KR20040099065A - A method of security-processing and outputting spool data in a printing system, and an apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and a device for processing security of spool data and outputting the spool data of a printing system are provided to transmit the spool data generated from a computer to a local printer after a transmitting side performs a security process, and enable a receiving side to output the spool data by releasing the security. CONSTITUTION: The printing system is equipped with a user computer(300), a communication network(400), a remote printing computer(500) allowing connection of the user computer through the communication network, and the local printer(600) matched with the remote printing computer. The user computer comprises an output executing/spool data generating module(310), an encrypting module(320), a compressing module(330), and a database(340). The remote printing computer comprises a decompressing module(510), a decrypting module(520), a watermark module(530), and a printer managing protocol(540).

Description

A method of security-processing and outputting spool data in a printing system, and an apparatus therefor}

The present invention relates to a spool data security processing and output technology of a printing system, and more particularly, to secure the spool data before transmitting the spool data to a local printer through a communication network and performing the security processing on the receiving side. The present invention relates to a spool data security processing and output method of a printing system which releases and outputs spool data, and a device thereof.

In general, in order for a user to print output such as a document or an image by using a local printer or a remote printer connected to a remote output computer, various remote communication networks such as an Internet network, a LAN network, and an ADSL network are used. After connecting to the local printer or a remote printer via the printer, when a printing command is issued for the output on a computer, spool data is generated from the output by a printer driver installed in the user computer, and the spool data generated as described above is output. Ie sent to a local printer or remote printer connected to the remote output computer for printing.

Here, the spool data is output data in a form that can be recognized by the printer. When a user issues a printing command for a desired document on the computer, the computer spools the document to be processed into data that the computer can recognize. This spool processing is a process of converting a document into a data that can be interpreted by a printer rather than a general form of data, and the data generated by this process is spool data.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a printing system using a conventional telecommunication network (eg, an internet network, a LAN network, and an ADSL network). The printing system includes a user computer 100, a remote communication network 110, a remote output computer 120 to which the user computer 100 can be connected via the remote communication network 110, and the remote output computer 120. At least one local printer 130 is connected to the. In this example, only one remote output computer 120 and one local printer 130 are shown for convenience of description.

The process of printing to the local printer 130 in the printing system configured as described above is as follows. First, when a user issues a printing command to a desired output such as a document or an image on the user's computer 100, a printer driver (not shown) installed in the user's computer 100 is driven, and by this printer driver Spool data is generated from the output. The generated spool data is transmitted to the remote output computer 120 through the remote communication network 110, and the transmitted spool data is transmitted to the local printer 130 connected to the remote output computer 120 for output, that is, printing. .

Figure 1b shows another example of a printing system using a conventional telecommunications network. The printing system includes a user computer 200, a telecommunication network 210, and at least one remote printer 220 to which the user computer 200 can be connected via the telecommunication network 210. In this example, only one remote printer 220 is shown for convenience of description.

Referring to the process of printing by the remote printer 220 in such a printing system as follows. First, when a user issues a printing command on a desired output on the user's computer 200, a printer driver (not shown) in the user's computer 200 is driven, and spool data is generated from the output by the printer driver. . The generated spool data is transmitted to the remote printer 220 through the remote communication network 210 for printing.

As such, in the related art, spool data generated on a user computer by a printing command issued by a computer user is directly transmitted to a desired local printer through a telecommunication network such as an internet network, a LAN network, and an ADSL network without security processing. Therefore, there is a problem that unauthorized people can obtain spool data and use it for illegal purposes while the spool data generated after the printing command is transmitted to the printer. Therefore, there is a need for a system that can prevent such unauthorized acquisition or illegal use.

The present invention solves the problems of the prior art mentioned above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for securely transmitting spooled data generated by a computer to a local printer and transmitting the transmitted spooled data to a local printer.

1A and 1B show a conventional printing system.

2A is a diagram showing the configuration of a spool data security processing and output device of a printing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2b is a diagram showing the configuration of the spool data security processing and output device of the printing system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an operation flowchart for explaining the operation of the spool data security processing and output device of the printing system of FIG. 2A;

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

300: user computer 320: encryption module

500: remote output computer 520: decryption module

600: local printer 601: remote intelligent printer

The spool data security processing and output method of the printing system of the present invention comprises a user computer for generating spool data from a desired output, a communication network, and at least one remote intelligent printer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network. A printing system, comprising the steps of: securely processing and outputting the generated spool data, the method comprising: generating the spool data and securely processing the generated spool data at the user computer; Transmitting the secured spool data to the remote intelligent printer via a communication network; Restoring the transmitted spool data at the remote intelligent printer to restore the original spool data.

The method may further include requesting an encryption key from the remote intelligent printer, wherein the processing comprises secure processing the spool data using the encryption key, and restoring the security processing. The security key is used to release security on the secured spooled data.

In addition, the communication network may be various telecommunication networks such as an internet network, a LAN network, or an ADSL network.

A spool data security processing and output method of another printing system of the present invention includes a user computer for generating spool data from a desired output, a communication network, at least one remote output computer to which the user computer can be connected through the communication network; A method of securely processing and outputting the spool data in a printing system having at least one local printer connected to the remote output computer, the method comprising: generating the spool data at the user computer and securely processing the generated spool data; ; Transmitting the secured spool data to the remote output computer via a communication network; And a restoration step of restoring the original spool data by performing security release on the remote output computer for the transmitted spool data.

The method may further comprise providing the restored spool data to a desired local printer for printing.

The method further includes the step of requesting an encryption key from a computer for remote output, the processing to secure the spool data using the encryption key and the restoring to be used for the security processing. The secured spool data is released using the encrypted encryption key.

In addition, the communication network may be various telecommunication networks such as an internet network, a LAN network, or an ADSL network.

The spool data security processing and output device of the printing system according to the present invention comprises a user computer for generating spool data from a desired output, a communication network, and at least one remote intelligent printer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network. An apparatus for securely processing and outputting the spool data in a printing system, comprising: means for securely processing spool data generated on the user computer and generated by the user computer; Means for transmitting the secured spool data to the remote intelligent printer via a communication network; It is installed in the remote intelligent printer, and includes means for restoring the original spool data by performing security release on the transmitted spool data.

The communication network may be various telecommunication networks such as an internet network, a LAN network, or an ADSL network.

The apparatus further includes means for requesting an encryption key from the remote intelligent printer, the means for processing secures the spool data using the encryption key, and the means for restoring is used for the security processing. The secured spool data is released using the encrypted encryption key.

The spool data security processing and output device of another printing system according to the present invention comprises a user computer for generating spool data from desired outputs, a communication network, and at least one remote output computer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network; And a device for securely processing and outputting the spool data in a printing system having at least one local printer connected to the remote output computer, comprising: means for securely processing the generated spool data; Means for transmitting the secured spool data to the remote output computer via a communication network; It is provided in the remote output computer, and includes means for restoring the original spool data by performing security release on the transmitted spool data.

In addition, the apparatus may further comprise means for providing the restored spool data to a desired local printer for printing.

The communication network may be various telecommunication networks such as an internet network, a LAN network, or an ADSL network.

The apparatus further includes means for requesting an encryption key from the remote output computer, the means for processing secures the spool data using the encryption key, and the means for restoring is used for the security processing. The secured spool data is released using the encrypted encryption key.

Example

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described, and those skilled in the art can more clearly understand the present invention.

Fig. 2A shows the configuration of the spool data security processing and output device of the printing system of the present invention.

The printing system of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2A, for at least one remote output to which the user computer 300, the communication network 400, and the user computer 300 can be connected via the communication network 400. A computer 500 and at least one local printer 600 corresponding to this remote output computer 500 are provided.

The user computer 300 may be a general personal computer or server computer. The user computer 300 includes an output execution and spool data generation module 310, an encryption module 320, a compression module 330, and a database 340. The output execution and spool data generation module 310 is a component for printing a written document form according to a client's request, and the encryption module 320 is an encryption library, that is, encryption software for encrypting spool data. Compression module 330 is a component for compressing spool data for transmission.

The database 340 prints the printing information so that printing information indicating what the output printed by the local printer 600 is, when it is outputted, and whether there is no failure can be used as statistical data or other data. It is a storage means to store.

The communication network 400 may typically be various telecommunication networks such as an internet network, a LAN network, or an ADSL network.

The remote output computer 500 to which the user computer 300 can be connected through the communication network 400 includes a decompression module 510, a decryption module 520, and a watermark module 530. ) And a printer management protocol 540. In addition, the remote output computer 500 may include a Java Virtual Machine.

The decompression module 510 is a component for decompressing spool data from the user computer 300. Decryption module 520 is decryption software for decrypting the spool data decompressed by decompression module 510. The watermark module 530 is a component that attaches a watermark to spool data. The Java Virtual Machine is, for example, ChaiVMS, a kind of Java Virtual Machine built into the Hewlett Packard (HP) printer. The printer management protocol 540 may be, for example, SNMP as a protocol for printer management in a TCP / IP environment.

For the convenience of description, only one local printer 600 is shown in FIG. 2A, but a plurality of local printers may exist.

FIG. 3 is an operational flow diagram illustrating the spool data security processing and output procedure according to the present invention performed by the printing system of FIG. 2A.

First, the user computer 300 of FIG. 2A generates spool data from desired output according to a user's printing command (ST1). Next, the user computer 300 transmits and receives a signal for checking a state between the remote output computer 500 and each other step by step to confirm the printable state and the security release state (ST2).

Next, the user computer 300 uses the server program of its own to transmit an encryption key to the daemon of the remote output computer 500 through the communication network 400 and the communication port (9100 port) (not shown). Request (ST3). Here, the encryption key is used to decrypt the data encrypted in the encryption module 320 of the user computer 300 in the decryption module 520 of the remote output computer 500, the encryption module 320 is thus Encryption must be performed with the encryption key used by the decryption module 520 of the remote output computer 500 so that subsequent decryption by the decryption module 520 of the remote output computer 500 is possible. . The server program is a print management program for implementing printer status checks and additional functions.

The remote output computer 500 performs key initialization in response to an encryption key request from the user computer 300, stores the encryption key in a printer menu static variable, and communicates the encryption key. The port and the communication network 400 in turn transmits to the output execution and the spool data generation module 310 of the user computer 300. Here, the printer menu state variable is a variable for storing the encryption key generated after the above key initialization, and the remote output computer 500 receives the encrypted spool data from the user computer 300 as described below. You can decrypt the encrypted data using. Specifically, the printer menu state variable is stored in a memory in the computer for remote output.

The output execution and spool data generation module 310 of the user computer 300 provided with the encryption key from the remote output computer 500 encrypts the spool data using the encryption key through the encryption module 320, and compresses the compressed spool data. Compression through the module 330 (ST4). The encrypted and compressed spool data is transmitted to the remote output computer 500 in turn via the communication network 400 and the communication port (ST5).

The remote output computer 500 decompresses the encrypted and compressed spool data, which is received through the communication network 400 and the communication port in turn, using the decompression module 510, and the user computer for the decompressed spool data. After decrypting in the decryption module 520 using the encryption key used for encryption in the encryption module 320 of 300, the watermark module 530 adds the watermark portion (ST6). .

The remote output computer 500 provides the resultant spool data to the local printer 600 for printing (ST7).

Next, the success of printing is checked by the Java virtual machine (not shown) and the printer management protocol 540 briefly introduced above, and the final output is stored in the database 340 of the user computer 300. (ST8).

In this embodiment, as described above, the apparatus of the present invention includes at least one local printer and at least one remote output computer for driving control of the local printer.

On the other hand, Figure 2b shows the configuration of the spool data security processing and output device of the printing system according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In this preferred embodiment, as shown in Fig. 2B, the apparatus of the present invention is provided with at least one remote intelligent printer 601 instead of the remote output computer 500 as shown in Fig. 2A, and this remote The intelligent printer 601 is a printer having a function of a general PC, for example, a printer having a LAN card, a CPU, etc., and capable of running commercial applications. The remote intelligent printer 601 also includes a memory in which a program for performing functions such as decompression, decryption, watermark processing, and printer management, which the remote output computer 500 of FIG. 2A performs. Thus, in this alternative embodiment, the spool data sent from the user computer 300 via the communication network 400 is sent directly to the remote intelligent printer 601, and within this remote intelligent printer 601, FIG. 2A. And functions such as decompression, decryption, watermark processing, and printer management described above with reference to FIG. 3. The configuration or operation of the other part of FIG. 2B is the same as the configuration or operation of the embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 2A and 3, and thus description thereof is omitted here.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are only examples for implementing the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention, and various other modifications are possible by those skilled in the art.

As described above, according to the present invention, the spool data is secured by the user's printing command and transmitted to the printer, and the printer side releases the secured spool data to output the spool data. Is prevented from being used by unauthorized persons in the process of being sent to the printer and used for illegal purposes, thus allowing the user to safely print output such as documents or images.

Claims (12)

A printing system comprising a user computer for generating spool data from desired outputs, a communication network, at least one remote output computer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network, and at least one local printer connected to the remote output computer. In the method for securely processing and outputting the spool data, Generating the spool data at the user computer and securing the generated spool data; Transmitting the secured spool data to the remote output computer via a communication network; And releasing the transmitted spooled data at the remote output computer to restore the original spooled data. The method of claim 1, And providing the restored spooled data to a desired local printer for printing. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Requesting an encryption key from the remote output computer, The processing step secures the spool data using the encryption key, And the restoring step comprises performing security release on the secured spooled data using the encryption key used for the security processing. In a printing system having a user computer for generating spool data from a desired output, a communication network, and at least one remote intelligent printer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network, the method for securely processing and outputting the spool data. In Generating the spool data at the user computer and securing the generated spool data; Transmitting the secured spool data to the remote intelligent printer via a communication network; Restoring original spool data by performing security release on the transmitted spool data at the remote intelligent printer. The method of claim 4, wherein Requesting an encryption key from the remote intelligent printer, The processing step secures the spool data using the encryption key, And the restoring step comprises performing security release on the secured spooled data using the encryption key used for the security processing. The method according to claim 1 or 2 or 4 or 5, And said telecommunications network is a telecommunications network. A printing system comprising a user computer for generating spool data from desired outputs, a communication network, at least one remote output computer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network, and at least one local printer connected to the remote output computer. In the apparatus for securely processing and outputting the spool data, Means for securely processing spool data generated on the user computer and generated by the user computer; Means for transmitting the secured spool data to the remote output computer via a communication network; And means for restoring the transmitted spool data to restore the original spool data, which is installed in the remote output computer. The method of claim 7, wherein And means for providing the restored spool data to a desired printer for printing. The method according to claim 7 or 8, Means for requesting an encryption key installed on the user computer for the remote output computer, The processing means secures the spool data using the encryption key, And said means for restoring releases security on said secured spooled data using an encryption key used for said security processing. An apparatus for securely processing and outputting spool data in a printing system having a user computer for generating spool data from a desired output, a communication network, and at least one remote intelligent printer to which the user computer can be connected via the communication network. , Means for securely processing spool data generated on the user computer and generated by the user computer; Means for transmitting the secured spool data to the remote intelligent printer via a communication network; And means for restoring the original spool data by desecuring the transmitted spool data and installed in the remote intelligent printer. The method of claim 10, Means for requesting an encryption key from the printer installed on the user computer; The processing means secures the spool data using the encryption key, And said means for restoring releases security on said secured spooled data using an encryption key used for said security processing. The method according to claim 7 or 8 or 10 or 11, And said telecommunications network is a telecommunications network.