Image forming control method and apparatus therefor, image forming apparatus

Abstract

The application belongs to the technical field of image forming, and provides an image forming control method, an image forming control device, an image forming device, an electronic device and a computer storage medium, to solve the problem of information leakage caused by printing secret documents by a user of other computer devices through an image forming device in the prior art. The image forming control method comprises: judging whether the state of a preset flag bit built in the image forming device is in a marked state; if not, setting the preset flag bit to the marked state, and generating preset intermediate data based on attribute information of the computer device, the preset intermediate data being used for identifying the computer device and the driver.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application relates to the field of image forming technology, and in particular to an image forming control method and apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an electronic device, and a computer storage medium. [Background Technology]

[0002] In the existing technology, with the development of imaging technology, image forming devices are increasingly used in office and daily life. Common image forming devices include, but are not limited to, printers, copiers, scanners, fax machines, or multifunction printers that integrate printing, copying, scanning, and faxing functions.

[0003] In the prior art, there is a scenario where, for convenient communication, multiple computer devices can be connected via a network. To facilitate the use of an image forming apparatus, a printer driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus can be installed on one computer device, and the image forming apparatus can be shared with other computer devices connected to that computer device. Thus, other computer devices do not need to install the printer driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus to perform printing operations, which is quite convenient.

[0004] However, if the above scenario occurs in security fields such as government, banking, and finance, users of other computer devices may use the aforementioned image forming apparatus to print out documents carrying confidential information, raising information security issues.

[0005] [Application Content]

[0006] In view of this, embodiments of this application provide an image forming control method, an image forming control device, a computer storage medium, an electronic device, and an image forming apparatus to solve the information security problem caused by users of other computer devices printing documents carrying confidential information through the aforementioned image forming apparatus in the prior art.

[0007] The first aspect of this application provides an image forming control method, executed in an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus being connected to a computer device, and a driver program corresponding to the image forming apparatus, comprising:

[0008] Determine whether the state of the preset flag bit built into the image forming apparatus is in a marked state;

[0009] If not, the preset flag is set to the marked state, and preset intermediate data is generated based on the attribute information of the computer device obtained by the driver. The preset intermediate data is used to identify the computer device and the driver.

[0010] A second aspect of this application provides an image forming control device, included within an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus being connected to a computer device, and a driver program corresponding to the image forming apparatus, comprising:

[0011] The first judgment unit is used to determine whether the state of the preset flag bit built into the image forming device is in a marked state;

[0012] The control unit is configured to set the preset flag to a marked state when the judgment result of the first judgment unit is negative, and generate preset intermediate data based on the attribute information of the computer device obtained by the driver, wherein the preset intermediate data is used to identify the computer device and the driver.

[0013] A third aspect of this application provides an image forming apparatus, including the image forming control device as provided in the second aspect.

[0014] A fourth aspect of this application provides a computer storage medium including a stored computer program, wherein, when the program is executed, it controls the device where the storage medium is located to perform the image forming control method provided in the first aspect.

[0015] The fifth aspect of this application provides an electronic device including a memory and a processor, the memory being used to store information including program instructions, and the processor being used to control the execution of the program instructions, wherein when the program instructions are loaded and executed by the processor, they implement the steps of the image forming control method provided in the first aspect.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, this technical solution has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0017] 1. The image forming apparatus internally stores preset intermediate parameters generated based on the attribute information of the computer device issued by the driver. It determines whether to perform an image forming operation based on the job data by judging whether the preset intermediate parameters match the job data. This ensures that only job data issued by the driver installed on the computer device can be used by the image forming apparatus, thus avoiding the problem of information leakage caused by the image forming apparatus performing image forming operations based on shared job data.

[0018] 2. A preset flag is set in the image forming apparatus. Before the state of the preset flag is set to the marked state, the image forming operation is refused to be performed, thus avoiding malicious use of the image forming apparatus.

[0019] 3. By storing the preset flag in the security module, the problem of the image forming device being maliciously used is avoided, which could be caused by the malicious alteration of the preset flag. [Attached Image Description]

[0020] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0021] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the image forming apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0022] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an image forming scene provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0023] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of an image forming control method provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0024] Figure 4 This is a flowchart of another image forming control method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0025] Figure 5 This is a flowchart of another image forming control method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0026] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming control device provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0027] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Implementation Methods

[0028] To better understand the technical solution of this application, the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0029] It should be understood that the described embodiments are merely some, not all, of the embodiments in this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments in this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0030] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus is used to perform image forming operations, such as generating, printing, receiving, and transmitting image data. Examples of the image forming apparatus include inkjet printers, laser printers, LED (Light Emitting Diode) printers, copiers, fax machines, scanners, or multifunction printers, as well as multi-function peripheral devices (MFPs) that perform the above functions in a single device. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming control unit and an image forming unit. The image forming control unit controls the entire image forming apparatus, and the image forming unit forms an image on the fed paper based on the image data under the control of the image forming control unit.

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image forming apparatus provided in one embodiment of this application; please refer to... Figure 2 As an example of an image forming apparatus, the image forming unit of the apparatus may include: a developer container 11, a developing unit 12, a developer delivery element 13, a photosensitive unit 14, a transfer unit 15, and a fixing assembly 5. The paper to be printed moves in the paper feed direction, passing sequentially through the developer delivery element 13 for powder feeding, the developing unit 12 for developing, and then reaches the clamping area between the photosensitive unit 14 and the transfer unit 15 for transfer. Finally, it passes through the fixing assembly 5 for fixing, thus completing the image forming operation.

[0032] The developer container 11 is used to hold developer, which can be materials such as toner or carbon powder; the developing component 12 may include components such as a developing roller for conveying developer to the photosensitive drum; the developer conveying element 13 may include components such as a powder feeding roller for conveying developer to the developing component 12, or may be replaced by components such as a powder feeding screw; the photosensitive component 14 includes a photosensitive drum (OPC, Organic Photoconductor) and a charging roller, wherein the charging roller is used to charge the photosensitive drum.

[0033] Figure 2 An application scenario illustrated in this application embodiment includes a first computer 100, a second computer 200, and an image forming apparatus 300. The first computer 100 and the second computer 200 are interconnected via wired and / or wireless means, and the first computer 100 and the image forming apparatus 300 are also interconnected via wired and / or wireless means.

[0034] The connection between the first computer 100 and the second computer 200 can be established by directly connecting the first computer 100 and the second computer through a means such as a USB cable or a network cable, or by connecting the first computer 100 and the second computer 200 to the same access device such as a router, or by establishing the connection through other means. This application does not limit the specific methods described herein.

[0035] The connection between the first computer 100 and the image forming apparatus 300 can be established via wired means such as USB cable or network cable, or via wireless means such as Wi-Fi Direct, or by connecting the first computer 100 and the image forming apparatus 300 to the same access device such as a router, or by establishing a connection in other ways. This application does not limit the specific methods used.

[0036] The first computer 100 and the second computer 200 can be computer devices such as laptops, desktop computers, tablets, and servers.

[0037] The image forming apparatus 300 includes, but is not limited to, a printer, copier, scanner, fax machine, or a multifunction office machine that integrates printing, copying, scanning, and faxing functions.

[0038] The first computer 100 has a print driver installed in the image forming apparatus 300, which is used to convert the image forming data to be output to the image forming apparatus 300 in the first computer 100 into a format that the image forming apparatus can recognize. Thus, after the first computer 100 and the image forming apparatus 300 are connected, the image forming data can be output to the image forming apparatus 200 through the print driver installed in the first computer 100 to realize the printing operation.

[0039] In some scenarios, the first computer 100 can also manage the sharing permissions of the image forming apparatus 300, such as whether to allow the image forming apparatus 300 to be shared with the second computer 200.

[0040] When the first computer 100 shares the image forming apparatus 300 with the second computer 200, the second computer 200 can use the image forming apparatus 300 to perform image forming operations even if the second computer 200 does not have a print driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus 300 installed.

[0041] However, when the above scenario occurs in security fields such as government, banking, and finance, the user of the second computer 20 may print out documents carrying confidential information through the image forming apparatus 300, causing security problems.

[0042] It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of this application are merely for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, and are not intended to limit it. For example, the order of "first" and "second" can be interchanged; furthermore, there can be one or more "first" computers, and one or more "second" computers. Moreover, the first computer is directly connected to the first image forming apparatus and indirectly connected to the second image forming apparatus, and the second computer can be directly connected to the third image forming apparatus and indirectly connected to the fourth image forming apparatus; the first image forming apparatus can be the same as or different from the third and fourth image forming apparatuses, and similarly, the second image forming apparatus can be the same as or different from the third and fourth image forming apparatuses.

[0043] To address the aforementioned technical problems, embodiments of this application provide an image forming control method, an image forming control device, an image forming apparatus, a computer storage medium, and an electronic device.

[0044] Specifically, such as Figure 3 As shown, this application provides an image forming control method, which includes a driver program corresponding to the image forming apparatus, comprising the following steps:

[0045] S301: Determine whether the state of the preset flag bit built into the image forming apparatus is in the marked state.

[0046] S302: If not, then generate preset intermediate data based on the computer device attribute information obtained by the driver. The preset intermediate data is used to identify the computer device and the driver, and the preset flag is set to the marked state.

[0047] The execution subject of the above-mentioned image forming control method is the image forming apparatus 300, specifically the image forming control unit built into the image forming apparatus.

[0048] The aforementioned driver is specifically a program developed to convert the data to be printed in the document to be printed output by various applications into data that the image forming apparatus can recognize, and output it to the image forming apparatus, including but not limited to print drivers, scan drivers, and mobile printing apps.

[0049] The aforementioned preset flag is used to indicate whether the image forming apparatus has marked the computer device and / or driver. It is stored in non-volatile memory such as NOR flash, NAND flash, or EEPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory) inside the image forming apparatus. Specifically, when the aforementioned preset flag is in the marked state, it indicates that the image forming apparatus has marked the computer device and / or driver. The aforementioned preset flag is in the unmarked state by default. The state of the flag is set by the image forming control unit. When the image forming control unit detects that the image forming apparatus has marked the computer device and / or driver, it sets the aforementioned preset flag to the marked state by default.

[0050] In one possible implementation, once the aforementioned preset flag is set to the marked state, the preset flag can be stored in a security module inside the image forming apparatus. The security module can be a trusted computing monitoring module and / or an OTP (One Time Programmable) storage area. The trusted computing monitoring module is specifically used to perform trusted computing and can effectively prevent the preset flag from being maliciously tampered with.

[0051] In S302, the image forming apparatus generates preset intermediate data based on the attribute information of the computer device obtained by the driver. Specifically, the image forming apparatus obtains the attribute information of the computer device by communicating with the driver. The image forming apparatus may actively request the attribute information of the computer device from the driver or directly receive the computer device attributes sent by the driver. No limitation is made here.

[0052] Specifically, in S302, the preset intermediate data calculated and generated by the image forming apparatus needs to be stored in the storage unit of the image forming apparatus.

[0053] To prevent the preset intermediate data from being maliciously tampered with, the preset intermediate data can also be stored in a trusted computing monitoring module and / or OTP storage area, as mentioned above, without any restrictions.

[0054] In S302, the attribute information of the computer device can be such as the MAC address of the computer device, the name of the computer device, etc., and there are no restrictions here.

[0055] In S302, the preset intermediate data is specifically used to identify the computer device and the driver. Specifically, it refers to the converted data to be formed generated on the computer device side and / or the driver side based on the preset intermediate data and the original data to be formed. The original data to be formed can be converted on the image forming apparatus side based on the preset intermediate data. This is not limited here.

[0056] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned preset intermediate data can also be calculated and generated based on the attribute information of the computer device and the attribute information of the image forming apparatus, without limitation here.

[0057] The S301 also includes preset instructions sent by the receiving driver.

[0058] Specifically, this may include receiving attribute information of the computer device from the driver and / or receiving job data from the driver, which is not limited here.

[0059] When the trigger condition of S301 is receiving the attribute information of the computer device sent by the driver, if the judgment result of S301 is negative, S302 is executed directly using the received attribute information of the computer device. If the judgment result of S301 is positive, the attribute information of the computer device sent by the driver is ignored.

[0060] Specifically, during / after the installation of the driver on the computer device side, the driver can obtain the attribute information of the computer device and send it to the image forming apparatus.

[0061] like Figure 4 As shown, when the trigger condition of S301 is S401, that is, when the job data sent by the driver is received, when the judgment result of S301 is negative, S402 is included after S301 and before S302.

[0062] S401: Received job data from the driver.

[0063] S402: Obtain the attribute information of the computer device.

[0064] If the result of S301 is negative, then S502 is executed.

[0065] In one possible implementation, if the determination result of S301 is yes, then the following steps are executed. Figure 5 The image forming control method shown includes:

[0066] S501: Determine whether the operation data matches the preset intermediate data.

[0067] If yes, then execute S503; otherwise, execute S502.

[0068] S502: Image forming operations are prohibited based on the data from this job.

[0069] Image forming operations based on this job data are prohibited, including deleting job data, but no restrictions are specified here.

[0070] S503: Perform image forming processing based on the data from this job.

[0071] In one possible implementation, when the judgment result of S301 is yes, the following steps may be included before S501:

[0072] How to determine if the task data is encrypted?

[0073] If yes, then execute S501; otherwise, execute S502.

[0074] When the triggering condition of S301 includes the attribute information and job data of the computer device issued by the driver, and the judgment result of S301 is yes, then further execution is performed. Figure 5 The steps in the image forming control method shown will not be repeated here.

[0075] If the result of S301 is negative, then S502 is executed, and S302 is executed based on the attribute information of the computer device.

[0076] Furthermore, following S302, the following steps may also be included:

[0077] Send preset intermediate data to the computer device, or send a preset calculation instruction to the computer device, which is used to instruct the generation of preset intermediate data based on the computer device's attribute information.

[0078] Specifically, the driver sends preset intermediate data or budget calculation instructions to the driver program. Thus, before the driver program sends the data to be printed to the image forming device, it can generate conversion data corresponding to the data to be printed based on the preset intermediate data and the data to be printed. After the image forming device receives the conversion data corresponding to the data to be printed, it can also generate the data to be printed based on the preset intermediate data and the conversion data. Then, it performs image forming processing on the data to be printed so that the image forming operation can be performed based on the data to be printed.

[0079] Therefore, when the image forming apparatus sends the preset intermediate data to the computer device, the preset intermediate data on the driver side and the preset intermediate data on the image forming apparatus side are the same. When the image forming apparatus sends the preset calculation instruction to the driver, the preset intermediate parameters generated on the driver side can be the same as the preset intermediate parameters on the image forming apparatus side, or they can be a key pair that is asymmetrically encrypted with the preset intermediate parameters on the image forming apparatus side. No limitation is made here.

[0080] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned preset intermediate data can be a preset encryption key. Before the driver sends the data to be printed to the image forming device, it uses the preset encryption key to encrypt the data to be printed to form encrypted data. After the image forming device receives the encrypted data, it uses the preset encryption key on the image forming device side to decrypt it, thereby obtaining the data to be printed, and performing image forming processing on the data to be printed so as to perform image forming operation based on the data to be printed.

[0081] Specifically, in S501, if the image forming apparatus can decrypt the received job data based on the preset intermediate data, it is determined that the job data matches the preset intermediate data; if it cannot decrypt the data, it is determined that the job data does not match the preset intermediate data.

[0082] In this embodiment, a preset flag is set in the image forming apparatus. Only when the preset flag is set to the marked state will the received job data be processed, thus avoiding information security problems caused by the malicious use of the image forming apparatus.

[0083] In this embodiment, each image forming apparatus generates different preset intermediate data, which ensures that the image forming apparatus can only print job data generated by computer devices directly connected to it, and cannot print shared job data sent by other computer devices, thus avoiding information security problems caused by the image forming apparatus printing shared job data.

[0084] In this embodiment, even if multiple driver versions are installed on the same computer device, the image forming apparatus will only respond to the job data issued by one of the drivers because the state of the preset flag bit on the image forming apparatus will only be changed once, thus avoiding information security problems caused by other users illegally using the image forming apparatus.

[0085] In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus will only respond to the request issued by the driver when the computer device, the driver, and the image forming apparatus are matched, thereby avoiding the problem of information leakage caused by the malicious use of the image forming apparatus.

[0086] like Figure 6 As shown, this application embodiment provides an image forming control device, included in an image forming apparatus, and a driver program corresponding to the image forming apparatus is provided, including:

[0087] The first judgment unit 61 is used to determine whether the state of the preset flag bit built into the image forming device is in a marked state;

[0088] The control unit 62 is configured to set the preset flag to a marked state when the judgment result of the first judgment unit is negative, and generate preset intermediate data based on the attribute information of the computer device obtained by the driver, wherein the preset intermediate data is used to identify the computer device and the driver.

[0089] In one possible implementation, the image forming control device further includes:

[0090] The second acquisition unit is used to acquire job data;

[0091] The second judgment unit is used to determine whether the operation data and the preset intermediate data match;

[0092] The control unit 62 is specifically used to prohibit the image forming operation based on the job data when the judgment result of the second judgment unit is negative.

[0093] In one possible implementation, the control unit 62 is specifically used to obtain the attribute information of the image forming apparatus when the judgment result of the first judgment unit 61 is negative, and generate the preset intermediate data according to a preset algorithm based on the attribute information of the computer device and the attribute information of the image forming apparatus.

[0094] In one possible implementation, the attribute information of the computer device includes the computer device's MAC address and computer device name.

[0095] This application also provides an image forming apparatus, including the image forming control apparatus provided in the foregoing embodiments.

[0096] This application also provides a computer storage medium, which includes a stored computer program, wherein the program, when running, controls the device where the storage medium is located to execute any of the image forming control methods provided in the foregoing embodiments.

[0097] like Figure 7 As shown, this embodiment provides an electronic device 400, including a memory 420 and a processor 410. The memory 420 is used to store information including program instructions, and the processor 410 is used to control the execution of the program instructions. When the program instructions are loaded and executed by the processor, they implement the steps of the above-described embodiment of the image forming control method. To avoid repetition, each step is not described in detail here. Alternatively, when the computer program is executed by the processor 410, it implements the functions applied to each model / unit in the image forming control device 1000 in the embodiment. To avoid repetition, each function is not described in detail here.

[0098] Those skilled in the art will understand that Figure 7This is merely an example of electronic device 400 and does not constitute a limitation on computer device 400. It may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or different components. For example, electronic device 400 may also include input / output devices, network access devices, buses, etc.

[0099] The processor 410 described above can be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0100] The memory 420 may be an internal storage unit of the electronic device 400, such as a hard disk or memory of the electronic device 400.

[0101] The memory 420 can also be an external storage device of the electronic device 400, such as a plug-in hard drive, Smart Media Card (SMC), Secure Digital (SD) card, or Flash Card equipped on the electronic device 400. It can also be a memory on a server, where the computer program 430 stored can be transmitted over a network to other storage modules within the electronic device, enabling the processor 410 to load and run the computer program 430. Furthermore, the memory 420 can include both internal storage units of the electronic device 400 and external storage devices. The memory 420 is used to store computer programs and other programs and data required by the electronic device 400. The memory 420 can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or will be output.

[0102] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the components and steps of the various examples have been generally described in terms of functionality in the foregoing description. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0103] The above are merely preferred embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. An image forming control method executed on an image forming apparatus, a driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus being provided, characterized by, The method comprises: determining whether a preset flag bit built in the image forming device is in a marked state; if not, setting the preset flag bit to the marked state, at this time the image forming device has identified the computer device and / or the driver, and generating preset intermediate data based on attribute information of the computer device obtained by the driver, the preset intermediate data being used to identify the computer device and the driver; obtaining job data issued by the driver; determining whether the job data and the preset intermediate data match, and if not, prohibiting image forming operation based on the job data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The generating of the preset intermediate data based on the attribute information of the computer device comprises: obtaining attribute information of the image forming device; generating the preset intermediate data based on the attribute information of the computer device and the attribute information of the image forming device according to a preset algorithm.

3. The method according to any of claims 1-2, characterized in that, The attribute information of the computer device comprises a MAC address and a name of the computer device.

4. An image forming control apparatus including an image forming apparatus, a driver corresponding to the image forming apparatus being provided, characterized by comprising: The method comprises: a first determining unit configured to determine whether a preset flag bit built in the image forming device is in a marked state; a control unit configured to, when the first determining unit determines that the preset flag bit is not in the marked state, set the preset flag bit to the marked state, at this time the image forming device has identified the computer device and / or the driver, and generate preset intermediate data based on attribute information of the computer device obtained by the driver, the preset intermediate data being used to identify the computer device and the driver; a second obtaining unit configured to obtain job data issued by the driver; a second determining unit configured to determine whether the job data and the preset intermediate data match; the control unit is specifically configured to, when the second determining unit determines that the job data and the preset intermediate data do not match, prohibit image forming operation based on the job data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, The control unit is specifically configured to, when the first determining unit determines that the preset flag bit is not in the marked state, obtain attribute information of the image forming device and generate the preset intermediate data based on the attribute information of the computer device and the attribute information of the image forming device according to a preset algorithm.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, The attribute information of the computer device comprises a MAC address and a name of the computer device.

7. An image forming apparatus characterized by comprising: The image forming control device comprises any one of claims 4-6.

8. A computer storage medium comprising a stored computer program, wherein, The storage medium comprises a computer program.

9. An electronic device comprising a memory for storing information including program instructions, and a processor for controlling execution of the program instructions, characterized in that The program instructions are loaded and executed by a processor to implement the steps of the image forming control method of any one of claims 1-3. The program instructions are loaded and executed by a processor to implement the steps of the image forming control method of any one of claims 1-3.

Images