Image forming apparatus

Abstract

To obtain an image forming apparatus which allows a user to individually select print data desired to be printed by the user even when storing a plurality of pieces of encryption print data when print data for private print is encrypted.SOLUTION: A print processing section 26a (a) acquires an encryption key 11 from a portable terminal device 1 using an interface 23, (b) tries to decrypt a plurality of pieces of encryption print data by the acquired encryption key 11, (c) displays a print data list indicating the encryption print data successful in decryption on a display device 21a, (d) specifies the encryption print data selected by a user from the print data list, and (e) causes a printing device 25 to perform printing on the basis of the print data obtained by decrypting the specified encryption print data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] In one image forming system, encrypted print data is transferred from a portable terminal device to an image forming device, and the image forming device obtains a decryption key from a USB memory, decrypts the print data with the encryption key, and performs printing based on the decrypted print data (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2008-284720 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Some image forming devices have a private print function, in which the image forming device does not immediately execute printing based on print data received from a terminal device or the like, but executes printing based on the print data when a user issues an instruction to the image forming device.

[0005] To solve the problem that, when print data for private printing is encrypted and multiple encrypted print data are stored in an image forming device, it is difficult for a user to individually select the print data he or she wishes to print on the image forming device, since the contents of the print data cannot be identified in the encrypted state.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has an object to provide an image forming apparatus that allows a user to individually select the print data that he or she wishes to print, even when print data for private printing is encrypted and multiple encrypted print data are stored. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing device, a display device, a communication device for receiving a plurality of encrypted print data, an interface, and a print processing unit for making the printing device execute printing. The print processing unit (a) obtains an encryption key from the portable terminal device using the interface, (b) attempts to decrypt the plurality of encrypted print data with the obtained encryption key, (c) displays on the display device a print data list showing the encrypted print data that have been successfully decrypted, (d) identifies encrypted print data selected by a user from the print data list, and (e) makes the printing device execute printing based on the print data obtained by decrypting the identified encrypted print data. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, an image forming apparatus is obtained in which, when print data for private printing is encrypted and a plurality of encrypted print data are stored, the user can individually select the print data he or she wishes to print.

[0009] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2]FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the image forming apparatus 2 in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system shown in Fig. 1 includes a mobile terminal device 1, an image forming apparatus 2 such as a printer or a multifunction device, and a terminal device 3.

[0013] The mobile terminal device 1 is a portable terminal device, such as a smartphone. The image forming device 2 is a device that has a private print function. The terminal device 3 is a device such as a personal computer that supports the private print function and has a driver for the image forming device 2 installed therein.

[0014] Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 2 includes an operation panel 21, a communication device 22, an interface 23, a storage device 24, a printing device 25, and a processing unit .

[0015] The operation panel 21 includes a display device 21a such as a liquid crystal display, and an input device 21b such as a touch panel or hard keys.

[0016] The communication device 22 is a device capable of performing data communication with the terminal device 3 by wire or wirelessly. For example, the communication device 22 is a network interface. The communication device 22 receives encrypted print data transferred between the terminal device 3 and the image forming device 2.

[0017] The interface 23 is a device for acquiring the encryption key 11 from the mobile terminal device 1. Here, the interface 23 is a short-range wireless device (such as Bluetooth (registered trademark)) capable of data communication with the mobile terminal device 1. Furthermore, when a visible code (such as QR code (registered trademark)) encoded with the encryption key 11 is displayed on the mobile terminal device 1, the interface 23 is a device for reading and decoding the visible code.

[0018] The storage device 24 is a non-volatile storage device such as a flash memory, a hard disk drive, etc. The storage device 24 stores encrypted print data received for private printing.

[0019] The printing device 25 is an internal device that prints an image based on print data onto a print sheet using a predetermined method such as electrophotography.

[0020] The arithmetic processing device 26 is a computer equipped with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and operates as various processing units by loading programs stored in the ROM, the storage device 24, etc. into the RAM and executing them with the CPU. Here, the arithmetic processing device 26 operates as a print processing unit 26a.

[0021] The print processing unit 26a causes the printing device 25 to execute printing.

[0022] The print processing unit 26a (a) obtains the encryption key 11 from the portable terminal device 1 using the interface 23, (b) attempts to decrypt a plurality of encrypted print data stored in the storage device 24 using the obtained encryption key 11, (c) displays on the display device 21a a print data list showing the encrypted print data that was successfully decrypted, (d) identifies the encrypted print data selected by the user from the print data list based on the user's operation on the input device 21b, and (e) causes the printing device 25 to execute printing based on the print data obtained by decrypting the identified encrypted print data.

[0023] The encrypted print data may include attribute information, and the print data list may include attribute information for each encrypted print data. The attribute information may be included in the encrypted print data in an encrypted state, or may be included in the encrypted print data in an unencrypted state. This attribute information includes at least one of the following: a comment and a tag automatically generated by the encrypted print data, identification information (device name, network identifier, etc.) of the terminal device (terminal device 3, etc.) that generated the encrypted print data, identification information (user ID registered in image forming device 2, etc.) of the user that generated the encrypted print data, and print setting information of the encrypted print data (number of print pages, size of print sheet, date and time of generation of the encrypted print data, file name of the document file used to generate the encrypted print data, etc.).

[0024] Additionally, the encryption key 11 may be different for each user or user group.

[0025] The terminal device 3 also includes an input device 31, a display device 32, a storage device 33, a processor , a communication device 35, and an interface .

[0026] The input device 31 is a device such as a keyboard that accepts operations from an administrator on the customer side where the image forming device 2 is installed. The display device 32 is a device such as a liquid crystal display that displays various information.

[0027] The storage device 33 is a non-volatile storage device such as a flash memory, and stores a driver program 33a for the image forming apparatus 2.

[0028] The arithmetic processing device 34 is a computer equipped with a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc., and operates as various processing units by loading programs stored in the ROM or storage device 33 into the RAM and executing them with the CPU. Here, the arithmetic processing device 34 operates as a driver 34a by executing a driver program 33a.

[0029] The driver 34a causes the image forming apparatus 2 to execute private printing in accordance with a user operation on the input device 31. At that time, the driver 34a selects whether the encryption setting is on or off in accordance with the user operation on the input device 31.

[0030] When the encryption setting is on, the driver 34a generates an encryption key 11, encrypts (at least a part of) the print data with the encryption key 11 to generate encrypted print data, transmits the encrypted print data to the image forming device 2 via the communication device 35, and transmits the encryption key 11 to the mobile terminal device 1. The print data is image data showing an image to be printed, or data describing the image to be printed in PDL (Page Description Language) or the like.

[0031] In this embodiment, the encryption key 11 is a private key (encryption key for decryption) in a public key cryptosystem, and the encrypted print data is print data encrypted with a public key corresponding to the private key in the public key cryptosystem. The encryption key 11 may be an encryption key in a common key cryptosystem.

[0032] The communication device 35 is a device capable of data communication with the image forming device 2 (communication device 22) via wire or wirelessly. For example, the communication device 35 is a network interface. The communication device 35 transmits encrypted print data transferred between the terminal device 3 and the image forming device 2.

[0033] The interface 36 is a communication device capable of data communication with the mobile terminal device 1. For example, the interface 36 is a USB interface or a short-range wireless communication interface.

[0034] Next, a description will be given of the operation of the image forming apparatus 2. Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus 2 in Fig. 1.

[0035] In the terminal device 3, when the driver 34a detects a user operation for private printing via the input device 31, it generates print data and generates an encryption key (a public key and a private key in the case of a public encryption key system), and encrypts the print data with the generated encryption key (a public key in the case of a public encryption key system) to generate encrypted print data.

[0036] Next, the driver 34a uses the interface 36 to transmit the encryption key (a private key in the case of a public encryption key system) to the portable terminal device 1, and causes it to be stored in the portable terminal device 1. The driver 34a also uses the communication device 35 to transmit the encrypted print data to the image forming device 2.

[0037] In the image forming apparatus 2, when the encrypted print data for private printing is received by the communication device 22, the print processing unit 26a stores the encrypted print data in the storage device 24. The encrypted print data is erased when printing corresponding to the encrypted print data is completed or a predetermined user operation is detected.

[0038] After that, the user carries the mobile terminal device 1 and goes to the location where the image forming device 2 is installed. In the image forming apparatus 2, when the portable terminal device 1 is detected by the interface 23, the print processing unit 26a uses the interface 23 to obtain the encryption key 11 from the portable terminal device 1 (step S1).

[0039] When the encryption key 11 is acquired, the print processing unit 26a attempts to decrypt one or more pieces of encrypted print data stored using the encryption key 11 (step S2), and determines whether any of the encrypted print data has been successfully decrypted (step S3).

[0040] The print data is written in a specific format, and if the data obtained by decrypting the encrypted print data is written in that format, it is determined that the decryption was successful. If it is determined that no encrypted print data was successfully decrypted, a message to that effect is displayed and the process is terminated.

[0041] If there is any encrypted print data that has been successfully decrypted, the print processing unit 26a displays a list of the encrypted print data that has been successfully decrypted on the display device 21a (step S4). At this time, attribute information of the encrypted print data is displayed for each encrypted print data.

[0042] The user visually checks this list and performs a user operation on the input device 21b to select the encrypted print data that the user desires from the list.

[0043] When the user operation is detected by the input device 21b, the print processing unit 26a specifies the selected encrypted print data (step S5).

[0044] The print processing unit 26a causes the printing device 25 to execute printing based on the print data obtained by decrypting the identified encrypted print data (which may be obtained in step S2) (step S6). When the printing is completed, the print processing unit 26a erases the print data and the encrypted print data (step S7).

[0045] As described above, according to the above embodiment, the print processing unit 26a (a) obtains the encryption key 11 from the mobile terminal device 1 using the interface 23, (b) attempts to decrypt multiple encrypted print data using the obtained encryption key 11, (c) displays on the display device 21a a print data list showing the encrypted print data that was successfully decrypted, (d) identifies the encrypted print data selected by the user from the print data list, and (e) causes the printing device 25 to execute printing based on the print data obtained by decrypting the identified encrypted print data.

[0046] Thus, in the case where print data for private printing is encrypted, even when a plurality of encrypted print data are stored, the user can individually select the print data he / she desires to print.

[0047] It should be noted that various changes and modifications to the above-described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. In other words, such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

[0048] For example, in the above embodiment, the encrypted print data is print data that has been encrypted, and the encrypted print data may include a plurality of encrypted split print data, and the plurality of encrypted split print data may be each encrypted into a plurality of split print data obtained by dividing the print data. When printing, the print processing unit 26a may select the encrypted split print data one by one from the plurality of encrypted split print data, decrypt the selected encrypted split print data, execute printing based on the split print data obtained by decrypting the encrypted split print data, and erase the split print data after completing printing based on the split print data. In this case, the print processing unit 26a erases the split print data, selects the next encrypted split print data, decrypts the next encrypted split print data, and executes printing based on the split print data obtained by decrypting the encrypted split print data. In this way, the memory area for storing the decrypted (unencrypted) print data (split print data) can be made small, and information leakage from the print data is less likely to occur. [Industrial Applicability]

[0049] The present invention is applicable to, for example, an image forming apparatus. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 1. Mobile terminal device 2. Image forming device 21a Display device 23 Interface 25 Printing device 26a Print processing section

Claims

1. A printing device; A display device; a communication device for receiving a plurality of encrypted print data; The interface and a print processing unit that causes the printing device to execute printing; the print processing unit (a) obtains an encryption key from the portable terminal device using the interface, (b) attempts to decrypt the plurality of encrypted print data with the obtained encryption key, (c) displays on the display device a print data list showing the encrypted print data that have been successfully decrypted, (d) identifies encrypted print data selected by a user from the print data list, and (e) causes the printing device to execute printing based on the print data obtained by decrypting the identified encrypted print data. An image forming apparatus comprising:

2. The encrypted print data includes attribute information, the print data list includes the attribute information for each of the encrypted print data; the attribute information includes at least one of a comment and a tag automatically generated from the encrypted print data, identification information of a terminal device that generated the encrypted print data, identification information of a user that generated the encrypted print data, and print setting information of the encrypted print data; 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

3. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the encryption key is different for each user or each user group.

4. The encrypted print data is print data that has been encrypted, The encrypted print data includes a plurality of encrypted divided print data, The plurality of encrypted divided print data are each a plurality of divided print data obtained by dividing the print data, and each of the plurality of divided print data is encrypted. the print processing unit, at the time of printing, selects encrypted divided print data one by one from the plurality of encrypted divided print data, decrypts the selected encrypted divided print data, executes printing based on the divided print data obtained by decrypting the encrypted divided print data, and erases the divided print data after the printing based on the divided print data is completed; the print processing unit erases the divided print data, selects the next encrypted divided print data, decrypts the next encrypted divided print data, and executes printing based on the divided print data obtained by decrypting the encrypted divided print data; 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

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