JP2001312380A - Network printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a network printing system capable of realizing printing restriction without being limited by the number of registered user IDs for performing printing restriction, and without physically separating a network. A client PC for transmitting a print job is provided.
In a network printing system in which a printer device for receiving and printing a print job from the client PC 1 is connected via a network 4, a print job from the client PC 1 is received, and a user ID included in the print job is stored in advance. It is determined whether or not the data is registered. If the data is registered, the transmission source address indicating the print restriction server 2 and the print data are transferred to the printer 3 indicated by the transmission destination address. If the data is not registered, the printing is not permitted. A print restriction server 2 that transmits a print non-permission message to the client PC 1 indicated by the transmission source address is connected to the network 4, and the printer apparatus 3 registers in advance a transmission source address indicating the transmitted print restriction server 2 Authentication to execute printing only when it is registered, and to refuse printing if it is not registered It is equipped with a 33.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing system in which an information processing device and a printer are connected to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has been widely used to connect a plurality of information processing apparatuses such as personal computers and word processors to a printer via a network, and to share the printer. In this way, when a printer is shared by a plurality of information processing apparatuses, any user of the information processing apparatus can use the printer.If a specific user frequently uses the printer, outside users can use the printer when he / she wants to use it. The situation that disappears occurs. Further, when managing the use state for each user, it is necessary to manage the number of sheets used, the paper size, the printing function, and the like for each user. Therefore, it is required to manage users so as to limit the users who can print, and to limit the number of prints and print functions for each user.

For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-48165 proposes to provide a printer with a print restriction function for restricting users who can use the printer, but proposes to all printers connected to a network. If such a print restriction function is provided, the entire network printing system becomes very expensive. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 9-185474 discloses a printing system in which a network that issues a job and a network that connects a printer are physically separated, and a print management device located at the boundary thereof is provided with a print restriction device. Has been proposed. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-185474, it is pointed out that providing a management function such as printing restriction for each printer is very costly as a whole system, and the management function is provided to each printer as an invention to solve this. A network print service system can be constructed without the provision.

[0004]

However, recently, by replacing the firmware of the network board of the printer, it is possible to construct a printing system having a printing restriction function at relatively low cost. However, since the network board of the printer is restricted in the use of resources, the number of registered user IDs for restricting printing is limited.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and its object is not to be limited by the number of registered user IDs for restricting printing, and even without physically separating the network. An object of the present invention is to provide a network printing system capable of realizing printing restrictions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a network printing system capable of restricting printing for each user, managing the number of sheets actually used for each user, and accurately controlling the number of printable sheets. is there.

[0007]

In order to achieve the first object, a first means comprises: an information processing apparatus for transmitting a print job including a user ID and an address of a printer to be used; In a network printing system in which a printer device that receives and prints the print job is connected via a network, the network printing system includes a receiving unit that is connected to the network and receives the print job from the information processing device. Means for registering the user ID for setting whether or not a print job can be received, and when receiving the print job from the information processing apparatus, determine whether the user ID included in the print job is registered. Means for receiving the print job which has been determined to be registered in the printer indicated by the address when it is determined that the print job has been registered Is transmitted, and if it is determined that the data is not registered, the printing is not permitted, and a print non-permission message is transmitted to the information processing apparatus that transmitted the print job. ,
The source address is registered to set whether or not to execute the print job from the means for receiving the print job, the source address that transmitted the print job is determined, and when it is determined that the print job is registered, Is characterized by executing printing and rejecting printing if it is determined that it is not registered.

In order to achieve the first object, the second means includes a receiving means in the first means for setting a printable number for each registered user and calculating a remaining number. This means calculates the number of print sheets required for the print job to execute printing, and refers to the remaining number of printable sheets for each registered user to determine whether the job can execute printing. Is determined, if the remaining printable number is sufficient, printing is permitted after subtraction processing by the number of print sheets of the job, and printing is rejected if not enough. .

In order to achieve the first object, the third means includes a managing means for setting and registering a function usable for printing for each registered user by the receiving means in the first or second means. The management means retrieves printing functions required for the print job to execute printing,
It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not printing of the job is possible by referring to a function that can be used for printing for each user.

In order to achieve the second object, a fourth means includes an information processing apparatus for transmitting a print job including a user ID, and a printer apparatus for receiving and printing a print job from the information processing apparatus. A network printing system connected via a network, comprising a receiving unit connected to the network and receiving the print job from the information processing apparatus, wherein the receiving unit stores a printable number of sheets for each user ID. While receiving a print job from the information processing apparatus and referring to the remaining printable number corresponding to the user ID included in the print job,
If the remaining number of printable pages exists, the print job is transmitted to the printer together with the transmission source code indicating the print setting means authorized and permitted to print, and if the remaining number of printable pages is zero, printing is performed. Is not permitted, a print non-permission message is transmitted to the information processing apparatus, and the printer registers the source address to set whether or not to execute the print job from the source address, and registers the print job. The source address of the transmission is determined. If it is determined that the job is registered, the printing is executed. If it is determined that the job is not registered, the printing is rejected. Control means for transferring the output number information to the print setting means of the source address,
The receiving means subtracts the printable number of the user based on the output number information from the control means.

In order to achieve the second object, the fifth means is that the receiving means in the fourth means calculates and registers the number of print sheets required for the print job to execute printing. The remaining printable number of each user is referred to to determine whether the job can be printed. If the remaining printable number is sufficient, the subtraction processing is performed by the number of printable sheets of the job. It is characterized by having a management means for permitting printing after performing the above, and rejecting printing when it is not sufficient.

In order to achieve the second object, a sixth means is that the control means in the fourth means transmits output information to the print setting means for each sheet output during printing. It is characterized by.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that, in the following embodiments, the same reference numerals are given to portions that can be regarded as equivalent, and redundant description will be omitted as appropriate.

First, the configuration of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the concept of a network printing system according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration in this embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a print job issued to the print restriction server according to this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a print job input to a printer from the print restriction server according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the overall configuration of the network printing system according to the present invention includes a plurality of printers 3 and a plurality of information processing devices such as personal computers and word processors capable of inputting print requests to the printers 3. An apparatus (in the embodiment described below, a personal computer is referred to as a client PC and referred to as a client PC) 1 and a print restriction server 2 that sets one print restriction and controls the same, and these printer apparatuses 3 The client PC 1 and the print restriction server 2 are connected by a network 4.

The client PC 1 issues a print job to the print restriction server 2 to print a document or the like created by a user using a user application. As shown in FIG. 3, the print job includes, for print data 41 expressed in a page description language, a user ID 42 which is an identification code of a user who issues the job, and a transmission ID which is an address of the transmission source client PC 1. Original address 43
And a destination address 44 which is the address of the destination printer 3.

The print restriction server 2, as shown in FIG.
Job receiving unit 21, Job analyzing unit 22, Job transmitting unit 2
3, an authentication unit 24, an identification code management unit 25, an identification code update unit 26, a print disapproval message generation unit 27, a print restriction management unit 28, and a print restriction setting unit 29. The identification code management unit 25 stores the print restriction server 2
The user ID of a person permitted to print by the printer is registered and managed in advance by the administrator. This user ID is additionally registered or deleted as appropriate in the identification code updating unit 26 based on the operation of the administrator. The job receiving unit 21 receives the print job transferred from the client PC 1 via the network 4 and extracts the print data, the user ID, the transmission source address, and the transmission destination address in the job analysis unit 22 at the subsequent stage.

The authentication section 24 determines whether or not the user ID from the job analysis section 22 has been registered in the identification code management section 25. If it is not a registered one, it refuses to accept the print job. On the other hand, if the print job has been registered, it is further determined whether or not the print job transmitted by the user is printable based on the remaining printable number from the print restriction management unit 28 and the available print function. If printing is not possible, the job is rejected. If printing is possible, the job is finally received. When the job is received by the authentication unit 24 in this manner, the job transmission unit 23 indicates the print data 45 and the print restriction server 2 to the printer specified by the transmission destination address, as shown in FIG. The source address 46 is transmitted.

On the other hand, when a print job is accepted in the management database in which the remaining number of printable sheets and available print functions are registered for each user registered in the identification code management section 25, The remaining printable number of the corresponding user is updated by the number of prints obtained by analyzing the print job in the job analysis unit 22. Print non-permission message generator 27
This is because the user ID obtained in the job analysis unit 22 is not registered in the identification code management unit 25 as described above, or when the remaining number of printable sheets of the user is not enough to execute the print job. When the authentication unit 24 refuses to accept a job, a message to that effect is generated and transmitted to the client PC 1 indicated by the transmission source address obtained by the job analysis unit 22.

The printer 3 includes a job receiving unit 31, a job analyzing unit 32, an authentication unit 33, a print executing unit 34, and an identification code managing unit 35. In the identification code management unit 35, the source address permitted to be printed by the printer 3 is registered in a management database registered in advance by the administrator, and the address of the print restriction server 2 is previously stored in the source address. be registered. The job receiving unit 31 receives the print job transferred from the print restriction server 2 via the network 4, and the print job analysis unit 32 extracts the print data and the address of the source print restriction server 2. The authentication unit 33 determines whether or not the source address from the job analysis unit 32 has been registered in the identification code management unit 35. If it is not a registered one, it refuses to accept the print job. On the other hand, if the print job has been registered, it is further determined from the remaining printable number from the print restriction management unit 28 whether the print job transmitted by the user is printable. If printing is not possible, the job is rejected. If printing is possible, the job is finally received. When the job is accepted by the authentication unit 33 as described above, the print execution unit 34
Execute printing.

The operation procedure of the print restriction server 2 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the print restriction server according to the first embodiment. Client PC
1 through the network 4 and the print data, user ID, source address, destination address, and the like are analyzed by the job analyzer 22 (step 10).
1) The user ID from the job analysis unit 22 in the authentication unit 24
It is checked whether or not is registered in the identification code management unit 25 (step 102). If the user ID is registered, it is checked whether the remaining printable number from the print restriction management unit 28 is larger or smaller than the print number of the print job transmitted by the user (step 103). It is also checked whether or not the job can be printed by the corresponding print function (step 104). If the number of printable sheets is larger than the number of printable sheets of the job, the print restriction management unit 28 subtracts the number of printable sheets of the job from the number of printable sheets of the corresponding user (step 1).
05), the print limit management unit 28 updates the printable number based on the subtracted print number. After the subtraction, the print job is transmitted to the printer 3 via the network 4 (step 106).

If the registration of the user ID is not confirmed in step 102, if the corresponding printable number is smaller than the print number of the job in step 103, and
If printing cannot be performed with the print function requested by the job in step 04, the client PC 1 is notified of print non-permission (step 107), and the print job is deleted (step 10).
8).

On the other hand, the printer 3 operates as shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the printer device according to the first embodiment. A print job is received from the print restriction server 2 via the network 4, and the print data, user ID
Is analyzed (step 201), and it is checked whether the analyzed user ID is registered (step 20).
2) If the user ID is registered, print is executed (step 203). On the other hand, if the registration of the user ID has not been confirmed, the print job is deleted (step 204).

In the first embodiment, in order to limit the number of prints, the remaining printable number is subtracted by the output number of the print job obtained by the job analysis unit 22 of the print restriction server 2. Therefore, there is a possibility that the number of sheets may be deviated from the originally output number of sheets. That is, there is a case where a job reset of a print job due to a jam in the middle of printing or designation of aggregation or two-sided printing cannot be completely extracted only by analyzing the print language.

Therefore, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the number of sheets actually printed by the printer is transferred to the print restriction server 2, and the number of prints is limited based on the actual number of output sheets. I have to. This second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a print job input to a printer from a print restriction server according to this embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram for describing a configuration of job information transmitted from the printer to the print restriction server in the embodiment. Since the entire configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description and drawings are omitted.

As shown in FIG. 7, the configuration of the print restriction server 2 is such that a network transmission / reception section 71 is connected to the job transmission section 23 in the first embodiment, and information on the number of sheets output from the printer 3 is used for print restriction management. Since it is the same as the above-described first embodiment except that it is connected so as to be sent to the unit 28, the duplicate description is omitted. In the first embodiment, the print restriction management unit 28 updates the remaining printable number of the corresponding user by the number of prints obtained by analyzing the print job by the job analysis unit 22 in the first embodiment. However, in the second embodiment, the print limit management unit 28 updates the remaining printable number of the corresponding user based on the number information actually output by the printer 3. . Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 8, the print job input from the print restriction server 2 to the printer 3 is obtained by adding the user ID 61 to the print data 45 and the source address 46 representing the print restriction server 2 in the first embodiment. Shape.

On the other hand, the printer 3 includes a network transmission / reception unit 51, a job analysis unit 52, an authentication unit 53, and a print execution unit 5.
4 and an identification code management unit 55.
The identification code management unit 55 stores, in a management database in which the sender address permitted to be printed by the printer 3 is registered in advance by the administrator, the sender address includes the address of the print restriction server 2 in advance. be registered. The network transmission / reception unit 51 receives the print job transferred from the print restriction server 2 via the network 4, and in the print job analysis unit 51,
The user ID, the print data, and the address of the source print restriction server 2 are extracted. The authentication unit 53 determines whether or not the transmission source address from the print job analysis unit 51 has been registered in the identification code management unit 55, and if not, refuses to accept the print job. I do. On the other hand, if it is registered, printing is executed in the print execution unit 54. The output result of the print execution unit 54 is transmitted from the network transmission / reception unit 51 to the network transmission / reception unit 71 of the print restriction server 2. Accordingly, the job information transmitted from the printer 3 to the print restriction server 2 is a user ID 62 and an output number 63 representing the number of sheets actually output as shown in FIG.

The operation procedure of the print restriction server 2 in the second embodiment is as shown in FIG. FIG.
9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the print restriction server according to the second embodiment. FIG.
As is clear from the comparison with FIG. 5 in the second embodiment, in the second embodiment, the process proceeds directly from step 104 to step 106. That is, in the second embodiment, as described above, the job information returned from the printer 3 to the print restriction server 2 includes output number information indicating the number of sheets actually output from the printer 3. This is because the print limit management unit 28 updates the remaining printable number of the corresponding user because the print limit management unit 28 is sent to the server 2.

The operation of the printer device is as shown in FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the print restriction server in this embodiment. As is apparent from FIG. 11, in the second embodiment, step 203 in FIG. 6 of the first embodiment is performed.
Is the same as that of the first embodiment except that a step 301 of transmitting the output information to the print restriction server 2 every time one sheet of paper is being printed is added after.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in an environment where a plurality of users share a printer connected to a network,
Since users who can print can be restricted and the setting is also made by the print setting means connected to the network, the setting can be performed without improving the information processing device and the printer.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the print setting means sets the printable number for each user registered by the print number management means and calculates the remaining number.
After calculating the number of print sheets required to execute printing of the print job, referring to the remaining printable number of each registered user to determine whether the job can execute printing. This makes it possible to restrict the printing functions required by the input print job for each user.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the function usable for printing can be set and registered for each user registered by the printing function management means, the function usable for printing can be limited for each user. be able to.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in an environment in which a plurality of users share a printer connected to a network, the number of printable users can be restricted, and the number of printed sheets actually printed can be reduced. Since the remaining available number of prints can be managed for each user, an accurate print number limit can be performed for each user.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the print management means analyzes the print job, and includes the number of output sheets that will be printed from now on, and leaves the remaining available number of sheets for each user. , It is possible to realize a more accurate upper limit on the number of prints.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the control means transmits output information to the print setting means for each sheet output during printing, so that the sheet output information for each sheet during printing is transmitted. Therefore, even when the power supply is suddenly interrupted during printing, the output upper limit number can be accurately limited without missing output number information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the concept of a network printing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a print job issued to a print restriction server according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a print job input to a printer from a print restriction server according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the print restriction server according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the printer device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a print job input to a printer from a print restriction server according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of job information transmitted from a printer device to a print restriction server according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a print restriction server according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a print restriction server according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 client PC (information processing device) 2 print restriction server 3 printer 4 network 22 job analysis unit 23 job transmission unit 24, 33, 53 authentication unit 25 identification code management unit 27 print non-permission message generation unit 28 print restriction management unit 29 print Restriction setting unit 31 Job receiving unit 34, 54 Print execution unit 51 Network transmitting / receiving unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] An information processing apparatus for transmitting a print job including a user ID and an address of a printer to be used, and a printer apparatus for receiving and printing a print job from the information processing apparatus are connected via a network. A network printing system, comprising: a receiving unit connected to the network for receiving the print job from the information processing apparatus; the receiving unit registers the user ID for setting whether to receive a print job. When the print job is received from the information processing apparatus, it is determined whether or not the user ID included in the print job is registered. If it is determined that the user ID is registered, registration with the printer indicated by the address is performed. Transfers the sender address and print data indicating the means for receiving the determined print job, and is not registered If it is determined that the print job is not permitted, a print non-permission message is transmitted to the information processing apparatus that transmitted the print job, and the printer apparatus determines whether to execute the print job from the unit that receives the print job. Register the source address for setting, determine the source address that sent the print job, execute printing if it is determined to be registered, and execute A network printing system characterized by rejecting printing. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit includes a unit for setting a printable number of sheets for each registered user and calculating a remaining number of sheets. This means is necessary for the print job to execute printing. Calculate the number of print sheets, refer to the remaining number of printable sheets for each registered user to determine whether the job can be printed, and if the remaining number of printable sheets is sufficient, 2. The network printing system according to claim 1, wherein printing is permitted after subtraction processing for the number of sheets of printing paper, and printing is rejected when there is not enough printing paper. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit includes a managing unit configured to set and register a function that can be used for printing for each registered user. The managing unit includes a printing function required for the print job to execute printing. 3. The network printing system according to claim 1, wherein the network printing system determines whether or not printing of the job is possible by referring to a function that can be used for printing for each user. 4. A network printing system in which an information processing apparatus for transmitting a print job including a user ID and a printer apparatus for receiving and printing a print job from the information processing apparatus are connected via a network. A receiving unit that is connected to a network and receives the print job from the information processing apparatus; the receiving unit stores the number of printable pages of each user ID, and receives a print job from the information processing apparatus. And referring to the remaining printable number corresponding to the user ID included in the print job, and if the remaining printable number exists, the print job is transmitted together with the transmission source code indicating the print setting unit authorized and permitted to print. Sent to the printer, if the remaining number of printable pages is zero, does not permit printing, and a print disapproval message Transmitting to the information processing device, the printer device registers the transmission source address to set whether or not to execute the print job from the transmission source address, determines the transmission source address that transmitted the print job, If it is determined that the job has been registered, the printing is executed.If it is determined that the job has not been registered, the printing is rejected. A network printing system, comprising: a control unit that transfers the print data to a print setting unit; and the receiving unit subtracts the printable number of the user based on output number information from the control unit. 5. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit calculates the number of print sheets required for the print job to execute printing, and refers to a remaining printable number for each registered user to print the job. Is executed, and if the number of remaining printable sheets is sufficient, printing is permitted after subtracting the number of print sheets of the job, and printing is rejected if not enough. The network printing system according to claim 4, further comprising a management unit. 6. The network printing system according to claim 4, wherein said control means transmits output information to said receiving means for each sheet output during printing.