JP2009230580A - Print job holding device, authentication printing system, and print job managing method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a new framework capable of avoiding a situation in which a print job is held in a spooler for a long period of time without deleting the print job.
A job storage unit that spools a print job in association with a user, and when the user is authenticated based on authentication information acquired from the user, the job storage unit corresponds to the authenticated user. Means for reading out a print job and transmitting it to a printing apparatus; and means for setting a spool time of the print job as a user accumulation reference time corresponding to the print job when the print job is spooled by the job storage means For a user whose corresponding print job is spooled in the job storage means, a means for obtaining an elapsed time (job storage time) from the user's storage reference time and a user whose job storage time is equal to or greater than a threshold value. And means for notifying that the print job is spooled.
[Selection] Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for enhancing security when a printing process is executed based on a print job held in a spooler or the like.

Conventionally, as a framework for preventing information leakage from printed materials (for example, theft, snooping, mistaking, etc. of printed materials), an authentication printing system that permits printing only to those who can authenticate using an authentication device has been known. Yes. For example, in Patent Document 1, print data for authentication printing (authentication print job) is stored in a spooler, and when authentication information is transmitted from the printer device, the corresponding print job is transmitted to the printer device. A configuration is disclosed.
JP 2004-118232 A

  The above-described conventional framework is considered effective for information leakage from printed matter, but information leakage from a print job, for example, unauthorized access is made to a spooler that holds a print job. It is impossible to prevent the situation where the job itself is copied and leaked.

  In particular, if the user does not authenticate using the authentication device, the print job will be held in the spooler for a long period of time, and the risk of information leakage from the print job will be further increased.

  In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable to delete a print job when a predetermined time has elapsed after the print job is held in the spooler. However, once a print job is deleted from the spooler, a user who wants to continue printing must return to his terminal and retransmit the print job, which is inconvenient.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a new framework that can avoid a situation in which a print job is held in a spooler for a long period of time without depending on deletion of the print job.

  The print job holding apparatus according to the present invention includes a job storage unit that spools a print job in association with a user, and the authentication unit that is authenticated by the job storage unit when the user is authenticated based on authentication information acquired from the user. When a print job corresponding to the user is read, and when the print job is spooled by the job storage unit, the job transmission unit transmits the print job to the printing apparatus, Reference time setting means for setting the spool time of the print job, and storage for obtaining an elapsed time (job storage time) from the user's storage reference time for the user whose corresponding print job is spooled in the job storage means Print jobs are spooled for time counting means and users whose job accumulation time is greater than or equal to the threshold. Characterized in that it and a storage job presence notification means for notifying that are.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to prompt the user who has the print job to be spooled to promptly execute printing based on the authentication print job, and as a result, the print job holding device can receive the print job. Can be avoided without deleting the print job (thus, without burdening the user to retransmit the print job).

  Preferably, the accumulated job existence notifying unit transmits an email indicating that the print job is spooled to a user whose job accumulation time is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

  The authentication printing system of the present invention is an authentication printing system comprising the print job holding device of the present invention, a printing device that executes printing based on a print job, and an authentication unit that performs user authentication, the authentication unit Comprises: an authentication unit that performs user authentication based on authentication information acquired from a user; and a job transmission instruction unit that instructs the print job holding device to transmit a print job of the authenticated user. Is configured to transmit a print job corresponding to an authenticated user to the printing apparatus when instructed to transmit a print job from the authentication unit.

  The print job management method according to the present invention includes a job accumulation step of spooling a print job in association with a user, and when the user is authenticated based on authentication information acquired from the user, A print job management method comprising: a job transmission step of transmitting a print job corresponding to the authenticated user to a printing apparatus, wherein when the print job is spooled by the job accumulation step, the print job is handled The reference time setting process for setting the spool time of the print job as the reference time for storing the user, and the elapsed time (job storage time) from the user reference time for the user in which the corresponding print job is spooled The print job is spooled to the user who has the accumulation time counting process to find It is characterized by and a storage job presence notification step of notifying that is.

  The print job management method of the present invention can be executed by an information processing apparatus such as a print job holding apparatus, and a program for this is installed through various media such as a CD-ROM, a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, and a communication network. Or can be loaded.

  In this specification, the term “means” does not simply mean a physical means, but also includes a case where the functions of the means are realized by software. Also, the functions of one means or device may be realized by two or more physical means or devices, or the functions of two or more means or devices may be realized by one physical means or device.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a new framework that can avoid a situation in which a print job is held in the spooler for a long period of time without depending on the deletion of the print job.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an authentication printing system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the authentication printing system 1 includes a terminal device 10 that creates an authentication print job, a printer device 20 that executes print processing based on the authentication print job, and a printer device 20 via a device connection interface such as a USB. An authentication device 100 connected to the authentication device, an authentication server 30 that executes an authentication process based on authentication information input via the authentication device 100, a spooler 40 that holds an authentication print job, and the like.

  As shown in the figure, the terminal device 10, the printer device 20, the authentication server 30, and the spooler 40 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via a communication network. The communication network may be any of a LAN, the Internet, a dedicated line, a packet communication network, a combination thereof, and the like, and may include both wired and wireless.

  In FIG. 1, one terminal device 10, printer device 20, authentication server 30, and spooler 40 are shown. However, the authentication printing system 1 is configured so that there are one or more each according to the design. May be.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of each apparatus will be described.

  The terminal device 10 includes hardware such as a CPU (processor), a ROM, a RAM, a user interface, a communication interface, and an HDD (see FIG. 2A).

  The terminal device 10 has the same function as an information processing device such as a normal personal computer. For example, the terminal device 10 includes an input / output unit 11 that inputs / outputs various information via a user interface, a communication unit 12 that transmits / receives various data to / from other devices via a communication interface, and a printer device. The printer driver means 13 to be controlled is provided (see FIG. 2B). Each of these means is functionally realized by the CPU executing a program stored in the ROM, RAM, HDD, external storage medium, or the like in the terminal device 10.

  The printer driver unit 13 supports authentication printing by the printer device 20, the authentication server 30, and the spooler 40, and has a function of creating a print job in a format that can be processed by the corresponding printer device in the same manner as a normal printer driver. Is provided.

  The printer device 20 has a configuration similar to that of a normal printer device (see FIG. 2C).

  For example, the printer device 20 includes a power supply mechanism that includes a paper feed mechanism that supplies paper into the printer device, a print engine that performs printing, and a paper discharge mechanism that discharges paper outside the printer. A print engine usually includes a paper feed mechanism, a carriage mechanism, a print head, and the like. A serial printer that prints in units of one character, such as an inkjet printer or a thermal transfer printer, a line printer that prints in units of lines, and a page Various print engines corresponding to a page printer or the like for printing can be used.

  Further, for example, the printer device 20 includes an information processing unit including a user interface such as a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication interface, and a console panel.

  In principle, the information processing unit of the printer device 20 has the same function as the information processing unit of the conventional printer device. For example, the receiving means 21 that receives a print job, analyzes the print job, generates a raster-format print image for one band or one page, stores it in the image buffer, and prints a predetermined unit (for example, one pass). A print control unit 22 or the like is provided that transfers an image from the image buffer to the print engine and executes printing while controlling the print engine.

  Further, functional means as an authentication printing apparatus, for example, ID reading means 23 for reading out ID information from the ID card of the user who wants to execute authentication printing by using the authentication device 100, and the user ID information of the user who wants to execute authentication printing. An authentication request unit 24 that creates an authentication request including the authentication request and transmits the request to the authentication server 30; a job request unit 25 that creates an authentication print job transmission request corresponding to the authenticated user (authentication user) and transmits the request to the authentication server 30; Provided (see FIG. 2D). If ID information (user name, user ID, employee number, etc.) is stored, the ID card can be freely selected from existing modes such as a magnetic card and an IC card according to the configuration of the authentication device 100. Can do.

  Each of these means is functionally realized by the CPU executing a program stored in a ROM or RAM in the printer device 20, an external storage medium, or the like.

  The authentication device 100 is, for example, a magnetic card reader, a barcode reader, an RFID reader, or the like, and various existing authentication devices can be used depending on the design.

  The authentication server 30 includes hardware such as a CPU (processor), ROM, RAM, user interface, communication interface, and HDD (see FIG. 3A).

  The authentication server 30 is transmitted from an authentication unit 31 that executes an authentication process based on an authentication request transmitted from the printer device 20 and a function similar to the normal authentication server 30 that supports authentication printing. Based on the job transmission request, it includes job transmission instruction means 32 that instructs the spooler 40 to transmit an authentication print job corresponding to the authenticated user to the printer device 20 (see FIG. 3B).

  Each of these means is functionally realized by the CPU executing a program stored in the ROM or RAM in the authentication server 30 or an external storage medium.

  The spooler 40 includes hardware such as a CPU (processor), ROM, RAM, user interface, communication interface, and HDD (see FIG. 3C).

  The spooler 40 receives the same function as the normal spooler, for example, an authentication print job transmitted from the terminal device 10, and stores the authentication print job in association with an authentication print execution authority holding user (authority user). Means 41, and an authentication print job providing means 42 for transmitting a corresponding authentication print job to the printer apparatus 20 based on an authentication print job transmission instruction received from the authentication server 30 (see FIG. 3D).

  However, as shown in FIG. 3D, when the print job is spooled by the authentication print job storage unit 41, the spooler 40 according to the present embodiment is used as the storage reference time of the user corresponding to the authentication print job. The reference time setting means 43 for setting the spool time of the authentication print job, and the user who has the corresponding print job spooled in the authentication print job storage means 41, the elapsed time from the storage reference time (hereinafter referred to as “job storage time”). Storage time counting means 44 for requesting the user, and a storage job existence notification means 45 for notifying a user whose job storage time is equal to or greater than a threshold value that the authentication print job is stored. It is different from the configuration.

  Each of these means is functionally realized by the CPU executing a program stored in the ROM or RAM in the spooler 40, an external storage medium, or the like.

  The operation of the authentication printing system 1 will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. In addition, in this specification, each process shown in a flowchart etc. (including a partial process to which no reference numeral is assigned) is arbitrarily changed or executed in parallel within a range that does not contradict the processing contents. Can do.

(Authentication print job accumulation stage: Fig. 4)
When a user who wishes to execute authentication printing creates an authentication print job using the terminal device 10, the following authentication print job storage process is executed.

  First, when the printer driver means 13 of the terminal device 10 receives an authentication print request designating the printer device 20 from an application program or the like operating on the terminal device 10 or outside (S100), the printer device 20 can interpret it. An authentication print job is created based on a predetermined printer control language (S101) and transmitted to the spooler 40 (S102).

  The authenticated print job can include, for example, information such as a job ID, output destination printer model information, job creation user ID information, authority user ID information, document name, and print setting information. The authorized user may be different from the job creation user, and a plurality of authorized users may be designated by one authenticated print job.

  When the authentication print job storage unit 41 of the spooler 40 receives the authentication print job from the terminal device 10 (printer driver unit 13) (S103), the ID information of the authorized user is extracted from the authentication print job and is associated with these. The authentication print job is stored (spooled) in the HDD or the like (S104).

  Next, the reference time setting unit 43 sets the spool time (or time in accordance with this) of the authentication print job in S104 as the user accumulation reference time corresponding to the extracted ID information (creates setting data). Stored in the HDD or the like) (S105). Since S105 is executed each time an authenticated print job is spooled, the spool time of the last spooled authenticated print job is set as the accumulation reference time for a user who has spooled a plurality of authenticated print jobs. It will be.

  FIG. 7 schematically shows an example of the data structure of spool data and storage reference time setting data managed by the authenticated print job storage unit 41.

(Authentication printing execution stage: FIG. 5)
When the printer device 20 receives an authentication print execution instruction from a user who wishes to execute authentication print, the following authentication print processing is executed.

  First, the ID reading unit 23 of the printer device 20 reads ID information from the ID card of the user who desires to perform authentication printing via the authentication device 100 (S200). The ID reading means 23 can employ a conventional configuration corresponding to the type of the authentication device 100.

  Next, the authentication request unit 24 creates an authentication request including the ID information of the user for the user who wants to execute authentication printing, and transmits the authentication request to the authentication server 30 (S201).

  Upon receiving the authentication request transmitted from the printer device 20, the authentication unit 31 of the authentication server 30 determines whether the user corresponding to the ID information is an authorized user based on the ID information included in the authentication request. (Authentication process is executed) (S202).

  The authentication unit 31 can be realized as, for example, a directory server that provides an LDAP authentication service. A simple configuration in which user authentication is successful when ID information can be acquired from an ID card can also be considered.

  Next, the authentication unit 31 transmits the determination result to the printer device 20 (S203).

  Upon receiving the determination result, the authentication request unit 24 of the printer device 20 indicates that the determination result indicates an authentication failure (when the user corresponding to the ID information is not authenticated as an authorized user) (S204: NO), The authentication printing process ends.

  On the other hand, when the determination result indicates that the authentication is successful (when the user corresponding to the ID information can be authenticated as an authorized user) (S204: YES), the job request unit 25 indicates the authenticated user (authenticated user). An authentication print job transmission request including ID information is created and transmitted to the authentication server 30 (S205).

  Upon receiving the authentication print job transmission request transmitted from the printer device 20, the job transmission instruction unit 32 of the authentication server 30 instructs the spooler 40 to transmit an authentication print job corresponding to the authenticated user to the printer device 20. (S206). Specifically, an authentication print job transmission instruction including ID information (authentication user ID information) in the authentication print job transmission request is created and transmitted to the spooler 40.

  When the ID information read from the ID card and the ID information associated with the authentication print job in the spooler 40 are different types (for example, the spooler 40 associates the authentication print job with the user name of the authorized user). However, when the ID information read from the ID card is the employee number of the authorized user), the job transmission instruction unit 32 refers to a table in which different types of ID information corresponding to the same user are associated in advance, The ID information used in the spooler 40 is acquired, and an authentication print job transmission instruction is generated using the ID information. The ID information conversion may be executed by the printer device 20 or the spooler 40.

  Upon receiving the authentication print job transmission instruction from the authentication server 30, the authentication print job providing unit 42 of the spooler 40 transmits a corresponding authentication print job to the printer device 20 based on the authentication print job transmission instruction (S207).

  Specifically, the ID information is extracted from the authentication print job transmission instruction, the authentication print job of the authorized user corresponding to the ID information is searched with reference to the authentication print job storage unit 41, and the corresponding authentication print job is found. If this happens, it is read out and transmitted to the printer device 20. In this case, first, a list of corresponding authentication print jobs may be created and transmitted to the printer device 20, and the user may be configured to select an authentication print job desired to be printed based on the list information.

  In addition, the authentication print job that has been transmitted to the printer device 20 is deleted from the HDD or the like at a predetermined timing (for example, when a print end notification is received from the printer device 20). Further, as a result of deleting the authentication print job, for the user whose corresponding authentication print job is not spooled in the authentication print job storage unit 41, the user's storage reference time setting data is deleted from the HDD or the like.

  In the printer device 20, when the receiving unit 21 receives the authenticated print job from the spooler 40, the print control unit 22 executes a printing process based on the authenticated print job as in the conventional case (S208). That is, the authentication print job is analyzed, a raster-format print image for one band or one page is generated and stored in an image buffer, and a predetermined unit (for example, one pass) is stored based on a control command in the authentication print job. ) Is transferred from the image buffer to the print engine, and printing is executed while controlling the print engine. Thereby, the authentication printing process is completed.

(Stored job existence notification stage: FIG. 6)
In the spooler 40, the following accumulated job existence notification process is executed at predetermined timing (periodic timing, timing at which an authentication print job is spooled, timing at which an authentication print job transmission instruction is received, etc.).

  The accumulation time counting unit 44 of the spooler 40 reads the user's storage reference time setting data stored in the HDD or the like for each user whose corresponding authentication print job is spooled by the authentication print job storage unit 41. From the accumulation reference time, the elapsed time (job accumulation time) from the accumulation reference time is obtained (S300).

  Except when the accumulation reference time described later is reset, as described above, the HDD or the like stores the spool time of the authentication print job spooled last for each user as the accumulation reference time. For a user who is spooled with the authentication print job, the job accumulation time is obtained based on the spool time of the authentication print job spooled last.

  Next, the accumulated job existence notifying unit 45 notifies a user whose job accumulation time is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (for example, a threshold set in advance by an administrative user or the like) that an authentication print job is spooled. (S301 to S304).

  First, a management server that detects a user whose job accumulation time is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (S301), creates a mail address acquisition request including the ID information of the detected user, and manages the mail address of each user (S302). When the authentication server 30 manages the mail address, it may be transmitted to the authentication server 30.

  Upon receiving the email address acquisition request, the email address management server acquires the email address corresponding to the ID information in the email address acquisition request from the database, and creates reply information including the ID information and the acquired email address. Is transmitted to the spooler 40 (S303). FIG. 8A shows an example of a TCP / IP packet of a mail address acquisition request when communicating between the spooler 40 and the mail address management server via the Internet, and FIG. An example of an IP packet is schematically shown.

  When receiving the reply information from the mail address management server, the accumulated job existence notifying unit 45 uses the mail address in the reply information to store the authenticated print job for the detected user for a predetermined time or more. A mail is sent to warn that the spool remains in the means 41 (S304). For this purpose, the accumulated job presence notifying unit 45 has a function as a normal mailer.

  Next, the accumulated job existence notifying unit 45 sets the time of sending the warning mail in S304 (or the time according to this) as the accumulation reference time of the user who sent the warning mail (setting stored in the HDD or the like). The data is updated and the accumulation reference time is reset) (S305). As a result, when the accumulated job existence notification process is executed next, the elapsed time from the time when the warning mail is transmitted is measured as the job accumulation time.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when an authenticated print job is spooled, the spool time of the authenticated print job is set as the corresponding user accumulated job notification reference time, and the accumulated job existence notification process is executed. Since the configuration is such that a spooled authentication print job exists for a user whose elapsed time from the accumulation reference time is equal to or greater than the threshold, the authentication print job remains spooled. The user can be promptly executed based on the authenticated print job. As a result, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the authentication print job is continuously held in the spooler 40 without deleting the authentication print job (thus, without burdening the user to retransmit the authentication print job). It becomes possible.

(Modification)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified and applied. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an authentication printing system including a printer device as a printing apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is also applicable to an authentication printing system including a printing apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine. .

  In the above embodiment, the terminal device 10, the printer device 20, the authentication server 30, and the spooler 40 are described as separate units. However, some or all of the functions of other devices (other than 10 to 40 above) are described. (It may be a device). For example, the printer device 20 may be configured to include the authentication print job storage unit 41.

  In the above-described embodiment, the printer device 20 is configured to transmit an authentication request and an authentication print job transmission request to the authentication server 30. However, the printer device 20 may be configured to transmit these requests to the spooler 40. In this case, when receiving the authentication request, the spooler 40 requests the authentication server 30 for authentication based on the authentication request, and transmits the determination result to the printer device 20. When the authenticated print job providing unit 42 of the spooler 40 receives the authenticated print job transmission request, the authenticated print job providing unit 42 transmits an authenticated print job corresponding to the authenticated user to the printer device 20.

  Further, for example, a notification timer for measuring the elapsed time from the accumulation reference time is provided as the accumulation time counting means 44 for each user for whom the corresponding authentication print job is spooled, and the reference time setting means 43 is used for the authentication print job. When the print job is spooled, the notification timer for the user corresponding to the authenticated print job is initialized (restarted), so that the print job is spooled as the accumulation reference time of the user corresponding to the authenticated print job. It is good also as a structure which sets. In this case, the accumulated job presence notifying unit 45 can directly obtain the elapsed time from the accumulation reference time by referring to the notification timer of each user. The resetting at the storage reference time in S305 may be performed by initializing the notification timer.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an authentication printing system 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of a terminal device 10 and a printer device 20. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of an authentication server 30 and a spooler 40. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an authentication print job accumulation stage. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an authentication printing execution step. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the accumulation job presence notification step. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of spool data and accumulation reference time setting data managed by an authentication print job accumulation unit 41. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the TCP / IP packet of a mail address acquisition request and reply information.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Authentication printing system, 10 Terminal device, 11 Input / output means, 12 Communication means, 13 Printer driver means, 20 Printer apparatus, 21 Reception means, 22 Print control means, 23 ID reading means, 24 Authentication request means, 25 Job request means , 30 Authentication server, 31 Authentication means, 32 Job transmission instruction means, 40 Spooler, 41 Authentication print job storage means, 42 Authentication print job provision means, 43 Reference time setting means, 44 Storage time count means, 45 Storage job existence notification means 45, 100 Authentication device

Claims (5)

Job storage means for spooling print jobs in association with users;
Job transmitting means for reading a print job corresponding to the authenticated user from the job storage means and transmitting the print job to a printing apparatus when the user is authenticated based on authentication information acquired from the user;
When a print job is spooled by the job storage means, a reference time setting means for setting a spool time of the print job as a storage reference time of a user corresponding to the print job;
For a user whose corresponding print job is spooled in the job storage means, an accumulation time counting means for obtaining an elapsed time from the user's accumulation reference time (hereinafter referred to as “job accumulation time”);
A print job holding apparatus comprising: an accumulated job existence notifying unit that notifies a user whose job accumulation time is equal to or greater than a threshold that a print job is spooled.   2. The print job holding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the accumulated job presence notifying unit transmits an email indicating that the print job is spooled to a user whose job accumulation time is equal to or greater than a threshold. . An authentication printing system comprising: the print job holding apparatus according to claim 1; a printing apparatus that executes printing based on a print job; and an authentication unit that performs user authentication.
The authentication unit is
An authentication means for performing user authentication based on authentication information acquired from the user;
Job transmission instruction means for instructing the print job transmission of the authenticated user to the print job holding device,
The authentication transmission system, wherein the job transmission unit transmits a print job corresponding to an authenticated user to the printing apparatus when the authentication unit is instructed to transmit a print job. A job accumulation process for spooling print jobs in association with users;
A job transmission step of transmitting, to the printing apparatus, a print job corresponding to the authenticated user among spooled print jobs when the user is authenticated based on authentication information acquired from the user. A print job management method comprising:
When a print job is spooled by the job accumulation step, a reference time setting step of setting a spool time of the print job as a user accumulation reference time corresponding to the print job;
An accumulation time counting step for obtaining an elapsed time (hereinafter referred to as “job accumulation time”) from the accumulation reference time of the user for which the corresponding print job is spooled;
A print job management method comprising: an accumulated job presence notification step of notifying a user whose job accumulation time is equal to or greater than a threshold that a print job is spooled.   A program for causing a computer to execute the print job management method according to claim 4.

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