and FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a screen showing detailed information for confirming printing contents in a log search.

6 illustrates an example of a screen that provides various statistical functions.

Through this, the administrator can obtain various statistical results for the information output by the user by department, printer, and user.

In this case, the manager control process 240 may access the server 200 using an external network such as the Internet at a remote location without being limited to the internal network, and obtain the above result.

Referring to the operation of the present invention having such characteristics in detail as follows.

When the user computer 100 is driven, the embedded printing monitoring execution program 110 is also driven.

Since the printing monitoring execution program 110 is driven in a hidden state so that it cannot be displayed to the user with reference to the operating system, the user cannot check.

However, the method may further include displaying a message indicating that the output information is recorded when using the printer.

When a user drives a printer (including a virtual printer) on the computer 100, that is, executes a printer command on an application, the printing monitoring execution program 200 detects this.

The monitoring process 111 of the printing monitoring execution program 200 detects a print command by hooking and monitoring a print process function of a window.

When the print command is detected as described above, the output monitoring control process 115 copies the corresponding windows spool file SPL created on the window for output through the output information process 112.

The output information process 112 analyzes the spool file and generates an EMF file for each output page from the spool file.

Thereafter, output information is generated from the generated EMF file.

The output information generated in this way includes an output document name, a computer name and a user PC login name, an output time, an output PC IP, an output printer name, a total number of output pages, and the like, which are transmitted to the server 200 and the database 300. Are stored in.

Subsequently, the watermark generation process 113 generates a recognition watermark to be printed in a text form directly on the document, and a non-cognition watermark in the form of a two-dimensional image (eg, a company logo) encoded with the output information as described above. Create

The information recorded in the recognition watermark includes an employee number, a document number, etc., and the employee number uses the information provided from the server 200, and the user in the form of text on a certain portion of the top or bottom of each page of the output document Insert it so that you can recognize it.

The unrecognized watermark is configured in a predetermined image form so that the user cannot recognize it, and is inserted to be printed in the center of the main body.

When the watermark is inserted as described above, the output monitoring control process 115 copies the inserted output document file as a new spool file to be copied to the original spool file position where the watermark is copied.

On the other hand, the image file generating process 114 generates an EMF file of each page as an image file.

The output monitoring control process 115 transmits the output image file generated as described above and the output information generated by the output information process 112 to the server 200.

The server 200 stores the output information and the output image file in the database 300.

The printing file information thus stored is stored and managed, and a watermark is inserted so that the source of the printed document can be known.

In such a printer output tracking system, the watermark embedding method is performed through the following process, which will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

A printing detection process of hooking a print function to monitor and detect printing on a user's computer;

Copying and analyzing a printing file (Spool file), extracting the output information of a document output from the printing file (SPL), converting and generating a file format (EMF) for inserting a watermark, and

Generating a non-cognitive watermark composed of a two-dimensional image form in which a recognition watermark to be recorded in text form and output information not to be recognized by the user are encoded;

Creating a new printing file (SPL) by inserting the generated watermark and pasting it to the original printing output file location to proceed with printing;

Converting and generating a file (EMF) converted from a printing file (SPL) to an image file to extract output information and insert a watermark;

The extracted output information and the converted image file are transmitted to the server and stored and managed in the database.

Although the user computer 200 described in the above-described embodiments of the present invention has been described based on being configured as an internal network in an enterprise, an external network such as the Internet may be partially or entirely used as necessary.

As described above, the present invention is to install a printing monitoring program on a computer within a company connected to a network, and to record and print a watermark on a document to be output through the centrally stored and managed information. It is possible to check the overall output situation and its output contents by checking, and it is possible to confirm which path is leaked by using watermark information recorded in the document even if the document is leaked.

Claims (12)

Output information of outputs transmitted by the user computer connected to the network and embedded with the printing monitoring execution program, the server managing and controlling the printing monitoring execution program of each networked user computer, and the printing monitoring execution program of the user computer. And a database in which image files are stored. The printing monitoring execution program embedded in the user computer includes a monitoring process for monitoring the printing execution of an application in the user computer, an output information generating process for generating output information for the output document when printing, and a watermark to be printed on the output document. A watermark generation process for generating a new output printing file by inserting the generated watermark into an output file, an image file generation processor for generating each page of the output document file as an image file, and communicating with the server. And an output monitoring control process for transferring the extracted output information and the generated image file to the server, and performing a control process related to inserting a watermark. The server includes a program management process that is responsible for the installation and maintenance control of the printing monitoring execution program, a data interworking process for providing information to be inserted into the watermark through interworking with the management program in the company, and from the printing monitoring execution program. Database management process that stores and manages image files of transferred output information and output documents in the database, and administrator control process to provide administrator tools for checking output information and output contents and retrieving output statistics. Printer output tracking system, characterized in that comprises a. The watermark of claim 1, wherein the watermark generated and inserted through the watermark generation process is divided into a recognition watermark that can be recognized by a user and an unrecognized watermark that is not recognizable. And a non-cognitive watermark inserted into a portion to be printed in the form of text, and a non-cognitive watermark is inserted in the form of a two-dimensional image including output information over the printing surface. 3. The printer output tracking system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the printing monitoring execution program is installed in a hidden form in a user computer such that information of the printing monitoring execution program is not provided to the user. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the monitoring process of the printing monitoring execution program hooks a printing process function of an operating system (OS) to monitor and detect printing execution of the application. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the output information extracted through the output information generation process includes an output document name, a computer name and a user PC login name, an output time, an output PC IP, an output printer name, and a total number of output pages. Printer output tracking system, characterized in that. 6. The printer output tracking system according to claim 5, wherein the information included in the recognition watermark is an employee number and a document number, and the employee number is information obtained from an in-company management program linked to a server. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the administrator control process tracks the printout of the printer so that the administrator can obtain the desired information by accessing the server through a predetermined authentication procedure through an external network such as the Internet at a remote location. system. A printing detection process of monitoring and detecting printing on a user computer using a print function; Analyzing the printing file, extracting the output information of the document output as the printing file, converting and generating the file into a file format for inserting a watermark, and Generating a non-cognitive watermark composed of a 2-dimensional image form in which a cognitive watermark to be recorded in text form and output information not to be recognized by the user are encoded; Inserting the generated watermark to create a new printing file and replacing the original printing file to proceed with printing; Converting and generating the converted file from the printing file into an image file to extract output information and insert a watermark; And a process of transmitting the extracted output information and the converted image file to a server, and storing and managing the extracted output information in a database. 10. The method of claim 8, In the monitoring and detection process of the user computer, the printer outputs further comprising the step of displaying a message to inform the user that the output information is recorded when the printing is detected How to embed a watermark in a tracking system. 10. The printer output tracking according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the printing file is a spool file (SPL), and the file converted from the spool file for inserting output information and watermark is an Enhanced Meta File (EMF) file. How to embed a watermark in your system. 10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein in the process of generating a watermark, the recognition watermark includes personal information (employee number) obtained from an in-company management program linked by a server, and the non-cognition watermark is extracted. Watermark embedding method of a printer output tracking system, characterized in that it comprises the output information. The method of claim 11, wherein the degree of output included in the unrecognized watermark includes an output document name, a computer name and a user PC login name, an output time, an output PC IP, an output printer name, and a total number of output pages. How to insert watermark in printer output tracking system.

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