Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing system

Abstract

To realize a system protected by a password policy even in a remote UI environment.SOLUTION: The present invention is directed to an information processing apparatus having first acquiring means for acquiring a state of at least one password policy item in a password string input by an external device and an obfuscated password string, second acquiring means for acquiring settings for the at least one password policy item, determination means for, based on the state of the at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and the settings for the acquired at least one password policy item, determining whether or not the obfuscated password string matches with the password policy, and updating means for, if it is determined that the obfuscated password string matches with the password policy, updating the password based on the obfuscated password string.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing system. [Background technology]

[0002] In a network-connectable information processing device, it is necessary to perform installation settings such as network connection settings required for using the device and parameter settings required for the operation of the device. Some small and inexpensive information processing devices do not have display means and operation means required for settings, and in such information processing devices, a means for performing installation settings and parameter settings from an external device connected via a network is provided. Specifically, a screen required for setting operations is provided from the information processing device to a Web browser running on the external device, and the operation results performed on the Web browser are received and reflected in the information processing device. In this specification, the UI provided on the external device for performing various settings and the like for the information processing device as described above is referred to as a "remote UI." In contrast to the remote UI, an interface using a touch panel that also serves as a display and an input operation using a physical switch provided on the information processing device is referred to as a "local UI."

[0003] Using the Remote UI, installation settings and parameter settings can be performed even if the information processing device does not have a display screen or an input operation means, but on the other hand, there is a possibility that a malicious third party from outside can connect to the information processing device via a network and illegally view or change the settings. For this reason, it is common to configure the Remote UI so that only a legitimate administrator can use it by providing a password authentication function. On the other hand, with the spread of the Internet and wireless LAN technologies, the number and types of devices that can be connected to a network are increasing dramatically. As the use of information processing devices becomes easier, there are also increasing cases where information processing devices that are connected to a network without an appropriate password being set become targets of attacks by malicious third parties. For this reason, it has become necessary to set a different random password for each device before shipping information processing devices that can be connected to a network, and to provide a function that forces the user to change the password when using the device for the first time.

[0004] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a password required for registering user information when using an information processing device for the first time is set from a remote UI of the main device and saved in an associated storage area. This makes it possible to use the password for subsequent authentication means and deployment to each printing device, improving convenience and security. Recently, products that improve security by applying a password policy that defines complexity conditions such as the number of characters required when setting a password, the type of characters that must be entered, and prohibition of the use of duplicate characters have also become available. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-31302 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, the invention of Patent Document 1 did not provide a means for setting the security strength of the password entered by the user, and did not provide a mechanism for sharing a password policy, including the remote UI environment, with the local UI. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the information processing device of the present invention is characterized in having a first acquisition means for acquiring an obfuscated password string and a state for at least one password policy item in a password string input by an external device; a second acquisition means for acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determination means for determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on the state for at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and the setting for the acquired at least one password policy item; and an update means for updating a password based on the obfuscated password string when it is determined that the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, a mechanism is configured for sharing a password policy, including a remote UI environment, with a local UI, making it possible to configure a system protected by a password policy, including a remote UI environment. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system 100 according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is an external view of a printer 300 according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a printer 300 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a module configuration of software that operates on the printer 300 of the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a smartphone 500 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a module configuration of software that operates on the smartphone 500 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a remote UI screen according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 shows an example of a password change display on the main body operation panel of the printer 300 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 9] 5A and 5B are diagrams showing an example of a password policy setting display on the main body operation panel of the printer 300 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing exchange of information at the time of changing a password with the smartphone 500 of the first embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating another example of exchange of information when a password is changed with the smartphone 500 according to the first embodiment. [Figure 12] 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of a password policy compliance determination process in the printer 300 of the first embodiment. [Figure 13] 10 is a flowchart showing the contents of a password policy compliance violation display position adjustment process in the printer 300 of the first embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiment does not limit the scope of the present invention, and not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiment are necessarily essential to the solution of the present invention.

[0011] First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system 100 in this embodiment. The system 100 is composed of a cloud server 200 and a device group 400, which are connected via a local area network 102 and the Internet 104. The device group 400 includes various devices that can be connected to a network. For example, a smartphone 500, a printer 300, a client terminal 401 such as a personal computer or a workstation, and a digital camera 402 are included. However, the device group 400 is not limited to these types, and may include home appliances such as a refrigerator, a television, and an air conditioner. These device group 400 are connected to each other via a local area network 102, and can be connected to the Internet 104 via a router 103 installed in the local area network 102.

[0012] Here, the router 103 is illustrated as a device that connects the local area network 102 and the Internet 104, but it is also possible to have a wireless LAN access point function that constitutes the local area network 102. In this case, each device that constitutes the device group 400 can be configured to connect to the router 103 via a wired LAN, as well as to connect to an access point via a wireless LAN to participate in the local area network 102. For example, it is also possible to configure the printer 300 and the client terminal 401 to be connected via a wired LAN, and the smartphone 500 and the digital camera 402 to be connected via a wireless LAN. Each device that constitutes the device group 400 can communicate with the cloud server 200 via the Internet 104 connected via the router 103. In addition, each device that constitutes the device group 400 can also communicate with each other via the local area network 102.

[0013] The smartphone 500 and the printer 300 can communicate with each other through short-distance wireless communication 101. As the short-distance wireless communication 101, wireless communication conforming to the Bluetooth (registered trademark) standard or the NFC standard can be used. The smartphone 500 is also connected to a mobile phone network 105, and can communicate with the cloud server 200 through this network 105. Note that this configuration shows an example of the present invention, and the effect of the present invention remains the same even if a different configuration is adopted. For example, an example has been shown in which the router 103 has an access point function, but the access point may be configured as a device different from the router 103.

[0014] FIG. 2 is an external view of a printer 300 according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, a multifunction printer (MFP) that combines a printer with a scanner and other functions is taken as an example. FIG. 2(a) shows an overall external view of the printer 300. The document table 301 is a transparent glass table on which a document is placed and used when reading the document with a scanner. The document table pressure plate 302 is a cover that presses the document against the document table so that it does not float when reading with the scanner, and prevents external light from entering the scanner unit. The print paper insertion port 303 is an insertion port through which various sizes of paper can be set. The paper set here is transported one sheet at a time to the printing section, where the desired printing is performed and the paper is discharged from the print paper discharge port 304.

[0015] 2(b) shows an external view of the top surface of the printer 300. An operation panel 305 and a short-distance wireless communication unit 306 are arranged above the platen 302. The operation panel 305 is composed of a touch panel type liquid crystal display, and displays various information, and allows the user to perform various operations on the printer 300 and enter passwords. The short-distance wireless communication unit 306 is a unit for short-distance wireless communication, and can communicate with a short-distance wireless communication unit of a communication partner within a predetermined distance. The wireless LAN antenna 307 has an embedded antenna for connecting to the local area network 102 using wireless LAN and communicating.

[0016] 3 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a printer 300 according to this embodiment. The printer 300 comprises a main board 310 that controls the entire device, a wireless LAN unit 308, a short-distance wireless communication unit 306, and an operation panel 305. A microprocessor-type CPU 311 arranged on the main board 310 operates according to a control program stored in a program memory 313 in a ROM connected via an internal bus 312 and the contents of a data memory 314 in a RAM. The CPU 311 controls a scanner mechanism control circuit 315 to read an original and store the image in an image memory 316 in the data memory 314. The CPU 311 also controls a print mechanism control circuit 317 to print an image in the image memory 316 in the data memory 314 on a recording medium.

[0017] The CPU 311 controls the wireless LAN unit 308 via a wireless LAN communication control unit 318 to perform wireless LAN communication with other communication terminal devices. The CPU 311 also controls the short-range wireless communication unit 306 via a short-range wireless communication control circuit 319 to detect a connection with another short-range wireless communication terminal and to transmit and receive data to and from the other short-range wireless communication terminal. The CPU 311 controls the operation unit control circuit 320 to display the status of the printer 300 and a function selection menu on the operation panel 305, and to accept operations from the user.

[0018] 4 is a diagram showing the module configuration of software that runs on the printer 300 of this embodiment. The software 1300 that runs on the printer 300 runs on an embedded control operating system (OS) 1301. The modules are roughly classified into a system control layer 1310, a job management layer 1320, a middleware layer 1330, and an application layer 1340. The embedded control OS 1301 is an operating system (OS) that governs the basic operations of the printer control software 1300, and generally uses a real-time OS with excellent responsiveness.

[0019] The system control layer 1310 is a group of modules that mainly control the hardware control of the printer 300. The print control module 1311 is a control module for controlling the print mechanism control circuit 317 to execute the print operation of the printer 300. The read control module 1312 is a control module for controlling the scanner mechanism control circuit 315 to execute the read operation of the document placed on the document table 301. The panel control module 1313 is a control module for controlling the display of the operation panel 305 of the printer 300 and detecting various key operations. The memory management module 1314 is a control module for managing the dynamic allocation of the data memory 314 and the image memory 316. The power control module 1315 is a control module for controlling the power supply of the printer 300, supplying the power required for operation to each block of the hardware, and controlling the power saving mode.

[0020] The close proximity wireless communication control module 1316 is a control module for controlling the close proximity wireless communication unit 306 to communicate with a terminal device such as the smartphone 500. The network communication control module 1317 is a control module for controlling the wireless LAN unit 308 to perform communication physical layer control for LAN communication with an external device. The job management layer 1320 is a group of modules that execute various operations using the system control layer 1310 while performing hardware resource allocation, exclusive control, scheduling, etc. in response to a job execution request from an upper layer.

[0021] The middleware layer 1330 is located between the application layer 1340 and the job management layer 1320, and is a collection of modules commonly used by multiple function modules in the application layer 1340. The application framework 1331 is a framework module commonly used when the application layer 1340 requests the job layer 1320 to execute a job. The network protocol stack 1332 is a module for performing communication in accordance with various network protocols such as HTTP and TCP / IP. The encryption processing module 1333 is a module for performing encryption and decryption required for network communication, etc., and for obfuscating passwords entered from a local UI.

[0022] The Web server module 1334 is a module for making the printer 300 operate as a Web server in order to distribute remote UI content. The setting DB 1335 is a module that provides a database (hereinafter referred to as the setting DB) that holds various settings required for the printer to operate and saved information referenced during operation, and various functions for accessing the DB. For example, there is wireless LAN access point information for network connection, administrator password information for authenticating access from the remote UI, and password policy settings that the administrator sets in the printer. In addition, it provides a reference function for referencing these setting items and a registration function for updating the setting items, and allows access from the application layer 1340 described below.

[0023] The application layer 1340 is a group of applications that realize various functions of the printer 300. The copy application 1341 is an application module for executing a copy operation, such as reading and printing an original. The driver print application 1342 is an application module for receiving jobs from a printer driver of the smartphone 500 or the client terminal device 401 and executing the operation. Jobs from the driver include a print job that executes a print operation, a scan job that reads an original and outputs image data, and a maintenance job that exchanges information with an external device to set up and manage the printer 300.

[0024] The standard print application 1343 is an application module that receives a job from a standard print service that the smartphone 500 system has and executes an operation. Jobs from the standard print service include a print job that executes a print operation and a scan job that reads an original and outputs image data. However, since the standard print service is provided by a smartphone manufacturer or a standard OS vendor, there is a restriction that specific settings and management for printer models of individual manufacturers cannot be performed. The remote UI module 1344 is a module that uses the Web server module 1334 to provide an external device with a remote UI function that the printer 300 has. By using the remote UI, it is possible to set and manage the printer 300. In particular, in the printer 300 shown in this embodiment, the information that can be displayed and set on the operation panel 305 is limited, so the remote UI is used to perform more detailed settings and management. Also, if a dedicated driver is not prepared for the smartphone 500 or the client terminal device 401, only the standard print service is available, so the use of the remote UI is essential to perform detailed settings and management.

[0025] The PW management module 1345 is an application module for registering and updating the passwords of administrators and general users, and for performing authentication. It accepts requests for registering / updating passwords from a remote UI or a local UI, obtains password policy settings from the setting DB 1335, and performs a conformance judgment as to whether the password satisfies the password policy. If the password satisfies the password policy, it updates the password using the registration function provided by the setting DB module 1335 arranged in the middleware layer 1330.

[0026] 5 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a smartphone 500 according to the present embodiment. The smartphone 500 includes a main board 510 that controls the entire device, a wireless LAN unit 502, a short-distance wireless communication unit 501, a line connection unit 503, and a touch panel display 504. A microprocessor-type CPU 511 arranged on the main board 510 operates according to a control program stored in a ROM-type program memory 513 connected via an internal bus 512 and the contents of a RAM-type data memory 514. The CPU 511 controls the wireless LAN unit 502 via a wireless LAN control circuit 515 to perform wireless LAN communication with other communication terminal devices.

[0027] The CPU 511 can detect a connection with another short-distance wireless communication terminal and transmit and receive data to and from another short-distance wireless communication terminal by controlling the short-distance wireless communication unit 501 via the short-distance wireless communication control circuit 516. The CPU 511 can also connect to the mobile phone line network 105 and make a call or transmit and receive data by controlling the line connection unit 503 via the line control circuit 517. The CPU 511 can display a desired image on the touch panel display 504 and accept operations from a user by controlling the operation unit control circuit 518. The CPU 511 can capture an image by controlling the camera unit 519, and store the captured image in the image memory 520 in the data memory 514. In addition to the captured image, it is also possible to store an image acquired from the outside via the mobile phone line, the local area network 102, or the short-distance wireless communication 101 in the image memory 520, or to transmit the image to the outside.

[0028] The non-volatile memory 521 is made up of a flash memory or the like, and stores data that is to be kept even after the power is turned off, such as phone book data, various communication connection information, information on previously connected devices, image data that is to be kept, or application software that realizes various functions of the smartphone 500.

[0029] 6 is a diagram showing a modular configuration of software that runs on the smartphone 500. Software 1500 that runs on the smartphone 500 runs on an operating system (OS) 1501. The modules are roughly classified into a system control layer 1510, a middleware layer 1520, and an application layer 1530.

[0030] The system control layer 1510 is a group of modules that mainly control the hardware control of the smartphone 500. The GUI control module 1511 is a control module for controlling the display on the touch panel display 504 and detecting touch panel operations. The camera control module 1512 is a module for controlling photography by the camera 519. The close-proximity wireless communication control module 1513 is a control module for controlling the short-range wireless communication unit 501 to perform close-proximity wireless communication with other devices. The network communication control module 1514 is a control module for controlling the wireless LAN unit 502 to perform communication physical layer control for wireless LAN communication with external devices. The memory management module 1515 is a control module for managing dynamic allocation of the data memory 514 and the image memory 520. The power supply control module 1516 is a control module for controlling the power supply of the smartphone 500, supplying power required for operation to each block of the hardware, and performing power saving mode control.

[0031] The middleware layer 1520 is located between the application layer 1530 and the system control layer 1510, and is a collection of modules that are commonly used by a plurality of application modules in the application layer 1530. The application framework 1521 is a framework module that is commonly used by applications in the application layer 1530. The network protocol stack 1523 is a module for performing communication in accordance with various network protocols such as HTTP and TCP / IP. The standard print service 1522 is a service module that provides applications in the application layer 1530 with a function for using the printer 300 that supports the standard print service. Functions provided by the standard print service 1522 include a print function that causes the printer 300 to execute a print job and a scan function that causes the printer 300 to execute a scan job. However, since the standard print service is provided by smartphone manufacturers and standard OS vendors, there is a restriction that specific settings and management for printer models of individual manufacturers cannot be performed.

[0032] The application layer 1530 is a group of applications that realize various functions of the smartphone 500. Applications installed in the smartphone 500 include those that are built in at the time of product shipment and those that can be downloaded and installed by the user later. In the figure, the applications are shown as application A 1531 and application B 1532, but there is no restriction on the number and type of applications to be added, and the user can add or delete them as necessary. The custom print driver 1533 is a dedicated driver according to the model of the printer 300, and provides a function for executing print jobs and scan jobs to the corresponding printer 300. The custom print driver 1533 is selected by the user according to the model of the printer 300 to be used, installed, and used. Note that the custom print driver 1533 is described here as being installed in the application layer, but it may be configured to be installed in the middleware layer and to operate upon receiving a print job request from an application. The web browser 1534 is an application module that connects to a web server through a network, acquires web content, and displays it. It can acquire and display web content from the cloud server 200, or it can acquire and display remote UI content using the web server function of the printer 300.

[0033] 7A and 7B are diagrams showing examples of display on the remote UI screen of this embodiment. FIG. 7A is a diagram showing an example of an unrestricted screen 4000 of the remote UI. The unrestricted screen 4000 is a page that is displayed when password authentication has been completed and serves as an entrance to the entire remote UI. The unrestricted screen 4000 has buttons 4001, 4002, 4003, and 4004 with hyperlinks for transitioning to each of the other pages. The button 4001 is a button for transitioning to a printer status display screen (not shown). The button 4002 is a button for transitioning to a printer operation setting screen (not shown). The button 4003 is a button for transitioning to a network connection setting screen (not shown). The button 4004 is a button for transitioning to a maintenance function screen (not shown).

[0034] FIG. 7B is a diagram showing an example of a restricted screen 4100 of the remote UI. The restricted screen 4100 is an entrance page displayed instead of the unrestricted screen 4000 when the password has not been authenticated or the password has not been changed from the factory-shipped state. Hereinafter, in this specification, the state in which the password has not been changed from the factory-shipped state is referred to as the "initial state". The restricted screen 4100 has a button 4101 with a hyperlink for transitioning to another page. The button 4101 is a button for transitioning to a printer status display screen (not shown). As described above, it can be seen that the restricted screen 4100 does not have buttons for transitioning to a printer operation setting screen, a network connection setting screen, or a security setting screen. It is configured so that a remote attacker cannot illegally change the printer operation settings or the network connection settings when the password has not been authenticated or when the printer is operated in the initial state.

[0035] FIG. 7C is a diagram showing an example of an authentication screen 4200. The authentication screen 4200 is displayed when a request for access to the Remote UI is made without password authentication. The password field 4201 is a character string input field for inputting a password for authentication. Here, the input characters are displayed converted to black circles to prevent the input password from being peeked at the user's terminal. The OK button 4202 is a button for transmitting an authentication request using the input password. The cancel button 4203 is a button for canceling authentication and returning to the restricted Remote UI access. The user can transmit an authentication request by inputting a password in the field 4201 and pressing the OK button 4202. When the authentication request is permitted, the screen transitions from the password authentication screen 4200 to the page screen of the Remote UI that was originally requested.

[0036] 7(d) is a diagram showing an example of a password change warning screen 4300. The password change warning screen 4300 is displayed when there is a request for access to the Remote UI in the initial state. A CHANGE button 4301 is a button for displaying the password change screen on the operation panel 305 of the printer 300. A BACK button 4302 is a button for closing the password change warning screen 4300 and returning to the restricted Remote UI access.

[0037] FIG. 7E is a diagram showing an example of a printer operation setting screen 4400. The printer operation setting screen 4400 is displayed when the printer operation setting button 4003 on the unrestricted remote UI screen 4000 is pressed. The printer operation setting screen 4400 is provided with buttons 4401, 4402, 4403, and 4404 for selecting setting items related to the operation of the printer, and a back button 4405 for returning to the previous screen. When the print setting button 4401 is pressed, the screen transitions to a screen for making print settings such as the paper size and paper type used by the printer 300 for printing. When the password change button 4402 is pressed, the screen transitions to a password change screen 4500 described later. When the security setting button 4403 is pressed, the screen transitions to a menu screen for selecting a screen for setting operation restrictions and password policies. When the power saving setting button 4404 is pressed, the screen transitions to a screen for making settings related to operations such as the time until sleep, automatic power off, and automatic power on.

[0038] FIG. 7F is a diagram showing an example of a password change screen 4500. The password change screen 4500 is displayed when a password change button 4402 on the printer operation setting screen 4400 is pressed. The password change screen 4500 is provided with input fields 4501, 4502, and 4503 required for changing the password, a back button 4504 for returning to the previous screen, and a set button 4505 for confirming the input. By inputting into all the input fields and pressing the set button 4505, a process for verifying whether the input password is correct is executed. These processes will be described in detail later. Note that the password change screen 4500 is an example of a display on the WEB browser 1534 operating on the smartphone 500, but the password can also be changed in the same way by using a local UI on the operation panel 305 constituting the printer 300. Although the screen configurations differ between the remote UI and the local UI due to differences in the display area and operation method, the series of operations related to password change are the same, and the operations related to the password policy are also the same. Changing a password on the local UI will be explained below with reference to FIG.

[0039] 7(g) is a diagram showing an example of a password change completion screen 4600. The password change completion screen 4600 is displayed when the password change is completed by pressing the set button 4505 on the password change screen 4500 and going through the password change process. The password change completion screen 4600 displays a message that the password change has been completed, and pressing the back button 4504 returns to the previous screen.

[0040] FIG. 7(h) is a diagram showing an example of a password change failure screen 4700. The password change failure screen 4700 is displayed when the password change fails after the password change process by pressing the setting button 4505 on the password change screen 4500. The password change failure screen 4700 is provided with input fields 4701, 4702, and 4703 required for re-changing the password, a back button 4704 for returning to the previous screen, and a setting button 4705 for confirming the input. The password change failure screen 4700 of FIG. 7(h) displays the reason for the password change failure and lists the password policy items that have been violated. In this display, it is displayed that, among the password policy violations, there is a violation of the policy that does not meet the minimum number of characters, the policy that includes one or more numbers, and the policy that includes one symbol. In addition, an exclamation mark mark that serves as a marker to attract attention and an icon such as "no entry" are added to fields that require correction by the user. In this embodiment, an exclamation mark mark is added to clearly indicate that correction is required by the user. The user re-enters a corrected password based on the reason for the password change failure into each input field and presses the Set button 4705 to change the password again.

[0041] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of changing a password after transitioning from a home screen to a setting screen among the local UI screens of the main body operation panel 305 of the printer 300 of this embodiment. FIG. 8(a) is a diagram showing an example of a home screen 5000. The home screen 5000 is displayed when the printer 300 is in a standby state, and can accept a function execution instruction from a user. The home screen 5000 is provided with buttons 5001, 5002, 5003, and 5004 for selecting a function to be executed. When the copy button 5001 is pressed, transition occurs to a screen for executing a copy function. When the scan button 5002 is pressed, transition occurs to a screen for executing a scan function. When the operation setting button 5003 is pressed, transition occurs to an operation setting menu screen 5100 described later. When the maintenance button 5004 is pressed, transition occurs to a screen for executing a maintenance function.

[0042] FIG. 8B is a diagram showing an example of an operation setting menu screen 5100. The operation setting menu screen 5100 is displayed when an operation setting button 5003 on a home screen 5000 is pressed. The operation setting menu screen 5100 is provided with buttons 5101, 5102, 5103, and 5104 for selecting an item to be set, and a home button 5105 for transitioning to a home screen. When a network setting button 5101 is pressed, transition is made to a screen for setting the printer 300 to connect to a network. When a print setting button 5102 is pressed, transition is made to a screen for setting print settings such as the paper size and paper type used by the printer 300 for printing. When a password change button 5103 is pressed, transition is made to a password change screen 5200 described later.

[0043] FIG. 8C is a diagram showing examples of password change screens 5200, 5210, and 5220. The password change screen is displayed when changing a password, and an old password and a new password are input. In this embodiment, since the display area of ​​the operation panel 305 of the printer 300 is limited, a case where one item is input on each of three screens is shown. Next buttons 5203 and 5213 are buttons for transitioning to the next screen. The back button 5202 on the first password change screen 5200 is for canceling the password change process. The back buttons 5212 and 5222 on the second and subsequent password change screens 5210 and 5220 are buttons for transitioning to the previous screen. The set button 5223 on the last password change screen 5220 is for instructing a password change with the input information. The old password field 5201 is a character string input field for inputting the password before the change. The new password field 5211 is a character string input field for inputting the password after the change. The new password confirmation field 5221 is a character string input field for confirming the changed password. In each field, characters constituting the password are input using character input means (not shown). The character input means may be provided with hard keys, or may be configured to use a soft keyboard displayed on the screen. The password before the change input in the old password field 5201 is used to verify that the person who is changing the password is a legitimate user. The new password input in the new password confirmation field 5221 is used to verify that it matches the character string input in the new password field 5211 and that there is no input mistake. Here, the case where the password change is performed by sequentially displaying three password change screens 5200, 5210, and 5220 to input the new and old passwords has been described, but the three new and old passwords may be input on one password change screen.

[0044] When the remote UI is accessed in the initial state, a password change warning screen 4300 is displayed, and when a change button 4301 is pressed, a password change screen 5200 is displayed on the operation panel 305 of the printer 300. When the user enters the old password, new password, and new password confirmation information according to the instructions on the password change screens 5200, 5210, and 5220 on the operation panel 305, the password is changed and the user can access the unrestricted remote UI screen 4000. At this time, the PW management module 1345 judges whether the changed password complies with the password policy, and if it is judged to be compliant, the password information in the setting DB 1335 is updated and the password is used for subsequent administrator authentication.

[0045] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of password policy setting from security setting among the local UI screens of the main body operation panel 305 of the printer 300 of this embodiment. FIG. 9(a) is a diagram showing an example of a security setting menu screen 6000. The security setting menu screen 6000 is displayed when the security setting button 5104 of the setting menu 5100 is pressed. The security setting menu screen 6000 is provided with buttons 6001, 6002, and 6003 for selecting an item for security setting, and a back button 6004 for returning to the previous screen. When the use button 6001 of the remote UI is pressed, the screen transitions to a screen for setting whether or not to permit use of the remote UI. When the operation restriction button 6002 is pressed, the screen transitions to a screen for setting functional operation restrictions of the printer 300. When the password policy setting button 6003 is pressed, the screen transitions to a password policy setting screen 6100 described later.

[0046] FIG. 9B is a diagram showing an example of a password policy setting menu screen 6100. The password policy setting menu screen 6100 is displayed when a password policy setting button 6003 on the security setting menu screen 6000 is pressed. On the password policy setting menu screen, buttons 6102, 6103, 6104, 6105, 6106, and 6107 for selecting an item for setting a password policy are arranged. In addition, a back button 6109 for returning to the previous screen, an up button 6101 for scrolling the password policy setting buttons, and a down button 6108 are provided. When the minimum number of characters button 6102 is pressed, a transition is made to a minimum number of characters setting screen 6200 described later. When the consecutive characters prohibition button 6103 is pressed, a transition is made to a consecutive characters prohibition setting screen 6300 described later. When the use uppercase English letters button 6104 is pressed, a transition is made to a setting screen 6400 for using uppercase English letters described later. When the button 6105 for using lowercase English letters is pressed, the screen transitions to a setting screen 6500 for using lowercase English letters. When the button 6106 for using numbers is pressed, the screen transitions to a setting screen 6600 for using numbers. When the button 6107 for using symbols is pressed, the screen transitions to a setting screen 6700 for using symbols. In this embodiment, the password policy setting menu screen 6100 has six buttons arranged for transitioning to password policy setting screens. If all of these buttons do not fit on the display panel 305, the buttons can be scrolled to display them, allowing the user to select a button that was not displayed, and pressing these buttons allows transition to each setting screen. Scrolling is performed by pressing the up button 6101 and the down button 6108, but scrolling can also be performed in the same way by flicking the displayed part of the button with a fingertip.

[0047] FIG. 9(c) is a diagram showing an example of a minimum character number setting screen 6200. The minimum character number setting screen 6200 is displayed when the minimum character number button 6102 of the password policy setting menu 6100 is pressed. The minimum character number setting screen 6200 is provided with an input field 6201 for setting the minimum character number and a back button 6202 for returning to the previous screen. In this embodiment, the minimum character number is set between 1 and 30 characters, and a numerical value can be input by pressing the soft keyboard or a drop-down list displayed by pressing the drop-down button at the right end of the input field. The setting is confirmed by inputting or selecting the minimum character number and then pressing the set button 6203.

[0048] 9(d) is a diagram showing an example of a consecutive character prohibition setting screen 6300. The consecutive character prohibition setting screen 6300 is displayed when the consecutive character prohibition button 6103 of the password policy setting menu 6100 is pressed. The consecutive character prohibition setting screen 6300 is provided with a radio button 6301 for setting consecutive character prohibition to be enabled or disabled, and a back button 6302 for returning to the previous screen. In this embodiment, the number of consecutive characters prohibited is three, and the setting is confirmed by selecting whether to enable or disable the prohibition of three consecutive characters and pressing the set button 6303.

[0049] 9(e) is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen 6400 for using uppercase English letters. The setting screen 6400 for using uppercase English letters is displayed when the button 6104 for using uppercase English letters in the password policy setting menu 6100 is pressed. The setting screen 6400 for using uppercase English letters is provided with a radio button 6401 for setting whether or not to enforce the use of uppercase English letters, and a back button 6402 for returning to the previous screen. In this embodiment, the setting is confirmed by selecting whether to enable or disable the enforcement of the use of uppercase English letters and pressing a set button 6403.

[0050] 9(f) is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen 6500 for using lowercase English letters. The setting screen 6500 for using lowercase English letters is displayed when the button 6105 for using lowercase English letters in the password policy setting menu 6100 is pressed. The setting screen 6500 for using lowercase English letters is provided with a radio button 6501 for setting whether or not to enforce the use of lowercase English letters, and a back button 6502 for returning to the previous screen. In this embodiment, the setting is confirmed by selecting whether to enable or disable the enforcement of the use of lowercase English letters and pressing a setting button 6503.

[0051] 9(g) is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen 6600 for using numbers. The setting screen 6600 for using numbers is displayed when the Use Numbers button 6106 in the password policy setting menu 6100 is pressed. The setting screen 6600 for using numbers is provided with a radio button 6601 for setting whether or not to enforce the use of numbers, and a back button 6602 for returning to the previous screen. In this embodiment, the setting is confirmed by selecting whether to enable or disable the enforcement of the use of numbers and pressing a set button 6603.

[0052] 9(h) is a diagram showing an example of a setting screen 6700 for using symbols. The setting screen 6700 for using symbols is displayed when the button 6107 for using symbols in the password policy setting menu 6100 is pressed. The setting screen 6700 for using symbols is provided with a radio button 6701 for setting whether or not to enforce the use of symbols, and a back button 6702 for returning to the previous screen. In this embodiment, the setting is confirmed by selecting whether to enable or disable the enforcement of the use of symbols and pressing a setting button 6703.

[0053] Fig. 10 is a diagram showing a sequence when a password is changed via a remote UI using the WEB browser 1534 operating on the smartphone 500 in this embodiment. In Fig. 10, the password policy conformance is judged by the PW management module, and the sequence is determined to be conformant, which will be described in detail below.

[0054] 10, first, the smartphone 500 connects to the local area network 102 to which the printer 300 is connected. In this embodiment, the router 103 connects to the Internet 104 and at the same time uses a wireless LAN access point function to enable access via wireless LAN to each device constituting the device group 400 in the local area network 102. Note that, although a web browser running on the smartphone 500 is used in this embodiment, a web browser on a PC running as the client terminal 401 may also be used.

[0055] In the printer 300, the administrator password has already been changed from the initial password by the user on the local UI, and in this case, the password will be changed after reviewing the password policy settings as part of strengthening security. Password changes from the remote UI are performed on the password change screen 4500 shown in FIG. 7(f), the old password is correctly entered, and a new password is entered that satisfies all of the password policies. The password policy for the printer 300 has been formulated in advance based on the security rules, and the following items have been stipulated this time. It is recommended that the password policy be updated as appropriate in response to factors such as strengthening and improving security rules and strengthening the security functions of information devices. - Minimum password length setting [8 characters] - Prohibit use of three or more consecutive identical characters [Enabled] -Settings containing at least one uppercase English character [Enabled] -Settings containing at least one lowercase English character [Enabled] -Settings containing one or more numbers [Disabled] -Settings containing one or more symbols [Disabled] It should be noted that the above password policy items are merely given as examples in this embodiment, and there are many other known and usable password policies, and they do not limit the means of the present invention.

[0056] The administrator sets each of the above password policy items in advance using the local UI of the printer 300 according to the means shown in the example of password policy setting in Fig. 9. Using the setting screens in Fig. 9(b) to Fig. 9(h), the administrator sets the minimum number of characters and inputs whether the setting is enabled or disabled, and presses the setting button on each screen to update the setting data held in the data memory 314 via the setting DB module 1335.

[0057] In S1001 of FIG. 10, on the smartphone 500, "aBcd1234" is input in both the new password input field 4502 and the new password input confirmation field 4503 of the password change screen 4500. The input is confirmed by pressing the set button 4505. In the case of a password change, first, in order to authenticate whether the old password input field 4501 is a correct password, the input character string is obfuscated and sent to the printer 300, and the password is authenticated by the PW management module 1345. If the password authentication is successful, the process proceeds to S1002 to execute the password change, and if it fails, a pop-up not shown in the figure is displayed to inform the user that the password is incorrect, and the user is prompted to enter the correct password. In this embodiment, the authentication of the old password is performed prior to the password change, thereby preventing the execution of some processes for the new password character string that are performed even when the password authentication fails. In addition to the above-mentioned method, a method may be used in which the old password is authenticated and the password is changed to the new password at the same time by transmitting the old password together with the new password to the printer 300. Thereafter, the WEB browser 1534 performs a code check of the input character type (not shown). In this embodiment, input restrictions are imposed by specifying a pattern attribute of an HTML input tag that constitutes the input field, thereby preventing input of an invalid character code.

[0058] Next, in S1002, the smartphone 500 acquires various statuses such as the number of characters in the input character string and the type of characters used. Here, in accordance with the password policy having six items described above, the statuses of the used character number, whether each type of character is used, and whether three or more consecutive identical characters are used are acquired. The reason why the status of the password string is acquired regardless of the password policy setting held by the printer 300 is because the password policy setting managed by the setting DB module 1335 of the printer 300 is not referenced at this point. This is possible by requesting the password policy setting value from the printer 300 in advance and performing the process by referring to the response to the request, that is, the password policy setting value, and determining whether the password policy is compatible, but there are the following drawbacks.

[0059] First, the password policy setting value received as the response is changed before being referred to on the remote UI side, which may cause a discrepancy with the remote UI. In this case, even if the password policy setting value for the printer 300 is requested in advance when the password change screen 4500 is displayed, the gap in the password policy setting update cannot be filled. If the password policy setting value is requested from the printer 300 when the setting button 4505 on the password change screen 4500 is pressed, the gap in the password policy setting update is eliminated, but there is a concern that a delay in response may occur due to the network state. In addition, it is necessary to consider that the security risk increases when the password policy setting content is sent to the communication path. Next, when the final password policy conformity determination is performed on the WEB browser, unlike when it is performed on the local UI, the conformity determination result cannot be directly recognized on the printer 300, making it difficult to obtain information such as statistical information collected based on the conformity determination result. As described above, in this embodiment, the final password policy conformity determination is performed on the printer 300, and the remote UI obtains the password character string status regardless of the password policy setting. In this embodiment, the password string state corresponds to the state of the password string with respect to each setting item of the password policy.

[0060] The password string status can be obtained by analyzing the entered password characters one by one, but first the number of password characters is obtained and stored in the area that stores the character value in the data area that stores the status. Next, the status analysis process proceeds for the number of password characters obtained, and it is determined whether the character is the same as the previous character. If it is the same character, the initialized counter is incremented, and if not, the counter is initialized to 0. As the analysis of consecutive characters for the number of characters proceeds, if the aforementioned counter reaches 2, the status of the password string with three or more consecutive identical characters is set to [Yes], and a flag indicating [Yes] is stored in the data area that stores the status of the target string. On the other hand, if the aforementioned counter does not reach 2 until the last character, the status of the password string with three or more consecutive identical characters is set to [No], and a flag indicating [No] is set in the aforementioned data area.

[0061] When determining whether the password contains one or more of the following characters, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, a determination is made for each character based on whether it is included within the range of each character code. Based on the above determination, a flag indicating whether the character type is used or not is stored in the data area that stores the usage status of each target character type. If the character code falls within the range of the target character code even once, the determination process is skipped without determining subsequent characters. The password string status obtained above is stored in the area that stores the number of password characters in the data storage area of ​​the JavaScript program running on the web browser, and in a flag storage area that stores the usage status of each character type and the usage status of consecutive characters.

[0062] Next, in S1003, the smartphone 500 obfuscates the password character string. Nowadays, when a password is sent to a communication path, it is customary to encrypt or obfuscate the password, and this is widely used as a security measure against leakage of important information such as passwords. In this embodiment, the password is obfuscated, which has less security risk than encryption, and then an update request is made to the printer 300, and the password data stored in the data memory 314 is finally updated. Specifically, the obfuscation is performed by a method in which a hash function such as SHA-2 or bycrypt, which is widely used, is executed multiple times to obtain fixed-length binary data. In this embodiment, a character string called salt is concatenated to the password character string, and the entire character string is subjected to a hash function of SHA-512 of SHA-2 multiple times to calculate a hash value, thereby generating obfuscated password data. In this embodiment, a measure called stretching is also implemented to prevent the hash value from being guessed by a brute force attack by applying the hash function 6500 times. The password character string is obfuscated by the CGI program downloaded by the WEB browser 1534 from the remote WEB server 1334 of the printer 300 or by JavaScript that runs as a library.

[0063] Next, in S1004, the smartphone 500 returns to the printer 300 the password string status acquired in S1002 and the password data obfuscated in S1003. Specifically, the password string status is transmitted to the printer 300 as binary data in which a structure format is mapped to an HTTP POST request body by a program downloaded from the remote UI 1344 running on the WEB browser 1534. In this embodiment, each data is mapped to a structure format, but the transmission data may be configured as other data formats such as CVS format or CSV format. The obfuscated password data in FIG. 10 is expressed as 32-digit binary data for the password "aBcd1234" entered by the user. Note that, if the password string status satisfies all password policies, the password string status is not transmitted and only the obfuscated password data is transmitted. In this case, the number of password characters is the largest number that can be input, which is 30 characters in this embodiment, and in addition, the password string status according to the other flags is in a state in which it complies with all password policies.

[0064] Next, the process in the printer 300 will be described. In S1005, the printer 300 receives the password string state and the obfuscated password data transmitted from the smartphone 500 in S1004, and the event reception process of the PW management module 1345 receives the event as a message. This is a message that is distributed at the same time as the network communication control 1317 constituting the system control layer 1310 notifies the remote UI 1344 of the reception of data by HTTP via the WEB server 1334 arranged in the middleware layer 1330. The PW management module 1345 recognizes that this is an administrator password change event, and based on the reference destination of the data memory 314 stored in the message parameter, the received password string state and the obfuscated password data can be referenced. Next, the received password string state is referenced to check whether or not there is data. This is a check to transmit only the obfuscated password data when all the password string states are filled. Specifically, if there is no data for the target password string state, that is, if all the reference destinations are filled with 0, the process proceeds to S1008 to update the received obfuscated password data.

[0065] If there is received data of the password character string status, the process proceeds to S1006, where the PW management module 1345 requests the setting DB module 1335 to acquire the setting values ​​of the target password policy in order to match the password policy settings. As a response to this request, each setting value of the password policy returned from the setting DB module 1335 is stored in a temporary storage area held by the PW management module 1345. In this embodiment, the setting values ​​of the password policy used for matching are acquired at once and stored in the temporary storage area, but separately from this, the setting values ​​of the corresponding password policy may be acquired each time matching is performed.

[0066] Next, in S1007, the PW management module 1345 performs a password policy conformance determination. Note that, since the password policy conformance determination will be explained in detail using the flowchart in Fig. 11, here, it is assumed that there is no policy violation, all the set conditions are satisfied, and conformance is determined, and the process proceeds to password update processing in S1008.

[0067] In S1008, in response to the result of the password policy conformance judgment performed by the PW management module 1345 in S1007 being "conformed," the PW management module 1345 requests the setting DB module 1335 to update the administrator password and registers it. Also, separately from this, if all password policies are in conformance in S1005, the setting DB module 1335 is requested to update the password without executing steps S1006 and S1007.

[0068] In S1009, the setting DB module 1335 stores the obfuscated password data in a non-volatile area of ​​the data memory 314 according to the data update procedure provided by the memory management 1314, based on the identification information for storing the target administrator password. After completing the password update, the PW management module 1345 proceeds to S1010 and notifies the processing result by returning an HTTP response to the WEB browser 1534 running on the smartphone 500. When all password policies are satisfied and the password is updated normally, the HTTP response returns a code 200 (OK) indicating a successful completion as the response status. At this time, in this embodiment, a status code used internally to indicate that the password change has been completed is set in the response body and returned.

[0069] Step S1011 is a process of the smartphone 500. In step S1011, the WEB browser 1534 operating on the smartphone 500 that has received the password update completion response from the printer 300 displays a password change completion screen 4600 shown in FIG. 7G to notify the user that the password change has been completed.

[0070] Fig. 11 is a diagram showing another example of the sequence when a password change is performed via a remote UI in this embodiment. The sequence in Fig. 11 differs from Fig. 10 in that it is a sequence when a password policy conformance determination is performed by the PW management module and a violation is determined. The following will mainly explain the differences from Fig. 10.

[0071] 11, the password character string input in S1001 is assumed to be "aBcTaro." Also, the password policy setting values ​​acquired from the setting DB module 1335 in S1006 are assumed to be a minimum number of characters of 8, and all other settings are valid.

[0072] In S1007, the password policy compliance judgment performed by the PW management module 1345 results in a judgment result that the password violates three items: "minimum password length," "contains one or more numeric characters," and "contains one or more symbols." If the password policy compliance judgment result performed in S1007 is "violation," adjustment is performed in S1012 to adjust the display position of the violated password policy item displayed to the user. This display position adjustment process will be described later in the flowchart of FIG. 12 showing the password policy compliance violation display position adjustment process.

[0073] The PW management module 1345, which has determined that the password update has failed, notifies the result of the process by returning an HTTP PUT response to the WEB browser 1534 operating on the smartphone 500 in S1020. Specifically, when three of the password policies are violated and the password update has failed, the HTTP response sets the response status to 204 (NoContent), which is a code indicating one of the normal terminations, and returns it. At this time, in this embodiment, a status code used internally to indicate the failure of the password change is set in the response body, and further, an ID for identifying the violated password policy is set as binary data and returned. Also, when the password policy is violated because the minimum number of characters does not meet the set value, the value of the minimum number of characters is set as binary data in a predetermined position in the response body to notify the user of the minimum number of characters. In this embodiment, the ID for identifying the violated password policy is controlled so that the ID set first is displayed at the top of the items displayed on the WEB browser, and the ID set secondly is displayed next, that is, in a lower position.

[0074] In the password change failure screen 4700 shown in FIG. 7(h), violations of the use of numbers, symbols, and minimum number of characters are displayed from the top, and the password policy identification IDs are also set in the same order. When there are multiple password policy violations, the user often deals with the displayed password policies from the top, and by placing the password policy violations with high difficulty to deal with at the top, it is expected that the violations will be corrected early. In the case of a violation of the minimum number of password characters, if the number of characters is about one or two characters short, the difficulty of dealing with it is not high, but if the number of characters exceeds three, it is expected that the difficulty will increase by selecting the character type or word selection. For this reason, when multiple violations occur, including a violation of the minimum number of password characters, a measure to adjust the display position according to the number of characters short is implemented, which will be described in FIG. 12.

[0075] In S1021, the web browser 1534 running on the smartphone 500 that has received the password update failure response from the printer 300 displays the password change failure screen 4700 shown in FIG. 7(h) and notifies the user of the password change failure. On this screen, the violated password policies are displayed in a list in the order in which it is considered difficult to meet the password policies. The user can avoid a situation in which it becomes increasingly difficult to comply with the password policies by correcting the violated password policy items from the top down. In addition, if the password policy is violated because the minimum number of characters does not meet the set value, the minimum number of characters is also notified, so that it is possible to prevent future violations due to the minimum number of characters by presenting the minimum number of characters to the user.

[0076] Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing the password policy conformance determination executed by the PW management module 1345 in the above-mentioned S1007. This flowchart is started when the password policy conformance determination is executed in S1007 in Fig. 10. When starting, it is assumed that the password character string state received from the smartphone 500 via the communication path in S1005 and each setting value of the password policy acquired from the setting DB module 1335 in S1006 can be referenced.

[0077] First, in S1200, the PW management module 1345 initializes the value of each violation flag to be used and referenced thereafter to 0. In this embodiment, an area is reserved for the violation flag for each password policy as an array that can take two values, and in the case of a violation, 1 indicating ON is set, and otherwise the initial value 0 is maintained.

[0078] The PW management module 1345 performs a password policy conformance determination for the minimum number of characters in S1201. The number of characters acquired in the password string state acquired in S1005 is compared with the minimum number of characters setting value among the password policy setting values ​​acquired from the setting DB module 1335 in S1006. If the comparison shows that the setting value is greater, the process proceeds to S1202, where a minimum character violation flag is set ON, and the process proceeds to the next password policy conformance determination S1203. On the other hand, if the comparison shows that the setting value is equal to or less than the acquired number of characters, the process conforms, so no flag manipulation is performed and the process proceeds to the next password policy conformance determination S1203.

[0079] Next, the PW management module 1345 performs a judgment of conformance with the password policy for the use of uppercase English letters in S1203. If the flag corresponding to the use of uppercase English letters in the password string status acquired in S1005 is [None], proceed to S1204. On the other hand, if the flag corresponding to the use of uppercase English letters is conformant, proceed to a judgment of conformance with the next password policy. In S1204, the setting value of the password policy that includes one or more uppercase English letters is referenced, and if it is valid, in S1205, the violation flag for the use of uppercase English letters is set to ON. If it is invalid, it is judged as conforming even if the target flag of the password string status acquired in S1005 is [None], and proceed to S1206 for judgment of conformance with the next password policy.

[0080] Next, the PW management module 1345 performs a password policy compliance judgment for the use of lowercase English letters in S1206. If the flag corresponding to the use of lowercase English letters in the password string status acquired in S1005 is [None], proceed to S1207. On the other hand, if the flag corresponding to the use of lowercase English letters is [Yes], proceed to the next password policy compliance judgment. In S1207, the setting value of the password policy that includes one or more lowercase English letters is referenced, and if it is valid, the violation flag for the use of lowercase English letters is set to ON in S1208. If it is invalid, proceed to the next password policy compliance judgment, S1209.

[0081] Next, the PW management module 1345 performs a password policy compliance judgment for the use of numbers in S1209. If the flag corresponding to the use of numbers in the password string status acquired in S1005 is [None], proceed to S1210. On the other hand, if the flag corresponding to the use of numbers is [Yes], proceed to the next password policy compliance judgment. In S1210, the setting value of the password policy that includes one or more numbers is referenced, and if it is valid, the violation flag for the use of numbers is set to ON in S1211. If it is invalid, proceed to S1212, which is the next password policy compliance judgment.

[0082] Next, the PW management module 1345 performs a password policy compliance judgment for the use of symbols in S1212. If the flag corresponding to the use of symbols in the password string status acquired in S1005 is [None], proceed to S1213. On the other hand, if the flag corresponding to the use of symbols is [Yes], proceed to the next password policy compliance judgment. In S1213, the setting value of the password policy that includes one or more symbols is referenced, and if it is valid, the violation flag for the use of symbols is set to ON in S1214. If it is invalid, proceed to the next password policy compliance judgment, S1215.

[0083] Next, the PW management module 1345 performs a judgment of compliance with the password policy regarding the use of consecutive characters in S1215. If the flag corresponding to the use of consecutive characters in the password string status acquired in S1005 is [Yes], proceed to S1216. On the other hand, if the flag corresponding to the use of consecutive characters is [No], proceed to the subsequent result judgment. In S1216, the setting value of the password policy corresponding to the use of consecutive characters is referenced, and if it is valid, the violation flag for the use of consecutive characters is set to ON in S1217. If it is invalid, proceed to the subsequent result judgment in S1218.

[0084] Finally, in S1218, the PW management module 1345 scans the violation flags used in the judgment of the conformance of each password policy described above, and judges whether one or more flags are set to ON. If one or more violations are set, the password policy conformance judgment is determined to be [violation], otherwise it is determined to be [conformance], and this is the judgment result for proceeding with the subsequent operation of the PW management module 1345. If the password policy conformance judgment result is [conformance], the setting DB module 1335 is requested to update the password in S1008, and a response indicating a successful completion is returned to the smartphone 500. On the other hand, if it is [violation], the password is not updated, and a response indicating that the password update has failed is returned to the smartphone 500 together with the item ID of the password policy that has been violated.

[0085] 13 is a flowchart of the process executed as S1012 when the password policy compliance judgment result executed in the above-mentioned S1007 is [Violation], and is executed to adjust the display position of the violated password policy item displayed to the user. The trigger for starting this flowchart is the trigger for the password policy compliance judgment in S1007 in FIG. 11 to end with [Violation].

[0086] First, in S1300, PW management module 1345 initializes the value of a position flag indicating the display position to be used and referenced later to 0, indicating "upper". Note that the value indicating "lower" is defined in a reference table as 1. Next, proceeding to S1301, PW management module 1345 refers to the minimum character number violation flag set in the above-mentioned S1202, and determines whether or not there is a violation of the minimum character number. If there is a violation of the minimum character number, proceed to the following S1302, and if not, end the process.

[0087] In S1302, the PW management module 1345 determines whether there is a violation other than the minimum number of characters among the violation flags used in the password policy conformance determination process of Fig. 11. If there is a violation other than the minimum number of characters, proceed to the following S1303, and if not, end the process.

[0088] In S1303, the PW management module 1345 calculates how many characters are missing in the violation of the minimum number of characters from the number of characters acquired in the password string state acquired in S1005 and the setting value of the minimum number of characters. If the value obtained by subtracting the number of characters acquired from the setting value of the minimum number of characters, that is, the number of missing characters, is greater than two characters, the process proceeds to S1304 and sets the position flag to 0 indicating "upper", otherwise the process proceeds to S1305 and sets the position flag to 1 indicating "lower". In S1020 of FIG. 11 executed later, the PW management module 1345 refers to the above-mentioned position flag when creating data to be transmitted to the smartphone 500, and determines the display position of the violation of the password policy of the minimum number of password characters. If the number of missing characters in the minimum number of password characters is two or less, it is determined that the response to the password policy violation is minor and displayed at the lower position, and otherwise it is determined that the difficulty of the response is high and displayed at the upper position.

[0089] As described above, according to this embodiment, a password policy including a remote UI environment can be configured together with a local UI, and a password can be safely changed from an external device on a communication path via the remote UI. Specifically, an obfuscated password that is difficult to restore is sent over the communication path, and the password is set to conform to the password policy, thereby further improving the security level.

[0090] <Other embodiments> Needless to say, the object of the present invention can also be achieved by supplying a recording medium on which the program code of the software that realizes the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments is recorded to a system or device, and having the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or device read and execute the program code stored in the recording medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments, and the storage medium on which the program code is stored constitutes the present invention.

[0091] Examples of storage media for supplying the program code include flexible disks, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, magnetic tapes, non-volatile memory cards, ROMs, and DVDs.

[0092] Furthermore, it goes without saying that the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments are not only realized by the computer executing the program code it has read, but also that the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments are realized by the OS running on the computer performing some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code.

[0093] Furthermore, it goes without saying that this also includes cases where the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided on a function expansion board added to a computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, and then a CPU provided on the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, thereby realizing the functions of the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0094] It should be noted that, within the scope of the present disclosure, the embodiments may be freely combined, any component of each embodiment may be modified, or any component of each embodiment may be omitted.

[0095] (Configuration 1) A first acquisition means for acquiring a state of at least one item of a password policy in a password string inputted by an external device and an obfuscated password string; a second acquiring means for acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determination means for determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on a state of at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and a setting of the at least one password policy item; an updating means for updating a password based on the obfuscated password string when it is determined that the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy; 13. An information processing device comprising:

[0096] (Configuration 2) 2. An information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a notification means for notifying the external device of the non-compliance when it is determined that the obfuscated password string does not comply with the password policy.

[0097] (Configuration 3) 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the notification means further notifies the user of the items of the password policy that are not met.

[0098] (Configuration 4) The at least one password policy item includes a minimum number of characters; 4. The information processing device according to claim 2, wherein, when it is determined that the minimum number of characters is not met, the notification means notifies the user of the set minimum number of characters.

[0099] (Configuration 5) the at least one password policy item includes a minimum number of characters and a predetermined item different from the minimum number of characters; 5. The information processing device of any one of configurations 2 to 4, further comprising a processing means for performing processing in the external device to notify a higher level that the minimum number of characters does not match, when it is determined that the minimum number of characters does not match the specified item, rather than notifying a higher level that the specified item does not match.

[0100] (Configuration 6) 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processing means executes the action when the number of characters that is short of the minimum number of characters is greater than a predetermined number.

[0101] (device 7) 7. The information processing apparatus according to any one of configurations 1 to 6, further comprising a storage unit for storing settings for at least one item of the password policy.

[0102] (device 8) The information processing device of any one of configurations 1 to 7, wherein the at least one password policy item includes any one of a minimum number of characters, prohibition of use of the same consecutive characters, inclusion of one or more uppercase English characters, inclusion of one or more lowercase English characters, inclusion of one or more numbers, or inclusion of one or more symbols.

[0103] (Configuration 9) 9. An information processing device according to any one of configurations 1 to 8, characterized in that if the input password string satisfies all of the items of the at least one password policy, the obfuscated password is transmitted from the external device, and the status of the items of the at least one password policy is not transmitted.

[0104] (Configuration 10) 10. The information processing device according to any one of configurations 1 to 9, wherein the information processing device is a printer.

[0105] (Method 1) A first acquisition step of acquiring a state for at least one item of a password policy in a password string inputted by an external device and an obfuscated password string; a second acquisition step of acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determining step of determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on a state of at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and a setting of the at least one password policy item; updating a password based on the obfuscated password sequence if it is determined that the obfuscated password sequence complies with the password policy; 13. An information processing method comprising:

[0106] (System 1) An information processing system including an information processing device and an external device, The external device is a transmission means for transmitting to the information processing device a state of at least one password policy item in the password string input by the external device and an obfuscated password string; The information processing device includes: a first acquiring means for acquiring a state of at least one password policy item in the password string inputted by the external device and an obfuscated password string; a second acquiring means for acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determination means for determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on a state of at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and a setting of the at least one password policy item; an updating means for updating a password based on the obfuscated password string when it is determined that the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy; An information processing system comprising: [Explanation of symbols]

[0107] 100 Systems 200 Cloud Servers 300 Printers 311 CPU 313 Program Memory 314 Data Memory 1345 PW Management Module

Claims

1. A first acquisition means for acquiring a state of at least one item of a password policy in a password string inputted by an external device and an obfuscated password string; a second acquiring means for acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determination means for determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on a state of at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and a setting of the at least one password policy item; an updating means for updating a password based on the obfuscated password string when it is determined that the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy; 13. An information processing device comprising:

2. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that, when it is determined that the obfuscated password string does not conform to the password policy, notifies the external device of the non-compliance.

3. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said notification means further notifies the user of the items of the password policy that are determined to be incompatible.

4. The at least one password policy item includes a minimum number of characters; 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein, when it is determined that the minimum number of characters is not met, the notifying means notifies the user of the set minimum number of characters.

5. The at least one password policy item includes a minimum number of characters and a predetermined item different from the minimum number of characters, The information processing device according to claim 2, further comprising a processing means for performing processing in the external device to notify a higher level that the minimum number of characters does not match, when it is determined that the minimum number of characters does not match the specified items, rather than notifying a higher level that the specified items do not match.

6. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said processing means executes said action when the number of characters that is lacking the minimum number of characters is greater than a predetermined number.

7. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit for storing a setting for at least one item of the password policy.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one password policy item includes any one of a minimum number of characters, prohibition of the use of the same consecutive characters, inclusion of one or more uppercase English characters, inclusion of one or more lowercase English characters, inclusion of one or more numbers, or inclusion of one or more symbols.

9. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein if the input password string satisfies all of the items of the at least one password policy, the obfuscated password is transmitted from the external device, and the status of the items of the at least one password policy is not transmitted.

10. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a printer.

11. A first acquisition step of acquiring a state for at least one item of a password policy in a password string inputted by an external device and an obfuscated password string; a second acquisition step of acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determining step of determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on a state of at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and a setting of the at least one password policy item; updating a password based on the obfuscated password sequence if it is determined that the obfuscated password sequence complies with the password policy; 13. An information processing method comprising:

12. An information processing system including an information processing device and an external device, The external device is a transmitting means for transmitting to the information processing device a state of at least one password policy item in the password string inputted by the external device and an obfuscated password string; The information processing device includes: a first acquiring means for acquiring a state of at least one item of a password policy in a password string inputted by the external device and an obfuscated password string; a second acquiring means for acquiring a setting for the at least one password policy item; a determination means for determining whether the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy based on a state of at least one password policy item in the acquired password string and a setting of the at least one password policy item; an updating means for updating a password based on the obfuscated password string when it is determined that the obfuscated password string complies with the password policy; An information processing system comprising:

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