JP2001113780A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an image forming apparatus connected to a plurality of host terminals such as a network so as to prevent a printed secret document from being peeped in or taken away. A user can attach a password to print data of a confidential document using a host terminal. The control means 35 sequentially sends the received print data to the image developing means 43 to develop the image, and stores the image data with the password on the hard disk 44 again. When the user who has instructed the printing of the confidential document inputs the password information from the keyboard 47, the control unit 42 sends the image data stored in the hard disk 44 to the image forming unit 45, and starts printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus used for an image output device such as an office computer or a personal computer, a copying machine, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image forming apparatus such as a color laser printer is connected to a network such as Ethernet or the Internet, and print data is sent from a host terminal on the premises or a host terminal in the world to form an image. Is becoming available. In addition, even when the image forming apparatus is not connected to a network, the connection between a plurality of host terminals and the image forming apparatus is switched using a printer switcher, and an image formation is instructed from one of the plurality of host terminals. There is also.

The configuration of a conventional image printing apparatus will be described below.

In a conventional image forming apparatus, a user sends print data from a host terminal connected to a network to an image forming apparatus connected to the same network, and the image forming apparatus prints the received print data.

[0005] In most cases, a plurality of host terminals are connected to a network, and the image forming apparatus sequentially forms images according to the order of reception. In each host terminal, the status of image formation of the image forming apparatus, that is, the order of print data transmitted by the host terminal, the user name instructing each print data, the file name of a document, the status of image formation, and the like are displayed. It is configured to:

After confirming that the data transmitted by the user has been printed at the host terminal, the user goes to the location of the image forming apparatus and obtains a printed document or the like. Therefore, such an image forming apparatus is usually placed in an environment where a plurality of users can use it in cooperation.

[0007]

However, in the above conventional configuration, when a print instruction is issued from the host terminal,
The image forming apparatus only prints sequentially, and since the image forming apparatus is used by a plurality of users, if a user prints a confidential document, another user can peek at the confidential document. , There is a risk that confidential documents may be taken away by other users.

In order to avoid this, when printing a confidential document, the user needs to wait in front of the image forming apparatus until printing of the image forming apparatus is completed, but the user's work is stopped during that time. There was a problem that.

When printing a plurality of confidential documents, there is a danger that the printing of the first document for which printing has been instructed while printing the plurality of confidential documents may be completed.
In order to avoid this danger, there is a problem that printing can be instructed only one document at a time, and more time is required.

Further, since each user can confirm what kind of document the image forming apparatus is printing from his or her host terminal based on the file name of the document.
When a user finds a file name of a document considered to be a confidential document, there is a risk that the user can intentionally come into the image forming apparatus to peep.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of printing a confidential document with security.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage means for holding print data to which keyword information is attached, an input means having a plurality of keys, And control means for starting printing of the print data stored in the storage means when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the input means is input from the input means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image developing means for developing an image of print data attached with keyword information, a storage means for storing a print image developed by the image developing means, and a plurality of keys. And input control means for starting printing of the print image stored in the storage means when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a network communication means for receiving print data attached with keyword information from a network, a storage means for holding print data attached with keyword information received by the network communication means, Input means having a plurality of keys, and control means for starting printing of the print data stored in the storage means when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input means. is there.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the storage means stores print data with keyword information and print data without keyword information. In this case, the control unit performs the image formation by giving priority to the print data not attached with the keyword information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a host terminal connected to a network for transmitting print data together with keyword information and user information, and receiving print data attached to the network and attached with keyword information. Printing means for performing image formation and transmitting image formation status to the network, and input means for inputting keyword information by the host terminal, and display means for displaying the image formation status and user information transmitted by the print means. The printing means transmits the user information after the keyword information is input from the input means for the print data to which the keyword information is added.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage means for holding print data to which keyword information is attached, an input means having a plurality of keys, and a keyword information attached to print data. A control unit that starts printing of the print data stored in the storage unit when the same keyword information is input from the input unit; and that the printing is not started until the keyword information is input from the input unit. It has.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image developing means for developing an image of print data to which keyword information is attached, a storage means for storing a print image developed by the image developing means, Input means having a key of
Control means for starting printing of the print image stored in the storage means at the time when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input means. This has an effect that only such image development is performed, and printing is not started until the keyword information is input from the input unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network communication means for receiving print data attached with keyword information from a network, and a storage for holding the print data attached with the keyword information received by the network communication means. Means, input means having a plurality of keys, and control means for starting printing of the print data stored in the storage means when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input means. This has the effect that printing is not started until the keyword information is input from the input means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the storage means stores print data with keyword information and print data without keyword information. In this case, the control unit performs image formation with priority on print data not attached with keyword information until the keyword information is input from the input unit. There is no interruption until keyword input.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a host terminal which is connected to a network and transmits print data together with keyword information and user information, and receives print data which is connected to the network and has keyword information attached thereto. Printing means for performing image formation and transmitting image formation status to the network, and input means for inputting keyword information by the host terminal, and display means for displaying the image formation status and user information transmitted by the print means. The printing means transmits the user information after the keyword information is input from the input means for the print data with the keyword information, and the user information is displayed until the keyword information is input from the host terminal. It has the effect of not being displayed on the means.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a semiconductor laser element (omitted in the drawing) and a motor (omitted in the drawing) in the image forming apparatus 1 (printing means).
The dot data corresponding to each of the colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black is sent to a laser scanning unit (abbreviated as LSU) 2 having a built-in polygon mirror that rotates. First, the black image data is sent to the LSU 2, and the LSU 2 switches on and off the laser for each dot according to the black image data. In the process cartridge 3, a photoconductor (not shown) uniformly charged negatively by a charger (not shown).
LSU2 emits a laser beam to form a latent image due to a potential difference generated by irradiating the photoconductor with the laser beam. In the latent image formed on the photoreceptor, toner (not shown) is attracted to the photoreceptor by Coulomb force generated by a developing bias which is a specified voltage value applied to the developing device, and the photoreceptor is A toner image is formed by performing development with toner thereon. The toner image is removed by light and transferred to the intermediate transfer body 4. The toner image on the intermediate transfer member 4 is held on the intermediate transfer member 4 until the next color-superimposed image is transferred to the intermediate transfer member 4.

Next, the cyan image data is sent to the LSU 2, and the transfer to the intermediate transfer member 4 is performed in the same process. Further, magenta and yellow are also superimposed and held on the intermediate transfer body 4 in the same process.

The toner image on which the four colors are superimposed is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow A by the registration roller 6 at the same timing so that the leading edge of the toner image coincides with the leading edge of the paper picked up from the paper cassette 5. Is done. The toner image held on the intermediate transfer member 4 is transferred to the front side of the sheet by the sheet transfer roller 7. The four color toner images transferred onto the sheet are conveyed to the sheet, and the toner is melted by heat and pressure in the fixing device 8 to be fixed on the sheet. After the fixing, the sheet is transported by the sheet transport roller 9 in the direction indicated by arrow B.

Next, the paper discharge conveyance roller 9 starts reverse rotation to print the back side of the paper, and the paper is conveyed to the reversing device 1.
The paper is conveyed to the paper conveyance path 11 in the direction indicated by arrow C in FIG.

The sheet is conveyed by the registration rollers 6 in a timely manner so that the leading edge of the toner image on the back page formed on the intermediate transfer member 4 and the leading edge of the sheet coincide. The toner image to be transferred to the back page held on the intermediate transfer member 4 is transferred to the back surface of the sheet by the sheet transfer roller 7. The sheet whose image has been transferred to the back surface is conveyed by a discharge conveyance roller 9 and discharged onto a discharge tray 12.

Through the above steps, the image forming apparatus performs double-sided printing of a color image.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a host terminal 30 is connected to an Ethernet 32 via a network card 31 (network communication means) for controlling communication. Have been. The Ethernet 32 has a plurality of host terminals 30.
And the image forming apparatus 40 are connected. Host terminal 3
0 has a keyboard 33 and a cathode ray tube display (hereinafter abbreviated as CRT) 34 (display means), and is controlled by a control means 35. As shown in FIG. 7, the screen 34a of the CRT 34 displays the printing status of the image forming apparatus 40.

The user transfers print data created using an application program or the like to the network card 3.
1 to the Ethernet 32. At this time, the user can attach a password to the print data using the keyboard 33. From the network card 31, in addition to the print data, a file name of a document of the print data, user information including a user name of the host terminal 30, and a password input by the user are transmitted.

The image forming apparatus 40 receives, via the network card 41, print data and the like transmitted from a plurality of host terminals 30. The control means 42 sequentially stores the print data and the like in the hard disk 44 (storage means). The control means 42 converts the print data into the image
3 for image development. Here, the image development refers to a bit for sending print data created in a printer control language such as Adobe PostScript Language (registered trademark of Adobe) or Hewlett-Packard HP-PCL (registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard) to LSU2. It means to convert to image data. Image developing means 4
3, the image data to which the password has been added is stored in the hard disk 44 again,
Fig. 2 shows image data without a password.
Is sent to the image forming unit 45 shown in FIG.
As described above, the image data with the password is stored in the hard disk 44 in a state where the image is developed, and the image data without the password is sequentially printed.

The image forming apparatus 40 has an operation panel 50 as shown in detail in FIG. 3, and the operation panel 50 has a liquid crystal display (hereinafter abbreviated as LCD) 46.
And a keyboard 47 (input means) including a numeric keypad 51, an enter key 52, and a cancel key 53 is provided.

The control means 42 includes a network card 41
For each print data transmitted from the plurality of host terminals 30, the file name of the document of the print data without the password, the user name of the host terminal 30, and the printing status are transmitted. For print data with a password, only the user name of the host terminal 30 and the printing status are transmitted.

The operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

The user instructs printing of print data from the host terminal 30. At this time, the user can attach a password to print data such as a confidential document that the user does not want others to see.

The control means 35 transmits, via the network card 31, the file name of the document of the print data,
It transmits user information such as a user name of 0, print data, and password information to the Ethernet 32.

The image forming apparatus 40 receives print data and the like from the network card 41 and
Keep in.

The control means 42 sequentially sends the received print data to the image developing means 43 to perform image developing. Control means 4
Reference numeral 2 denotes image data for which image development has been completed by the image developing means 43, and saves image data with a password on the hard disk 44 again, and sends image data without a password to the image forming unit 45, and prints the image data with the image forming unit 45. Execute

At this time, the control means 42 transmits the contents of the received print data to the Ethernet 32 via the network card 41.

Screen 34a of CRT 34 of host terminal 30
7, the contents of each print data being printed and waiting for printing are displayed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, “Job #” indicates the order of the received print data. The "user name" is the user name of the host terminal 30, the "title" is the file name of the document of the print data, the "number of pages" is the number of pages when the print data was printed, and the "status" is the printing ( printing) or waiting (waitin)
g). "Confident
"ial Job" is print data transmitted by a user by designating a password, and is regarded as a confidential document.

On the screen 34a of FIG. 7, Job1 and Job
Since b3 is a normal document and Job2 is a confidential document, Jo
In b2, the title and the number of pages are not displayed. Also,
In the lower section of “Confidential Job”, “Jo
b2: enter password → ”is displayed.

Since Job 2 is a confidential document on the screen 46a of the LCD 46 of the image forming apparatus 40, "Job 2: enter password" as shown in FIG.
→ "is displayed. In this state, the user who has instructed printing of Job2 inputs password information, for example, “2000” as shown in FIG. 5 from the keyboard 47, and then presses the enter key 52 to display the screen 46a as shown in FIG. Is "Job2: printin
g "is displayed, the control unit 42 sends the image data stored in the hard disk 44 to the image forming unit 45, and starts printing.

As shown in FIG. 7, when there are three Jobs and only Job 2 is a confidential document, the user immediately enters the keyboard 47 when "Job 2: enter password →" is displayed as shown in FIG. If the password information is not input, Job 3, which is a normal document, is printed first. Thereafter, when the user inputs a password, if another document is being printed, the printing of the confidential document is started after the printing is completed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, printing is not performed until the user who has instructed the input of the secret document comes to the installation location of image forming apparatus 40 and inputs the password from keyboard 47. There is no risk that the user will be able to peek at the contents of the secret document or take the secret document away, and in the image forming device 40 to which the plurality of host terminals 30 are connected or the image forming device 40 to which the network is connected, You can print confidential documents with confidence.

Further, according to the present embodiment, since the image forming apparatus 40 is waiting in a state in which the image data requiring the longest time for image development has been stored in the hard disk 44, the user inputs the password. Printing can be started immediately afterward, and the user does not have to wait long in front of the image forming apparatus 40.

Further, according to the present embodiment, although image forming apparatus 40 develops images in the order in which they are received, printing of a secret document is suspended until a password is input, and printing of another non-secret document is performed. Since printing is performed earlier, there is no problem that other printing is interrupted even if secret documents are mixed.

In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 40
Indicates the image data having undergone image development on the hard disk 44.
The print data itself before image development can be stored.

Next, confirmation of the printing state in the host terminal 30 will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, the image forming apparatus 40
Is displayed on the screen 34a of the CRT 34. As described above, “Job #”, “user name”, “title”, “number of pages”, and “status” are displayed on the screen 34a. Job 2 is a confidential document, and “####” and “##” are displayed because the image forming apparatus 40 has not transmitted “title” and “number of pages”.
In this state, if the user wants to see the title and the number of pages of the secret document of Job2, as shown in FIG.
2: enter password → ”followed by“ 20
By inputting “00”, “Contract” as the title of Job2 and “20” as the number of pages are displayed on the screen 34a.
Will be displayed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the title and the number of pages of the secret document are not displayed when the user confirms the usage status of the image forming apparatus 40. Does not know what document is being printed, so there is no risk of guessing the contents of the secret document, and the risk of peeping can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the "title" and the "number of pages" are not displayed, but the "user name" and the "status" may not be displayed.

[0051]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a storage means for holding print data to which keyword information is attached, an input means having a plurality of keys, a keyword attached to the print data, Control means for starting printing of the print data stored in the storage means when the same keyword information as the information is input from the input means, and printing is not started until the keyword information is input from the input means Since printing is not performed until the user who instructs the input of the confidential document comes to the installation location of the image forming apparatus and enters the keyword information, another user can look into the contents of the confidential document. Or
There is no danger of the secret document being taken away, and the secret document can be printed with confidence in the image forming apparatus to which a plurality of host terminals are connected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image developing means for developing an image of print data to which keyword information is attached, a storage means for storing a printed image developed by the image developing means, Input means having a key of
Control means for starting printing of the print image stored in the storage means at the time when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input means. The image forming apparatus only performs such image development and does not start printing until the keyword information is input from the input unit. The image forming apparatus stores the image data for which image development requiring the most time is completed. Since the printer is on standby in a state stored in the means, printing can be started immediately after the user inputs the keyword information, and the user does not have to wait long in front of the image forming apparatus.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network communication means for receiving print data attached with keyword information from a network, and a storage for holding the print data attached with the keyword information received by the network communication means. Means, input means having a plurality of keys, and control means for starting printing of the print data stored in the storage means when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input means. The printing apparatus does not start printing until the keyword information is input from the input unit, and the user who instructs the input of the secret document comes to the installation location of the image forming apparatus and inputs the keyword information. Printing is not performed until another user can view the contents of the secret document or hold it. No risk of or departed, in the image forming apparatus in which a plurality of host terminals are connected to the connected image forming devices and networks, in which it is printed secret document with confidence.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, the storage means stores print data with keyword information and print data without keyword information. In this case, the control unit performs image formation with priority on print data not attached with keyword information until the keyword information is input from the input unit. There is no interruption such as input of the keyword, and no trouble such as interruption of other printing is caused.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a host terminal which is connected to a network and transmits print data together with keyword information and user information, and receives print data which is connected to the network and has keyword information attached thereto. Printing means for performing image formation and transmitting image formation status to the network, and input means for inputting keyword information by the host terminal, and display means for displaying the image formation status and user information transmitted by the print means. The print means transmits the user information after the keyword information is input from the input means for the print data with the keyword information, and the user information is displayed until the keyword information is input from the host terminal. Has the effect of not being displayed on the means, Since the user information such as title and number of pages is not displayed for the secret document, users other than the user who printed the secret document do not know what document is being printed and do not have to worry about guessing the contents of the secret document, This reduces the risk of peeping.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the main part.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the main part.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the main part.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the main part.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the main part.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 30 host terminal 31 network card 32 Ethernet 33 keyboard 34 CRT (display means) 35 control means 40 image forming apparatus (printing means) 41 network card (network communication means) 42 control means 43 image development means 44 hard disk (storage means) 45 image Forming unit 46 LCD 47 Keyboard

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A storage unit for holding print data to which keyword information is attached, an input unit having a plurality of keys, and when the same keyword information as the keyword information attached to the print data is input from the input unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that starts printing of the print data stored in the storage unit. 2. An image developing means for developing an image of print data to which keyword information is attached; a storage means for storing a print image developed by the image developing means; an input means having a plurality of keys; An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that starts printing a print image stored in the storage unit when keyword information identical to keyword information attached to the storage unit is input from the input unit. 3. Network communication means for receiving print data attached with keyword information from a network, storage means for holding print data attached with keyword information received by said network communication means, and input means having a plurality of keys. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to start printing of print data stored in the storage unit when keyword information identical to keyword information attached to print data is input from the input unit. . 4. When the storage means stores print data to which keyword information is attached and print data to which no keyword information is attached, the control means appends the keyword information until the keyword information is inputted from the input means. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein image formation is performed with priority given to print data that has not been printed. 5. A host terminal connected to a network and transmitting print data together with keyword information and user information, and receiving print data attached to the network and attached with keyword information to form an image and to form an image. Printing means for transmitting the status to the network, input means for inputting the keyword information by the host terminal, and display means for displaying the status of image formation and user information transmitted by the printing means, wherein the printing means includes a keyword. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that user information is transmitted after the keyword information is input from the input means for the print data with the information.