Image processing device, image processing system, and authentication method

Abstract

To provide an image processing device that can prevent the time required for a user to perform log-in operation from becoming longer.SOLUTION: An image processing device comprises an image processing part and a control part. The control part is configured to: receive biological information about a user for log-in operation; hold a table including records in which user identification information, last update date information, last log-in date information, and the biological information are associated with one another; re-order the records in the table, when at least one of a plurality of predetermined process starting conditions is satisfied; and perform an authentication process of comparing the received biological information with the biological information included in the records in the table, after re-ordering of the records. Each of the records in the table includes an attending / leaving flag showing a state of attending / leaving of the user associated with the records.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present embodiment relates to an image processing device, an image processing system, and an authentication method. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known an image processing device that allows a user to log in using biometric information. The biometric information of a user is, for example, information indicating a user's fingerprint, information indicating a user's veins, information indicating a user's iris, information indicating a user's face, etc. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-134745 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When a user A attempts to log in to the image processing device, such an image processing device reads the biometric information of user A as target biometric information. The image processing device also stores the biometric information of each of a plurality of users who can log in to the image processing device as reference biometric information. The order of the plurality of reference biometric information stored in the image processing device is a predetermined order. Therefore, after reading the target biometric information, the image processing device selects the reference biometric information one by one in a predetermined order. The image processing device repeatedly performs matching with the target biometric information for each selected reference biometric information. In this case, the image processing device continues such repeated matching until reference biometric information is found that has a degree of match with the target biometric information higher than a predetermined threshold.

[0005] However, in such an image processing device, the predetermined order is not necessarily the order in which the matching is completed first. For example, the predetermined order is often the order in which the reference biometric information is stored in the image processing device. For this reason, in the image processing device, the lower the ranking of the reference biometric information that has a matching degree with the target biometric information higher than a predetermined threshold is compared to other reference biometric information, the longer the time required for the matching. As a result, in the image processing device, it may take a long time for user A to log in to the image processing device.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing system, and an authentication method that can prevent a user from taking a long time to log in. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The image processing device according to the embodiment includes an image processing unit and a control unit. The control unit holds a table including records in which user identification information, last update date and time information, and last login date and time information are associated with each other, receives biometric information of a user for a login operation, and when a predetermined condition is satisfied, reorders the records in the table, and after the reordering of the records, performs an authentication process of comparing the received biometric information with the biometric information included in the record in the table. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is an external view showing an example of the overall configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an image processing device. [Diagram 3] 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the flow of an order change process performed by a control unit. [Figure 4] 13 is a diagram showing an example of a plurality of pieces of user information in a case where the order change process has not been performed even once. FIG. [Diagram 5]FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table in a case where order change processing is performed based on last login date and time information. [Figure 6] 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table in a case where order change processing is performed based on login count information. [Figure 7] 13 is a diagram showing an example of a table in a case where order change processing based on user identification information is performed. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a table in a case where order change processing based on attendance flags is performed. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a table in a case where order change processing based on content information is performed. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of authentication processing performed by a control unit. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is an external view showing an example of the overall configuration of an image processing device according to a modified example of an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the following, an image processing apparatus 100 will be described as an example of the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

[0010] For ease of explanation, the user attempting to log in to the image processing device 100 will be referred to as the first user in the following description. For ease of explanation, each of the multiple users who can log in to the image processing device 100 will be referred to as the second user in the following description. That is, the second user is a user who is registered in the image processing device 100 as a person who can use the image processing device 100. When the first user can log in to the image processing device 100, the first user is the same person as any of the second users. On the other hand, when the first user cannot log in to the image processing device 100, the first user is a person different from any of the second users.

[0011] For convenience of explanation, authentication of a login of a first user U1 to the image processing device 100 will be referred to as authentication of the first user U1. For convenience of explanation, matching of the biometric information of the first user U1 with the biometric information of a second user U2 will be referred to as matching of the first user U1 with the second user U2. Here, the biometric information of a user may be fingerprint information indicating the fingerprint of the user, or vein information indicating the vein of the user. The biometric information of the user may be iris information indicating the iris of the user, or face information indicating the face of the user. In the following, as an example, a case where the biometric information of the user is the fingerprint information of the user will be described. Therefore, in the following, matching of the first user U1 with the second user U2 means matching of the fingerprint information of the first user U1 with the fingerprint information of the second user U2.

[0012] (Details of image processing device) The image processing device 100 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.

[0013] 1 is an external view showing an example of the overall configuration of an image processing device 100 according to an embodiment. The image processing device 100 is, for example, a device that performs image processing such as a multifunction device, a scanner, or a FAX (Facsimile). Image processing refers to processing related to an image. Image processing includes, for example, processing for forming an image on a sheet, processing for reading image information of a reading target, processing for recording (storing) image information, processing for transmitting an image to another device, and the like.

[0014] The image processing device 100 includes a display 110, a control panel 120, a printer unit 130, a sheet storage unit 140, an image reading unit 150, and a biometric information reading unit 160. The printer unit 130 of the image processing device 100 may be a device that fixes a toner image, or may be an inkjet device.

[0015] The image processing device 100 reads an image appearing on a sheet, generates digital data, and generates an image file. The sheet is, for example, a manuscript, or paper on which characters, images, etc. are written. The sheet may be any object that can be read by the image processing device 100.

[0016] The display 110 is an image display device such as a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display, etc. The display 110 displays various information related to the image processing device 100.

[0017] The control panel 120 has a plurality of buttons. The control panel 120 accepts operations by a user. The control panel 120 outputs a signal corresponding to the operation performed by the user to a control unit of the image processing device 100. The display 110 and the control panel 120 may be configured as an integrated touch panel. The control panel 120 is an example of an operation accepting unit.

[0018] The printer unit 130 forms an image on a sheet based on image information generated by the image reading unit 150 or image information received via a communication path. The printer unit 130 forms an image by, for example, the following process. The image forming unit of the printer unit 130 forms an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum based on image information. The image forming unit of the printer unit 130 forms a visible image by attaching a developer to the electrostatic latent image. A specific example of the developer is toner. The transfer unit of the printer unit 130 transfers the visible image onto a sheet. The fixing unit of the printer unit 130 fixes the visible image onto the sheet by applying heat and pressure to the sheet. The sheet on which the image is formed may be a sheet stored in the sheet storage unit 140 or a sheet that is manually inserted.

[0019] The sheet storage section 140 stores sheets to be used for image formation in the printer section 130 .

[0020] The image reading unit 150 reads the image information of the reading target as light and dark. The image reading unit 150 records the read image information. The recorded image information may be transmitted to another information processing device via a network. The recorded image information may be formed into an image on a sheet by the printer unit 130.

[0021] The biometric information reading unit 160 reads the biometric information of the first user as the first biometric information. Here, in this embodiment, the biometric information of the first user is the fingerprint information of the first user. Therefore, the biometric information reading unit 160 reads the fingerprint information of the first user as the first fingerprint information. Note that in this embodiment, the biometric information reading unit 160 reading the first fingerprint information means that the biometric information reading unit 160 generates the first fingerprint information based on the fingerprint of the first user.

[0022] When the biometric information reading unit 160 reads the first fingerprint information, the biometric information reading unit 160 includes, for example, an imaging unit that captures an image of the first user's fingerprint. The biometric information reading unit 160 captures an image of the first user's fingerprint using this imaging unit. Then, the biometric information reading unit 160 generates the first fingerprint information based on the image of the first user's fingerprint. For example, the biometric information reading unit 160 extracts feature points from the image and generates information indicating the extracted feature points as the first fingerprint information. The method of extracting feature points from the image may be a known method or a method to be developed in the future. Furthermore, the biometric information reading unit 160 may simply be a device that captures an image of the first user's fingerprint. In this case, the process of extracting feature points from the image and the process of generating information indicating the extracted feature points as the first fingerprint information are performed by, for example, a control unit of the image processing device 100. In this case, the process of extracting feature points from the image and the process of generating information indicating the extracted feature points as the first fingerprint information may be performed by another device. In this case, however, the image processing device 100 acquires the fingerprint information generated by the other device from the other device.

[0023] For ease of explanation, the formation of an image on a sheet by the printer unit 130, that is, the formation of an image on a sheet by the image processing device 100, will be referred to as printing in the following explanation.

[0024] Here, the image processing device 100 is communicably connected to one or more other information processing devices such as a PC (Personal Computer) and a server via a network. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the image processing device 100 is communicably connected to a server 210. Note that the image processing device 100 may be configured to be communicably connected to another information processing device instead of the server 210. Furthermore, the image processing device 100 may be configured to be communicably connected to another information processing device in addition to the server 210.

[0025] The server 210 is a print server. In response to a request from an information processing device communicably connected to the server 210, the server 210 stores print data received from the information processing device. The print data is information indicating an image to be formed in a sheet by the image processing device 100 in printing. In response to a request from the image processing device 100, the server 210 transmits print data indicated by the request from among one or more stored print data to the image processing device 100. This allows the image processing device 100 to print an image indicated by the print data. Note that the information processing device is omitted in FIG. 1 to prevent the diagram from becoming complicated. Note that the server 210 may be configured to be connected to only one information processing device, or to be connected to two or more information processing devices including the information processing device.

[0026] In FIG. 1, the image processing device 100 constitutes an image processing system 500. The image processing system 500 includes the image processing device 100, a server 210, and one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicably connected to the image processing device 100. The image processing system 500 also includes one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicably connected to the server 210. The image processing system 500 may not include the server 210. The image processing system 500 may not include one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicably connected to the image processing device 100. The image processing system 500 may not include one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicably connected to the server 210.

[0027] (Functional configuration of image processing device) The functional configuration of the image processing device 100 will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0028] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functional configuration of the image processing device 100.

[0029] The image processing device 100 includes a display 110, a control panel 120, a printer unit 130, a sheet storage unit 140, an image reading unit 150, and a biometric information reading unit 160. The image processing device 100 also includes a control unit 300, a network interface 310, a storage unit 320, and a memory 330. These functional units included in the image processing device 100 are connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other via a system bus.

[0030] The display 110, the control panel 120, the printer unit 130, the sheet storage unit 140, the image reading unit 150, and the biometric information reading unit 160 will be described below as they are similar to those described above. The control unit 300, the network interface 310, the storage unit 320, and the memory 330 will be described below.

[0031] The storage unit 320 is, for example, an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk or a solid state drive (SSD). The storage unit 320 stores various types of information. For example, the storage unit 320 stores a program executed by the control unit 300. The program is, for example, firmware, an application, or the like.

[0032] In addition, the storage unit 320 stores user information for each second user. In other words, the storage unit 320 stores user information for each of a plurality of second users. Hereinafter, the plurality of pieces of user information thus stored in the storage unit 320 will be simply referred to as a plurality of pieces of user information.

[0033] The user information of a second user is information including information in which the biometric information of the second user is associated with related information of the second user. Here, as described above, in this embodiment, the biometric information of the second user is fingerprint information of the second user. Therefore, in this embodiment, the user information of the second user is information including information in which the fingerprint information of the second user is associated with related information of the second user.

[0034] Moreover, the related information of a second user is information related to the second user. The related information of the second user includes, for example, user identification information for identifying the second user, last login date and time information of the second user, and login count information of the second user. The second user identification information is, for example, a user ID (Identifier) ​​of the second user. The last login date and time information is information indicating the latest date and time of the second user's past login to the image processing device 100. The login count information is information indicating the number of times the second user has past logged in to the image processing device 100. Note that the related information of the second user may include other information related to the second user instead of a part or all of the second user identification information, the last login date and time information, and the login count information. The related information of the second user may include other information related to the second user in addition to all of the second user identification information, the last login date and time information, and the login count information. The user information of the second user may include other information in addition to the information in which the fingerprint information of the second user is associated with the related information of the second user. The control unit 300 of the image processing device 100 authenticates the first user based on the first biometric information read by the biometric information reading unit 160 and the multiple pieces of user information stored in the storage unit 320.

[0035] The control unit 300 is an example of a control unit of the image processing device 100. The control unit 300 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the image processing device 100. The control unit 300 controls the operation of each functional unit of the image processing device 100. The control unit 300 executes various processes by executing a program. The control unit 300 acquires an instruction input by a user from the control panel 120. That is, the control unit 300 accepts an operation from the user through the control panel 120. The control unit 300 executes a control process based on the acquired instruction.

[0036] Here, as an image processing device different from the image processing device 100, an image processing device capable of reading biometric information of a user similarly to the image processing device 100 is known. Such an image processing device reads biometric information of a user who is about to log in to the image processing device as target biometric information. In addition, in the image processing device, biometric information of each of a plurality of users who are able to log in to the image processing device is stored as reference biometric information. A predetermined order is assigned to the plurality of reference biometric information stored in the image processing device. Therefore, after reading the target biometric information, the image processing device selects the reference biometric information one by one in a predetermined order. The image processing device repeatedly performs matching with the target biometric information for each selected reference biometric information. In the image processing device, in this case, such repeated matching is continued until reference biometric information having a degree of coincidence with the target biometric information higher than a predetermined threshold is found. However, in the image processing device, the predetermined order is not necessarily an order in which the matching is completed first. For example, the predetermined order is often an order in which the reference biometric information is stored in the image processing device. Therefore, in the image processing device, the lower the ranking of the reference biometric information that has a matching degree with the target biometric information higher than a predetermined threshold is compared to other reference biometric information, the longer the time required for the above matching becomes. As a result, in the image processing device, the longer the time required for a user to log in to the image processing device may become.

[0037] Therefore, the control unit 300 performs an order change process and an authentication process. The order change process is a process of changing the order of a plurality of pieces of user information based on related information when a predetermined condition is satisfied. The authentication process is a process performed when the first biometric information is acquired. Specifically, the authentication process is a process of authenticating the first user based on the acquired first biometric information and a plurality of pieces of user information. This allows the control unit 300 to suppress the time required for the user to log in from becoming long. The order change process performed by the control unit 300 and the reason why the order change process suppresses the time from becoming long will be described in detail below. The authentication process performed by the control unit 300 will also be described in detail below.

[0038] The network interface 310 transmits and receives data to and from other devices. The network interface 310 operates as an input interface to receive data sent from other devices. The network interface 310 also operates as an output interface to transmit data to other devices.

[0039] The memory 330 is, for example, a random access memory (RAM). The memory 330 temporarily stores information used by each functional unit included in the image processing device 100. The memory 330 may store image information read by the image reading unit 150, a program for operating each functional unit, and the like.

[0040] (Order change process performed by the control unit) Hereinafter, the order change processing performed by the control unit 300 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the order change processing performed by the control unit 300.

[0041] The control unit 300 waits until a predetermined condition is satisfied (ACT 110). Here, the predetermined condition will be explained.

[0042] The predetermined conditions include one or more processing start conditions. Here, each of the one or more processing start conditions included in the predetermined conditions is associated with one of the one or more pieces of information included in the related information. Then, when a certain processing start condition is satisfied, the control unit 300 performs order change processing based on the information associated with the processing start condition among the one or more pieces of information included in the related information. The order change processing based on the information will be described later.

[0043] For example, a certain processing start condition is that at least one piece of last login date and time information is updated in a plurality of pieces of user information. The last login date and time information is associated with the processing start condition. In the following, for convenience of explanation, the processing start condition is referred to as a first processing start condition.

[0044] Also, for example, a certain process start condition is that at least one piece of login count information is updated in a plurality of pieces of user information. The login count information is associated with the process start condition. In the following, for convenience of explanation, the process start condition is referred to as a second process start condition.

[0045] The predetermined condition may be configured to include another condition as a processing start condition instead of either or both of the first processing start condition and the second processing start condition. Also, the predetermined condition may be configured to include another condition as a processing start condition in addition to the first processing start condition and the second processing start condition.

[0046] In ACT110, when at least one of the processing start conditions included in the predetermined conditions is satisfied, the control unit 300 determines that the predetermined conditions are satisfied.

[0047] When the control unit 300 determines that the predetermined condition is satisfied (ACT110-YES), it identifies one or more process start conditions that are satisfied among the process start conditions included in the predetermined condition. Then, the control unit 300 performs order change processing based on each of the information associated with the identified one or more process start conditions (ACT120). Here, the processing of ACT120 will be described.

[0048] For example, when the control unit 300 identifies the first process start condition as one of the process start conditions satisfied in ACT110, the control unit 300 performs a process of changing the order based on the last login date and time information. Here, the process of changing the order based on the last login date and time information is a process of changing the order of multiple user information to a descending order with respect to the date and time indicated by the last login date and time information. In other words, the process of changing the order is a process of changing the table T1 shown in FIG. 4 to the table T2 shown in FIG. 5.

[0049] Here, Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a plurality of pieces of user information when the order change process has not been performed even once. Table T1 shown in Fig. 4 is a table showing a plurality of pieces of user information. Each record in table T1 shows one of the plurality of pieces of user information.

[0050] When a plurality of pieces of user information are represented by a table such as table T1, the order of the plurality of pieces of user information is represented by the order of records in the table. That is, the order of each record in table T1 indicates the order of the user information represented by each record. The order of each record in table T1 is the order before the order change process performed in ACT120 is performed. That is, the order of the plurality of pieces of user information represented by table 1 shown in FIG. 4 is the order before the order change process is performed. Note that the plurality of pieces of user information may be represented by another format that allows an individual order to be assigned to each piece of user information, instead of a configuration represented by a table such as table T1.

[0051] 4, in each record of table T1, user identification information, fingerprint information, last update date and time information, last login date and time information, and number of logins information are associated with each other. That is, in this example, user information is information including user identification information, fingerprint information, last update date and time information, last login date and time information, and number of logins information. Also, in this example, of these pieces of information, user identification information, last update date and time information, last login date and time information, and number of logins information are information included in related information.

[0052] Here, the fingerprint information stored in a record of table T1 is the fingerprint information of a second user identified by the user identification information stored in the record. The last update date and time information stored in the record is information indicating the latest date and time of updates of the user information indicated by the record. The last login date and time information stored in the record is the last login date and time information of the second user. The login count information stored in the record is the login count information of the second user.

[0053] For convenience of explanation, the second user identified by the user identification information stored in a certain record will be referred to as the second user of the record, and the record will be referred to as the record of the second user. For convenience of explanation, the fingerprint information stored in the record will be referred to as the fingerprint information of the record, and the record will be referred to as the record of the fingerprint information. For convenience of explanation, the date and time indicated by the last update date and time information stored in the record will be referred to as the last update date and time of the record, and the record will be referred to as the record of the last update date and time. For convenience of explanation, the date and time indicated by the last login date and time information stored in the record will be referred to as the last login date and time of the record, and the record will be referred to as the record of the last login date and time. For convenience of explanation, the number of times indicated by the login count information stored in the record will be referred to as the login count of the record, and the record will be referred to as the record of the login count.

[0054] In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Oda" will be referred to as the second user X1. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Toyotomi" will be referred to as the second user X2. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Tokugawa" will be referred to as the second user X3. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Sakamoto" will be referred to as the second user X4. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Ookubo" will be referred to as the second user X5. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Saigo" will be referred to as the second user X6. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Ito" will be referred to as the second user X7. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the second user identified by "Yoshida" will be referred to as second user X8 in the following explanation.

[0055] Here, in table T1, records showing the user information of second user X1 to second user X8 are arranged in ascending order of the last update date and time of the records. In other words, in table T1, records showing the user information of second user X1 to second user X8 are arranged in ascending order of the last update date and time of the records. Therefore, when the control unit 300 selects records one by one from the top of table T1, the control unit 300 selects records of table T2 in ascending order of the last update date and time of the records.

[0056] On the other hand, Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of table T1 in a case where order change processing based on last login date and time information has been performed. For convenience of explanation, in Fig. 5, table T1 is shown as table T2. In table T2, records indicating the user information of each of second users X1 to X8 are arranged in descending order of the date and time indicated by the last login date and time information of the records. Therefore, when the control unit 300 selects records in table T2 one by one from the top, the control unit 300 can select records in table T2 in order of the most recent last login date and time of the records.

[0057] In this way, when the control unit 300 identifies the first process start condition as one of the process start conditions that is satisfied in ACT110, it performs the order change process based on the last login date and time information.

[0058] Here, the more recent the date and time indicated by the last login date and time information, the more likely it is that the second user of the record of that last login date and time information will use the image processing device 100 again. For this reason, by the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 300 performs a sequence change process based on the last login date and time information every time the first process start condition is satisfied. As a result, in the authentication process described below, the control unit 300 can select records in order of the most recent last login date and time from the table T2 after the sequence change process has been performed. Then, the control unit 300 can compare the second user of the selected record with the first user in order of the most recent last login date and time. In other words, the image processing device 100 can prevent the time required for a frequently used user to log in from becoming long.

[0059] Also, for example, when the control unit 300 identifies the second process start condition as one of the process start conditions satisfied in ACT110, the control unit 300 performs a sequence change process based on the login count information. Here, the sequence change process based on the login count information is a process of changing the sequence of multiple user information so that the sequence is in descending order with respect to the number of times indicated by the login count information. In other words, the sequence change process is a process of changing the table T1 shown in FIG. 4 to the table T3 shown in FIG. 6.

[0060] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of table T1 in a case where order change processing based on login count information has been performed. For convenience of explanation, in Fig. 6, table T1 is shown as table T3. In table T3, records indicating user information of second users X1 to X8 are arranged in descending order of the number of times indicated by the login count information of the records. Therefore, when the control unit 300 selects records in table T3 one by one from the top, the control unit 300 can select records in table T3 in descending order of the number of logins of the records.

[0061] Here, the more recent the number of times indicated by the login count information, the more likely it is that the second user of the record with the login count indicated by the login count information will use the image processing device 100 again. For this reason, by the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 300 performs the order change process based on the login count information every time the second process start condition is satisfied. As a result, in the authentication process described below, the control unit 300 can select records in descending order of the number of logins from the table T3 after the order change process has been performed, for example. Then, the control unit 300 can compare the second user of the selected record with the first user in descending order of the number of logins. In other words, the image processing device 100 can prevent the time required for a user with a high usage frequency to log in from becoming long.

[0062] As described above, the predetermined condition may include other process start conditions in addition to the first process start condition and the second process start condition. For example, the predetermined condition may include a third process start condition. The third process start condition is that user identification information is received from another device together with the print data. The other device may be, for example, a PC, a server, etc., but is not limited to these.

[0063] The third process start condition is associated with user identification information. When the control unit 300 identifies the third process start condition as one of the process start conditions satisfied in ACT110, the control unit 300 performs order change processing based on the user identification information. Here, the order change processing based on the user identification information is processing for changing the order of a plurality of pieces of user information so that the order of the user information including the received user identification information becomes a predetermined order. In other words, the order change processing is processing for changing, for example, the table T1 shown in FIG. 4 to the table T4 shown in FIG. 7. Note that the predetermined order may be any order. In the following, as an example, a case where the predetermined order is 1st place will be described.

[0064] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of table T1 when a sequence change process based on user identification information is performed. In FIG. 7, for convenience of explanation, table T1 is shown as table T4. FIG. 7 also shows table T4 in the case where the second user identified by the user identification information received by the control unit 300 together with the print data is second user X7. Therefore, in table T4, the record showing the user information of second user X7 is ranked first. As a result, when the control unit 300 selects the records of table T4 one by one from the top, the control unit 300 can first select the record of second user X7 ranked first.

[0065] Here, the control unit 300 performs, for example, a sequence change process based on the user identification information, reception of print data, and printing based on the received print data, according to the following process flow. The control unit 300 receives the first user identification information for identifying the first user U1 together with the print data from a PC operated by a certain first user U1. In this case, the control unit 300 determines that the third process start condition is satisfied, and therefore the predetermined condition is satisfied. Then, the control unit 300 performs a sequence change process based on the received first user identification information, and changes the order of the plurality of pieces of user information. As a result, the control unit 300 changes the order of the user information of the second user who is the same person as the first user U1 to first place in the table showing the plurality of pieces of user information. After that, the first user U1 performs an operation on the image processing device 100 to log in to the image processing device 100. As a result, the control unit 300 reads the first biometric information of the first user U1 by the biometric information reading unit 160. The image processing device 100 authenticates the first user U1 based on the read first biometric information and the plurality of user information after the order change process. In this authentication, the control unit 300 compares the first user U1 with the plurality of second users using the table in which the rank of the second user has been changed to first. In this comparison, the control unit 300 can reduce the time required to compare the first user U1 with the plurality of second users. This is because, as described above, the rank of the second user who is the same person as the first user U1 in the table has been changed to first by the order change process based on the user identification information. Note that, when the login of the first user U1 is permitted by this authentication, the first user U1 performs an operation on the image processing device 100 to cause the image processing device 100 to print the print data received by the control unit 300. As a result, the control unit 300 causes the printer unit 130 to print based on the received print data.

[0066] Further, the control unit 300 performs, for example, a sequence change process based on the user identification information, reception of print data, and printing based on the received print data, according to the following process flow. The first user U1 transmits the first user identification information for identifying the first user U1 to the server 210 together with the print data from the PC operated by the first user U1. The server 210 transmits the received first user identification information to the image processing device 100. As a result, the control unit 300 receives the first user identification information. In this case, the control unit 300 determines that the third process start condition is satisfied, and therefore the predetermined condition is satisfied. Then, the control unit 300 performs a sequence change process based on the received first user identification information, and changes the order of the multiple user information. As a result, the control unit 300 changes the order of the user information of the second user, who is the same person as the first user U1, to first place in the table showing the multiple user information. After that, the first user U1 performs an operation on the image processing device 100 to log in to the image processing device 100. As a result, the control unit 300 reads the first biometric information of the first user U1 by the biometric information reading unit 160. The control unit 300 authenticates the first user U1 based on the read first biometric information and the multiple user information after the order change process. In this authentication, the control unit 300 compares the first user U1 with multiple second users using the table in which the ranking of the second user has been changed to 1st place. In this comparison, the image processing device 100 can reduce the time required to compare the first user U1 with multiple second users. This is because, as described above, the ranking of the second user who is the same person as the first user U1 in the table has been changed to a predetermined ranking by the order change process based on the user identification information. Note that if the login of the first user U1 is permitted by this authentication, the first user U1 performs an operation on the image processing device 100 to cause the image processing device 100 to print the print data received by the server 210. That is, in response to the accepted operation, the control unit 300 receives the print data from the server 210. Then, the control unit 300 causes the printer unit 130 to perform the printing based on the received print data.

[0067] The predetermined condition may include a fourth process start condition in addition to the first process start condition and the second process start condition. The fourth process start condition is that the second user's clock-in / out status changes. The second user's clock-in / out status is either a status in which the second user is at work or a status in which the second user is clocking out. In other words, a change in the second user's clock-in / out status means that the second user changes from a status in which the second user is at work to a status in which the second user is clocking out. Also, a change in the second user's clock-in / out status means that the second user changes from a status in which the second user is clocking out to a status in which the second user is at work.

[0068] When the predetermined condition includes the fourth process start condition, the control unit 300 acquires attendance information indicating the attendance status of the second user from another device. For example, the control unit 300 is communicably connected to a management server (not shown) that manages the attendance status of the second user. In this case, the control unit 300 acquires attendance information from the management server. Based on the acquired attendance information, the control unit 300 adds an attendance flag indicating the attendance status of the second user to each record of the table T1 shown in FIG. 4. For example, the attendance flag indicating the second user is at work is 1. For example, the attendance flag indicating the second user is clocked out is 0.

[0069] The fourth process start condition is associated with an attendance flag. That is, the attendance flag is an example of information included in the related information. When the image processing device 100 identifies the fourth process start condition as one of the process start conditions satisfied in ACT110, it performs an order change process based on the attendance flag. Here, the order change process based on the attendance flag is a process of changing the order of a plurality of user information as follows. That is, the order change process is a process of changing the order so that the order of user information whose attendance flag is 1 is higher than the order of user information whose attendance flag is 0. In other words, the order change process is a process of changing the table T1 shown in FIG. 4 to the table T5 shown in FIG. 8.

[0070] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of table T1 in the case where order change processing based on the attendance flag has been performed. In FIG. 8, for convenience of explanation, this table T1 is shown as table T5. As shown in FIG. 8, an attendance flag is added to each record in table T5. Also, in FIG. 8, in order to simplify the figure, only records whose attendance flag is 1 are shown. Therefore, when the control unit 300 selects records in table T5 one by one from the top down, the control unit 300 will select records whose attendance flag is 1 in preference to records whose attendance flag is 0.

[0071] Here, the second user of a record whose time-attend flag is 0 is unlikely to log in to the image processing device 100 until the user clocks in. In other words, the second user of a record whose time-attend flag is 1 is more likely to log in to the image processing device 100 than the second user whose time-attend flag is 0. For this reason, by the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 300 causes the image processing device 100 to perform order change processing based on the time-attend flag every time the fourth process start condition is satisfied. As a result, the image processing device 100 can obtain the following effects. That is, the image processing device 100 can prevent the time required for a user who is at work to log in from becoming too long.

[0072] The order change process based on the attendance flag may be a process of extracting user information whose attendance flag is set to 1 from among multiple pieces of user information. This is because such extraction is also a process of changing the order of user information in a broad sense.

[0073] The predetermined condition may include a fifth process start condition in addition to the first process start condition and the second process start condition. The fifth process start condition is that the image processing device 100 receives information indicating at least a part of the first user identification information that identifies the first user. In the following, for convenience of explanation, the information is referred to as the content information. For example, when the first user identification information is "abc", the content information is any one of "a", "b", "c", "ab", "bc", and "abc". The content information can also be rephrased as information indicating at least a part of the user identification information that identifies the second user.

[0074] The fifth process start condition is associated with content information. That is, the content information is an example of information included in the related information. When the image processing device 100 identifies the fifth process start condition as one of the process start conditions satisfied in ACT110, it performs a sequence change process based on the content information. Here, the sequence change process based on the content information is a process of changing the sequence of a plurality of pieces of user information as follows. That is, the sequence change process is a process of changing the sequence so that the order of user information including user identification information that completely or partially matches the content information is higher than the order of other user information. In other words, the sequence change process is a process of changing the table T1 shown in FIG. 4 to the table T6 shown in FIG. 9.

[0075] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of table T1 in a case where order change processing based on content information is performed. In FIG. 9, for convenience of explanation, the table T1 is shown as table T6. In FIG. 9, table T6 in a case where content information is "S" is shown as an example. In addition, in FIG. 9, only records of user identification information that completely or partially match "S" are shown in order to simplify the drawing. Therefore, when the control unit 300 selects records in table T6 one by one from the top, the control unit 300 performs the following selection. That is, in this case, the control unit 300 can select a record that stores user identification information that completely or partially matches the content information with priority over other records. Then, the control unit 300 can perform matching between the second user of the selected record and the first user with priority over matching between the second user of the other records and the first user. That is, the image processing device 100 can prevent the time required for login of a user who inputs content information to the image processing device 100 from becoming long.

[0076] Here, the control unit 300 receives the content information and performs order change processing based on the received content information, for example, by the following process flow. When a first user U1 logs in to the image processing device 100, the control unit 300 receives the content information together with the operation of logging in to the image processing device 100 via the control panel 120. In this case, the control unit 300 determines that the predetermined condition is satisfied because the fifth process start condition is satisfied. Then, the control unit 300 performs order change processing based on the received content information and changes the order of the multiple user information as follows. That is, the control unit 300 changes the order of the multiple user information so that the order of the user information including the user identification information that completely or partially matches the received content information is higher than the order of the other user information. For example, the control unit 300 changes the order of the table T1 shown in FIG. 4 to the table T6 shown in FIG. 9 by the order change processing based on the content information. Therefore, when the control unit 300 selects records one by one from the top of the table T6, the control unit 300 will select the record including the user identification information with priority over other records.

[0077] Here, the content information of a certain first user U1 is accepted by the image processing device 100 immediately before the first user U1 logs in to the image processing device 100. Therefore, the control unit 300 performs order change processing based on the content information every time the fifth process start condition is satisfied. This allows the image processing device 100 to obtain the following effects. That is, the image processing device 100 can prevent the time required for the first user who inputs the content information to the image processing device 100 to log in from becoming too long.

[0078] The order change process based on the content information may be a process of extracting user information including user identification information that completely or partially matches the content information from among a plurality of pieces of user information, because such extraction is also a process of changing the order of user information in a broad sense.

[0079] As described above, when the control unit 300 determines that a predetermined condition is satisfied in ACT110, it identifies one or more process start conditions that are satisfied among the process start conditions included in the predetermined condition. Then, the control unit 300 performs an order change process based on information associated with each of the identified one or more process start conditions in ACT120. Note that the control unit 300 may be configured to perform an order change process based on some or all of the last login date and time information, the number of logins information, the user identification information, the attendance flag, and the content information in ACT120. In other words, the predetermined condition may be configured to include some or all of the first to fifth process start conditions.

[0080] After the process of ACT120 is performed, the control unit 300 transitions to ACT110 and waits again until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

[0081] (Authentication process that performs the control section) The authentication process performed by the control unit 300 will be described below with reference to Fig. 10. Fig. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the flow of the authentication process performed by the control unit 300. In the following, as an example, a case where a sequence change process is performed on a table showing multiple pieces of user information at a timing before the process of ACT210 is performed will be described.

[0082] The control unit 300 waits until an operation to log in to the image processing device 100 is received from the first user via the control panel 120 (ACT 210).

[0083] When the control unit 300 determines that an operation to log in to the image processing device 100 has been received from the first user (ACT210-YES), the control unit 300 waits until preparations for reading fingerprint information are complete. The preparations are when the first user places a finger at a position where an image can be captured by the imaging unit of the biometric information reading unit 160. For example, the control unit 300 specifies that the preparations are complete based on an operation received via the control panel 120. When the control unit 300 determines that the preparations are complete, the control unit 300 reads the fingerprint information of the first user (ACT220). Note that the method of starting reading of fingerprint information by the biometric information reading unit 160 in ACT220 may be another method.

[0084] Next, the control unit 300 selects records of the table indicating a plurality of pieces of user information one by one from the top as target records. Then, the control unit 300 repeatedly performs the processes of ACT240 to ACT280 for each selected target record (ACT230).

[0085] After selecting the target record in ACT230, the control unit 300 compares the second user of the selected target record with the first user based on the fingerprint information read in ACT220 (ACT240).

[0086] Next, the control unit 300 determines whether the degree of coincidence between the fingerprint information of the first user and the fingerprint information of the second user in the comparison performed in ACT 240 exceeds a predetermined threshold (ACT 250). Note that the method of calculating the degree of coincidence by the control unit 300 may be a known method or a method to be developed in the future.

[0087] When the control unit 300 determines that the degree of match between the fingerprint information of the first user and the fingerprint information of the second user exceeds a predetermined threshold (ACT250-YES), it permits the first user to log in to the image processing device 100 (ACT270). After that, the control unit 300 performs an update process to update the last login date and time information and the number of logins information in a table showing information on a plurality of users (ACT290), and ends the process.

[0088] On the other hand, when the control unit 300 determines that the degree of coincidence between the fingerprint information of the first user and the fingerprint information of the second user does not exceed the predetermined threshold (ACT250-NO), the control unit 300 performs the following process. That is, in this case, the control unit 300 determines whether or not there is a record that has not been selected in ACT230 (ACT260).

[0089] If the control unit 300 determines in ACT230 that there is an unselected record (ACT260-YES), the control unit 300 transitions to ACT230 and selects the next record as the target record.

[0090] On the other hand, when the control unit 300 determines in ACT230 that there is no unselected record (ACT260-NO), the control unit 300 performs the following process. That is, in this case, the control unit 300 rejects the login of the first user to the image processing device 100 (ACT280) and ends the process.

[0091] As described above, the control unit 300 performs the authentication process. In this authentication process, if the order change process has been performed in advance on the table showing multiple pieces of user information, the control unit 300 can prevent the time required for the first user to log in from becoming long.

[0092] (Modification of the embodiment) A modified example of the embodiment will be described below. Fig. 11 is an external view showing an example of the overall configuration of an image processing device 100 according to the modified example of the embodiment. In the example shown in Fig. 11, the image processing device 100 is connected to a server 220 in addition to a server 210 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

[0093] The server 220 is an authentication server that authenticates the first user. That is, the server 220 performs the order change process and authentication process described above instead of the image processing device 100. In this case, multiple pieces of user information are stored in the server 220. When the image processing device 100 reads the fingerprint information of the first user by the biometric information reading unit 160, the image processing device 100 transmits the read fingerprint information to the server 220. As a result, the server 220 performs the authentication process described above. In addition, the server 220 determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied. As a result, the server 220 performs the order change process described above. For this reason, the server 220 may be configured to be connected to the management server described above.

[0094] In FIG. 11, the image processing device 100 constitutes an image processing system 510. The image processing system 510 includes the image processing device 100, the server 210, the server 220, and one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicatively connected to the image processing device 100. The image processing system 510 also includes one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicatively connected to the server 210, and one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicatively connected to the server 220. The image processing system 510 may not include the server 210. The image processing system 510 may not include one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicatively connected to the image processing device 100. The image processing system 510 may not include one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicatively connected to the server 210. The image processing system 510 may not include one or more information processing devices (not shown) communicatively connected to the server 220.

[0095] The image processing device 100 described above may be separate from the biometric information reading unit 160. In this case, the image processing device 100 may be configured to include the biometric information reading unit 160, or may not be configured to include the biometric information reading unit 160.

[0096] As described above, the image processing device (in this example, the image processing device 100) has a storage unit (thereby, the storage unit 320) and a control unit (in this example, the control unit 300). The storage unit stores user information including information in which biometric information (in this example, fingerprint information) is associated with related information for each of a plurality of users. When a predetermined condition is satisfied, the control unit performs an order change process of changing the order of the plurality of user information based on the related information, and when first biometric information, which is biometric information of the first user, is acquired, an authentication process of authenticating the login of the first user to the device (in this example, the image processing device 100) based on the acquired first biometric information and the plurality of user information. This allows the image processing device to prevent the time required for user login from becoming long.

[0097] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims, as well as in the scope and spirit of the invention.

[0098] A program for implementing the functions of any of the components in the above-described devices (e.g., image processing device 100, server 210, server 220, etc.) may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program may be read into a computer system and executed. Note that the term "computer system" as used herein includes hardware such as an OS (Operating System) and peripheral devices. Furthermore, the term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, optical magnetic disks, ROMs, and CD (Compact Disk)-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks built into a computer system. Furthermore, the term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to storage devices that hold a program for a certain period of time, such as volatile memory (RAM) inside a computer system that serves as a server or client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line.

[0099] The above program may be transmitted from a computer system in which the program is stored in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium, or by transmission waves in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" that transmits the program refers to a medium that has the function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The above program may be for implementing some of the above functions. Furthermore, the above program may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can implement the above functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0100] 100... image processing device, 110... display, 120... control panel, 130... printer unit, 140... sheet storage unit, 150... image reading unit, 160... biometric information reading unit, 210, 220... server, 300... control unit, 310... network interface, 320... storage unit, 330... memory, 500, 510... image processing system

Claims

1. An image processing unit; A control unit; Equipped with The control unit is Accepting the user's biometric information for the login operation, A table is maintained including records in which user identification information, last update date and time information, last login date and time information, and the biometric information are associated with each other; reordering the records in the table when at least one of a plurality of predetermined processing initiation conditions is satisfied; After reordering the records, an authentication process is performed to compare the received biometric information with the biometric information included in the records in the table; Each of the records in the table includes a work attendance flag indicating the work attendance status of the user associated with the record. Image processing device.

2. Further comprising a storage unit for storing the table. The image processing device according to claim 1 .

3. One of the plurality of processing start conditions is that the last update date and time information of the record in the table has been changed.

3. The image processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. One of the plurality of processing start conditions is receiving print data associated with the user identification information corresponding to the user identification information of the record in the table.

3. The image processing device according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The last login date and time information is information indicating a last date and time of a login operation of the user associated with the record. The image processing device according to claim 1 .

6. Each of the records in the table includes login count information indicating the number of times the user associated with the record has logged in in the past. The image processing device according to claim 1 .

7. one of the plurality of process start conditions is accepting a part of the user identification information input by the user in the login operation; reordering the records in the table is based on a comparison of the portion of the user identification information entered by the user in the login operation with the user identification information included in the records. The image processing device according to claim 1 .

8. a biometric information reader that supplies the biometric information of the user for the login operation, The image processing device according to claim 1 .

9. An image processing device; A server communicably connected to the image processing device; Equipped with Either the image processing device or the server includes a control unit, The control unit is Accepting the user's biometric information for the login operation, A table is maintained including records in which user identification information, last update date and time information, last login date and time information, and the biometric information are associated with each other; reordering the records in the table when at least one of a plurality of predetermined processing initiation conditions is satisfied; After reordering the records, an authentication process is performed to compare the received biometric information with the biometric information included in the records in the table; Each of the records in the table is a user ID associated with the record. Includes a time flag that indicates the user's time status. Image processing system.

10. 1. A method for authenticating an image processing device, comprising: receiving biometric information of a user for a login operation; A step of retaining a table including records in which user identification information, last update date and time information, last login date and time information, and the biometric information are associated with each other; reordering the records in the table if at least one of a plurality of predetermined entry conditions is satisfied; performing an authentication process after reordering the records by comparing the received biometric information with the biometric information included in the records in the table; having Each of the records in the table is a user ID associated with the record. Includes a time flag that indicates the user's time status. Authentication method.

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