KR101242171B1 - A print control apparatus and method capable of improving security and utilization of document - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an output management device that improves the security and utilization of printouts. The document output management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, when there is a print request for printing a document file, generates a print image in which output recycling information related to the print request file is added to original content of the print request file. Generation unit; And a transmitter for transmitting the generated print image to a printer driver. Including but, the output recycling information may include a terminal information that stores the print request file and a file path where the print request file is located. According to the present invention, by including the output authority information, recycling information, and the like at the time of outputting the document to be printed as a paper output, there is an effect that can greatly improve the security and utility of the paper output.

Description

Document output management apparatus and method for improving the security and utilization of printed materials and recording media therein {A PRINT CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD CAPABLE OF IMPROVING SECURITY AND UTILIZATION OF DOCUMENT}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for managing a document output, which can enhance the security and utilization of the output.

In a work environment using a terminal such as a PC, a paper output is generally available to anyone. Therefore, there is a difficulty in the post-management of the printed output as described above, and a problem that is often vulnerable to security management of the paper output, such as confidential or know-how in the company or important data is output to the paper and leaked to the outside.

In addition, according to the prior art, only through the paper output itself, it is possible to check the information on who the outputter of the output, whether or not it was output by a person who has the authority to output the output, and when was the output time. There was no way. Therefore, there was a problem in that it was not possible to check whether the output was output by a normal path, authority or situation.

In addition, the paper output is generally difficult to find the output source of the paper output other than the person who outputs it. Thus, in the case where the writer delivered the paper output to another person, or in the case of a person who received the paper output by any means, the file was outputted only by the person who received or received the paper output only. There is a problem that it is difficult to determine who owns or keeps the original file, which folder is stored in which terminal (or server).

For this reason, when a person who receives or receives a paper output wants to refer to a file about the output, the user can search the file using the contents of the paper output, or ask the person who delivered it or people around him to print the paper output. There were inconveniences of checking the owner / keeper / storage (storage) location of the file corresponding to the original.

An object of the present invention is to provide a document output management apparatus, a method, and a recording medium recording the same, which can further improve the security and usability of printed output.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a document output management apparatus is provided.

Document output management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention,

An image generation unit for generating a print image by adding output recycling information associated with a print request file to original contents of the print request file when a file print request is requested; And

A transmitter for transmitting the generated print image to a printer driver; , ≪ / RTI &

The printout recycling information may include terminal information storing the print request file and a file path where the print request file is located.

In one embodiment, the output recycling information may further include file name information of the print requested file.

In one embodiment, the file path where the print requested file is located may include a physical file path or logical relative information.

In one embodiment, the terminal information may include specific computer name information or server information in which the print request file is stored.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, by including the output authority information, recycling information, and the like at the time of outputting the document to be printed as a paper output, there is an effect that can greatly improve the security and utility of the paper output.

1 is a block diagram of a document output management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flow chart schematically showing a document output management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 and 4 are views for explaining the function of the printer drive monitoring unit.
5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a client terminal which is a print request terminal and a management server connected to the network;
6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of generating a print image to which output additional information and output recycling information are added according to the present invention in a client terminal and a management server connection structure;

The present invention may be variously modified and have various embodiments, and specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, numerals (e.g., first, second, etc.) used in the description of the present invention are merely an identifier for distinguishing one component from another.

Also, in this specification, when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" with another element, the element may be directly connected or directly connected to the other element, It should be understood that, unless an opposite description is present, it may be connected or connected via another element in the middle.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a document output management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a flow chart schematically showing a document output management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2 with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1.

The document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention includes an image generator 120 and a transmitter 130. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the document output management apparatus 100, the authority authentication unit 140, the file system monitoring unit 170, the printer drive monitoring unit 150 as shown in FIG. ), The history management unit 160 may be further included.

That is, not all of the components shown in FIG. 1 are essential, so that the document output management apparatus having fewer or more components may be implemented. This will be readily understood through the description throughout this specification.

In addition, the document output management apparatus according to the present invention may be implemented in a terminal (independent terminal or client terminal) such as a user PC, or may be implemented in a management server connected (or linked) with the client terminal through a wired or wireless network. have. This will also be readily understood through the description throughout this specification.

In addition, it is intended to clarify that the division for each component in this specification is only divided by the main function of each component. That is, two or more constituent parts may be combined into one constituent part, or one constituent part may be divided into two or more functions according to functions that are more subdivided. In addition, each of the above-described components may additionally perform some or all of the functions of other components in addition to the main functions of their own, and some of the main functions of each of the components are performed by other components. Of course, it may be carried out exclusively. Therefore, the presence or absence of each component described through this specification should be interpreted functionally.

Hereinafter, the functions of the above components will be described.

When a file print request is received (see step S100 of FIG. 2), the image generating unit 120 adds output additional information and / or output recycle information related to the print requested file to the contents of the print requested file. A print image is generated (see step S200 of FIG. 2).

That is, in the present invention, in generating a print image to be output through an actual printer, not only the contents of the file requested to be printed, but also predetermined output additional information and / or output recycle information related to the file requested to be printed are printed. Create a print image to be included in the image. In this case, the output additional information and the output recycling information may be automatically added to a predetermined position which does not overlap with the file contents or added to a position according to a user (output) designation.

At this time, whether or not the file print request is received, for example, the printer driver monitoring unit 150 of the document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention monitors the job printer driver, and based on this, A method of confirming by hooking whether or not an event of a print job for a job occurs may be used.

Here, the output additional information may include file name information of a file requested to be printed (output), output confirmation information (for example, output name, ID, etc.), output information belonging to the output (for example, a company to which the outputter belongs). , Department in the company, etc.), output date and time information (for example, can be set to the date and time when the print request or print image generation), terminal information requested for printing (for example, IP address of the terminal requesting a print job, etc.) At least one of these may correspond to this.

The output recycling information may include file name information of a file requested to be printed (output), physical file path information where the print requested file is actually located (actually stored or stored), and search or view a file requested to be printed. At least one of logical relative path information indicating location information, creator information of a file requested to be printed, owner information of a file requested to be printed, terminal or server information storing a file requested to be printed, and hash value information of file contents This may be the case.

Here, if the file path where the print request file is actually located is, for example, c: \ documents and settings \ all users \ application data \ enterprise disk \ sample.txt, the physical file path is the file path itself, or File path with computer name information (i.e., specific terminal or server information where the file is stored), ie, Hong Gil-dong PC \ c: \ documents and settings \ all users \ application data \ enterprise disk \ sample.txt Can be.

In the above example, the logical relative information of the print request file may correspond to, for example, enterprise disk \ sample.txt capable of identifying a server name or a terminal name, a file path, and a file name.

The output additional information and the output recycling information may both be included on the printed image generated by the image generating unit 120, but may include only one (that is, only output additional information or output recycling information).

In addition, the output additional information and / or the output recycling information may be included on the printed image in the form of a two-dimensional barcode or a Quick Response (QR) code, for example. At this time, the output additional information and the output recycling information may both be carried in one two-dimensional barcode or QR code, it is obvious that both may be made of a separate two-dimensional barcode or QR code.

As another example, the output additional information and / or the output recycling information may be included on the printed image in the form of a serial number based on numbers, letters, symbols, and the like. Of course, it is obvious that it can also be in various forms and manners.

When the print image to which the output additional information and / or the printed matter recycling information is added is generated, the transmitter 130 transmits the generated print image to the printer driver (see step S300 of FIG. 2), whereby the print image is actually a printer. To be output via.

As described above, the document output management apparatus and method of the present invention, by outputting the output additional information and / or printout recycling information at the time of printing (printing) of the file requested to print, by the following improved effect You can get it.

First, when the above-described output additional information is added to the output, security and transparency of the output can be secured. That is, since the output includes the output additional information, it is possible to identify (check) who outputs the output and when, and to clearly distinguish the responsibility even when the output is leaked.

Next, when the above-mentioned printout recycling information is added to the printout, it is possible to secure the recycling support of the printout. That is, when the reader of the printout or the acquirer wants to recycle the file that is the original (output source) of the printout, based on the recycling information according to the two-dimensional barcode / QR code format, serial number format, etc. printed on the printout. The person or terminal (or server) who owns or keeps the file which is the output source, and the physical or logical file location (path) of the file can be identified.

For example, the printout reader or the acquirer may immediately check the recycling information by using a predetermined reader capable of recognizing the two-dimensional barcode or QR code. The reader may be a terminal manufactured separately for recognizing the 2D barcode or QR code, but an application capable of recognizing the 2D barcode or QR code is fixed to a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or a smartphone, a work PC, or the like. It may be equipped with a function as a reader by being mounted in the terminal.

As another example, when the print viewer or the acquirer inputs a serial number (that is, an identification code) corresponding to the printed material recycling information, the retrieval information corresponding to the input serial number is obtained and displayed on the display screen of the terminal. By way of example, it may be possible to simply check the recycling information for the output. The same may be applied to the case of output side information. To this end, the document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention may further include a predetermined component (identification unit (not shown), etc.) to perform this function.

In this case, the following method may be used as a method of acquiring and confirming the output recycling information. For example, the input or recognized output recycling information is input through a recycling query program installed in a specific terminal (may be an independent terminal or a client terminal) or after being recognized by the reader, and then the specific terminal. Or output (inquiry) to an output recycling information management server (not shown) connected through a wired / wireless communication network with a reader, and the management server transmits output recycling information corresponding to the received (queried) serial number or code. By replying back to, the reader or the printout may be able to check the printout recycling information.

Here, according to the query and reply method to the output recycling information management server as described above, the reader or the acquirer can check the following things.

If there is no file that matches the output recycling information, the management server may reply to the viewer or the user, such as, "There is no corresponding file associated with this document."

Or, if the file exists and you have permission to view it, you can reply with the message, "Do you want to view the file?" Of course, "This document was outputted from My Documents / xxx.xls to Hong OO's PC" could be a reply that indicates the file owner and file path.

Or "If the file exists but you do not have permission to view it," "You do not have permission to view the file associated with this document. The owner (archive) of this document is the head of Hong OO team and can view more than Go OO." You will be able to reply.

Or, if the file contents have been changed, a content such as "There is a file having the same file name but the file contents have been changed" may be returned.

Or, if the file name has been changed, the user may reply with "The same content as the output, but the file name has been changed. Do you want to view it?"

Of course, the method of acquiring and confirming the output recycling information may be variously used in addition to the query method to the output recycling information management server described above.

In this specification, the output narrowly refers to a paper print actually printed through a printer, but is broadly printed using a format of a print command but not actually printed on a paper (that is, a print request requested through a format of a print command). A file newly converted by converting a file format of a file may be included in the file format. In other words, the security (or transparency) and recyclability problems described above are not limited to the case of paper printouts. It will be said that there is a need to be protected to the extent that the present invention can be applied.

This is the case, for example, in the form of a file that is commonly used to send outside a company (such as a customer) for security reasons, such as the PDF file format. As a specific example, a document written in Micro Office Word or the like may be converted into a PDF file format using a print command format, in which a newly generated PDF file may correspond to the output of the document. That is, the above-described two-dimensional barcode, QR code, or the like, which is not present in the original document (word file, etc.) may be added to the PDF file generated (format conversion).

In this case, the addition of the output additional information and / or the output recycling information may be performed only on the first page of the printed image, but may be performed on every page.

The present invention has the following advantages in addition to improving security (transparency) of the above-described output and supporting recycling of the output.

The document output control programs according to the prior art have performed the document output control program by program. That's the DRM (Digital Rights Management) approach. In the case of the DRM method, document output control has been performed for each program (for example, WORD, EXCEL, etc.), and even for the same program, a separate customization is performed for each version. Therefore, according to the prior art (document output control method at the application level), a separate customization is required every time a new program is introduced and a version change occurs in the program for document output control. There was a problem that an increase in labor costs for the production cost of the output control program will be expensive.

On the other hand, the present invention does not set the document output control / management at the application level, the printer driver level through the authorization authentication unit 140, file system monitoring unit 170, printer driver monitoring unit 150, etc. to be described later Since the method of controlling the document output in the use, unlike the prior art, there is an advantage that it is easy to control / manage the document output even in the change of various programs and their versions, and the introduction of a new program. This may be more clearly understood through the following description.

Document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention, in addition to the above-described image generating unit 120, the transmitting unit 130, as shown in Figure 1, the authority authentication unit 140, file system monitoring unit 170, printer The drive monitoring unit 150 and the history management unit 160 may further include. Hereinafter, these components will be described in detail. However, the file system monitoring unit 170 will be described later with reference to FIG. 6.

The document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention may include an authority authentication unit 140 according to an embodiment.

The authority authentication unit 140 performs a function of authenticating (confirming) whether or not the output requestor has an output authority for a file requested for printing. Accordingly, the authority authentication unit 140 may approve only a print request by a person who has a right to output the corresponding file, and may disapprove the corresponding print request in the case of a file print request by a user who does not have the right to output.

Alternatively, according to an embodiment, even if a file print request is made by a user who does not have a right to output the file, the authority authentication unit 140 does not disapprove the print request, but rather the right of the print right to the requested file. You can also perform a post-approval procedure. For example, the authority authentication unit 140 generates a payment request signal required for the post-authorization of the output authority, and then outputs the generated payment request signal to a person who has the authority to approve the output of the corresponding file (that is, A person who has authority to do so, for example, an administrator, transmits the signal to the terminal through the transmitter 130, and responds to a response signal (an approval signal or a disapproval signal) received from the authority (that is, the authority terminal). You can also decide whether to approve the print request. When the output authority is approved through such a post-approval procedure, the output additional information may further include approval information of the output authority and / or the approver (applicant) information.

Here, the above-described output authority may be previously set by the following method.

For example, the output authority may be determined in advance as attribute information (or header information, metadata information, etc.) for each file and determined based on company affiliation, department, rank, name, ID, and the like. For example, a company's expense-related file may only be viewed or / and outputted by the management support division or higher. Another example would be granting the right to view and / or print only files that correspond to confidential documents. Of course, in this specification, the output right may be set differently from the right to view the file. That is, even though the viewing authority may be set, the output authority may not be set.

As another example, the output right may be predefined in relation to an access right to a specific folder (or a specific workspace). For example, in the case of Management Support, if you restrict access to only the Management Support folder through your in-house network, members of the Management Support team will have access to the files in that folder. That's what you set up to have output permission.

Alternatively, the output right is not set in advance, but whenever a print request for a specific file is requested, the print request is made through the authority authentication unit 140 (that is, similar to the post-authorization request described above). The approval may be set to be determined.

At this time, the authentication time of the output authority through the authority authentication unit 140 will not be limited.

For example, if the output right and the view right are set to be the same, the authority authentication unit 140 precedes the procedure of confirming the view right when there is a request to view the file, thereby authenticating the output right. It may be replaced.

As other examples of authentication time points, the authority authentication unit 140 may print a print job at a time when a print request for a corresponding file is received from an output requester or to a job printer driver in which the print request is a virtual printer driver. Authentication can be performed at the time of receipt. Or at one point during the process of generating a print image by the image generating unit 120 (eg, the output additional information and / or the output recycling information) before the original output image (ie, the file content itself) is added. The authentication may be performed at the time of generation of the output image) only at the time of creation) or at the time of completion of the generation of the print image. Of course, authentication may be performed at the time of actual document output through the printer.

As such, the authentication time of the output right may vary depending on the system (device) design.

However, in the document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention, the authority authentication unit 140 is not an essential component of the device configuration, and may be omitted depending on the system (device) design. For example, it may be obvious that it may be replaced by a predetermined user login procedure. In addition, if the output right (or view or access right) for a specific file (or folder) is not specified separately, i.e., if the output right and / or view right for all files are not restricted, the right authentication The unit 140 may be omitted.

The document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention may further include a printer driver monitoring unit 150 according to an embodiment.

Here, the printer drive monitoring unit 150 in the document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention, the file print request received through the receiving unit 110 corresponds to a print request for a file that is not stored in the file If so, the function of controlling the job printer driver to cancel the print job is performed.

As described above, the confirmation as to whether or not the print request for the file in which the file is not stored may be performed by the following method. For example, the printer driver monitoring unit 150 monitors a job printer driver, and based on an output name (that is, a print job), a file name, a file command, etc. input to the job printer driver in response to a file print request, In case of "no title", "new name", etc., which can confirm that the file is not stored, the requested print job can be canceled unconditionally. This is done through printer driver hooking.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when a print job is requested in a state in which a file name is not specified (see “Document 1”), the printer driver monitoring unit 150 cancels the print job unconditionally. You can do that.

In addition, there may be various ways of canceling a print job of an unsaved file. As another example, when the file system monitoring unit 170 checks the file system and determines that the file system is a print request for a file whose file path is not defined or does not exist in the file system, the print job may be canceled. You can control the printer driver. In this case, the control of the job printer driver may be directly performed by the file system monitoring unit 170, but may be indirectly controlled through other components.

 In addition, the printer driver monitoring unit 150 may perform a function of unconditionally deleting (canceling a job) even when a print job requesting an output is input to a general printer driver instead of a predetermined printer driver. That is, the printer driver monitoring unit 150 may print only through a job printer driver which is a predetermined virtual printer driver. The designation of such a job printer driver may be performed by pre-registration using an IP address (for example, a Mac address) and an internal identifier number for each printer.

A method as shown in FIG. 4 may be used as a method of printing only through the job printer driver. For example, if a printable job printer driver for each file is specified in advance, or if the user login procedure is performed in advance, the job printer driver is specified for that user in advance, and the user makes a print request for that file. As shown in FIG. 4, printer drivers other than the job printer driver may not be displayed in the print job window, thereby inducing printing through only the job printer driver. Of course, not in this manner, as shown in Figure 3, it is possible to display all the printer driver, of which print request jobs that do not depend on a predetermined printer driver may be deleted (cancelled).

In addition, the document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention may further include a history manager 160 according to an embodiment. The history manager 160 stores and manages at least one of output additional information, output recycle information, and a print image (that is, a print image to which output additional information, output recycle information, etc. are added) for the file requested to be printed. can do. The document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention includes the history management unit 160, so that it is possible to confirm and recycle records related to the output history such as which documents are output by whom.

However, the history manager 160 may not be regarded as an essential component that must be provided in the document output management apparatus 100 of the present invention. That is, the recording of the output history as described above may be performed in another terminal (for example, the manager terminal) or the management server.

For example, when there is a management server connected to a print request terminal and managing the print request terminal, that is, when the print request terminal is a client terminal and there is a management server that centrally controls such a client terminal, the output as described above. Details (that is, output additional information, output recycling information, print image, etc.) may be transmitted to the management server through the transmitter 130, so that the output details may be left in the management server. Of course, it is obvious that the recording in the terminal and the recording in the management server may be designed to be performed in parallel.

The recording of the output history or the transmission to the management server may be performed even after generating the print image by the image generating unit 120, but may also be performed after the print job is finally completed, and at the time when the output additional information is obtained. Alternatively, the output recycling information may be obtained at each time point obtained.

In addition, the output history as described above may be recorded in a specific encrypted folder in the client terminal for a specific period and then automatically deleted. In addition, according to the monitoring setting of the administrator, each time one print image is outputted, the next image may be set only after being uploaded to the management server. It may be stored on the management server for each writer account. Obviously, there may be various recording methods of output history.

The document output management apparatus 100 according to the present invention described above has the following advantages in terms of an administrator. First, the administrator may control in advance which file can be output for each user according to the design of the authority authentication unit 140 in the document output management apparatus 100. In addition, according to the design of the printer drive monitoring unit 150, it is possible to control in advance, such as which printer can be output for each user and / or at what time. In addition, the administrator has an advantage of viewing or post-managing the contents output by the user based on the output history recorded in the terminal or the management server.

In the above, the overall description of the apparatus and method for managing document output of the present invention has been described. Hereinafter, a specific implementation example of the document output management apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a client terminal, which is a print request terminal, and a management server connected to the network. FIG. 6 is a diagram in which a client terminal and a management server are connected to each other. A flowchart illustrating an example of an image generation process.

Specific implementation example to be described below, when a specific user makes a file print request through a specific client terminal in the relationship between the client terminal 10 and the management server 50 connected via the wired / wireless network 30. It is assumed. However, the flowchart of FIG. 6 is merely an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention. It is apparent that the flowchart of FIG. 6 may be different from the above flowchart.

6, it is assumed that the document output management apparatus 100 is implemented and operated in the client terminal 10.

The file system monitoring unit 170 of the document output management apparatus 100 monitors the job printer driver and hooks the file print request when a file print request is received from the user [S61]. Accordingly, the job printer driver generates an initial print image for the file requested to be printed (i.e., a print image for the file content itself that does not include the above-described output additional information and printout recycling information). The document output management apparatus 100 obtains the first print image generated by the job printer driver [S62].

In this case, the above-described output additional information may be obtained by the following method. For example, the above-described output additional information may be obtained through a query to the management server 50 and a response thereof [S63, S64]. For example, the authority authentication unit 140 of the document output management apparatus 100 queries the management server 50 for output additional information such as affiliation information, name information, etc. of a user who has requested to print, and thus, the affiliation information as described above. Name information and the like can be obtained.

However, it is not necessarily based on the server query method as described above. Of course, the above-described output additional information may be obtained by another method. For example, a user name and affiliation may be directly obtained based on the ID obtained during the user login process. As another example, based on a result of the printer driver monitoring unit 150 of the document output management apparatus 100 monitoring the job printer driver, information about a file name, an output time point, and the like of the requested file may be obtained. .

In this case, the above-mentioned output recycling information may be obtained by the following method. For example, the output recycling information may be obtained by the file system monitoring unit 170 in the document output management apparatus 100. The file system monitoring unit 170 may first output output file name information based on meta information of a print job received at a job printer driver (that is, a program name requested for output, a file name requested for output, and the like). Output recycling information such as author information of the output file can be obtained [S65].

Then, the file system monitoring unit 170, based on the monitoring result of the file system in the client terminal, by comparing the meta information of the print job with the programs and files detected as currently running, the print request, Output recycling information such as a relative file path and / or an actual (physical) file path of the compiled file may be further obtained [S66].

That is, in one embodiment of the present invention, as in step S66, the print job meta information is compared by comparing the "list of files detected in the file system" with the "meta information of the print job input to the job printer driver". Through the file system, the path of the file matching the file name requested for printing and the application program name used to view and print the file can be found.

 As described above, when the file name, file path, etc. are confirmed, the file system monitoring 170 may also obtain hash value information on the file content of the file requested to be printed.

As described above, when the output additional information and the output recycling information are acquired, the output additional information / output recycling information is added by generating an image of the obtained information and then merging the additional image into the above-described first printed image. Generate the final printed image [S67]. The generation of the print image may be performed by the image generating unit 120 of the document output management apparatus 100.

When the print image to which the output additional information / output recycling information is added is generated through the above-described process, the actual printer is transferred by sending the final generated print image to the job printer driver [S68] or by transmitting to the actual printer driver. To be output via

In addition, at this time, output history information related to the output (that is, output additional information, output recycling information, the last generated print image, etc.) is transmitted to the management server 50 [S69] and stored by the management server 50 Can be managed.

In the above description of FIG. 5, in response to a file print request by a user, the job printer driver generates an initial print image and generates the final print image by adding output additional information and output recycle information. It was. However, in generating the final printed image, it may not necessarily be based on a method of generating the first printed image first and then adding output additional information. That is, the print image may be generated by merging the output original content + output additional information + print recycling information at once.

In addition, in Fig. 5, the step (S61) of hooking the file print request and the step (S66) of obtaining the file path information are shown and described as being separately and also performed according to a temporal relationship. S66 may be performed simultaneously or in parallel, and of course, may be performed all at once through a single process. This is also the case in steps S63 / S64 and S65 / S66 of FIG. 5, and the same applies to steps S68 and S69 of FIG. 5. That is, the flowchart of FIG. 5 is merely for convenience of description and reflects the convenience of illustration for each individual step, and each step may be performed at the same time or at the same time or differently from those in FIG. 5, or may be performed in parallel. It should be interpreted.

Although the above-described document output management apparatus or method of the present invention has been described in detail above, it may be included in a terminal or a server. In addition, the document output management apparatus or method may be included in a specific logic form in a printer, and may be included in a printer driver itself that controls the actual driving of a printer. Of course you can.

In addition, the above-described document output management method may be provided included in a recording medium (eg, hard disk, CD-ROM, etc.) that can be read through a computer by implementing a program of instructions for executing the same. Those skilled in the art will readily understand.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims And changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

100: document output management device
120: image generator
130: transmitter
140: authorization unit
150: printer drive monitoring unit
160: history management unit
170: file system monitoring unit

Claims (4)

In the document output management apparatus,
A file system monitoring unit for obtaining output recycling information by monitoring meta information of a print job input to a print driver and a file system in the client terminal when a file printing request is received from a client terminal;
An image generation unit generating a print image in which the obtained output recycling information is added to original content of the file requested to be printed; And
A transmitter for transmitting the generated print image to a printer driver; Including but not limited to:
And the output recycling information includes terminal information holding the print request file and a file path where the print request file is located.
The method of claim 1,
And the printout recycling information further includes file name information of the file requested to be printed.
The method of claim 1,
And a file path in which the print request file is located includes a physical file path or logical relative information.
The method of claim 1,
And the terminal information includes specific computer name information or server information in which the print request file is stored.

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