Image forming apparatus and method for controlling image forming apparatus

Abstract

To provide an image formation device which can invalidate access to digital information stored in a server from a recording medium to be discarded without degrading work efficiency of a user when the recording medium in which RFID information remains is discarded, and a control method of an image formation device.SOLUTION: An image formation device includes: a server communication part capable of communicating with a server for storing RFID information stored in an RFID tag that a recording medium has and digital information printed on the recording medium in association with each other; and an operation part for displaying a selection screen capable of selecting whether the RFID information is invalid information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control method for the image forming apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] In order to link printed matter, such as paper (an example of a recording medium), with digital information printed on the paper, an image forming device has been developed that has a communication means for communicating with the RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) ​​tag on the paper, and a communication means for communicating with a server that manages the digital information and the paper. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] However, with the above image forming device, after outputting a printout, there is a possibility that RFID information may remain on the discarded paper due to a mistake in print settings, etc. If RFID information remains on the discarded paper, digital information stored on a document management server can be accessed from the discarded paper, leading to the possibility of digital information being leaked. Although there is a method of adding invalid information to an RFID tag, this requires the additional work of adding invalid information to all discarded paper, reducing the user's work efficiency.

[0004] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide an image forming device and a control method for an image forming device that can disable access to digital information stored on a server from the recording medium to be discarded without reducing the user's work efficiency when discarding a recording medium containing RFID information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a server communication unit capable of communicating with a server that associates and stores RFID information stored in an RFID tag of a recording medium with digital information printed on the recording medium, an operation unit that displays a selection screen that allows a user to select whether or not to invalidate the RFID information, and The digital information processing device includes a storage unit that stores the digital information, and a control unit. When the selection screen is used to select the RFID information as invalid information, the server communication unit transmits invalidation information indicating that the RFID information is invalid to the server. When the selection screen is not used to select the RFID information as invalid information, the control unit deletes the digital information from the storage unit, and when the selection screen is used to select the RFID information as invalid information, the control unit deletes the digital information from the storage unit after the invalidation information is transmitted to the server. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the present invention, when disposing of a recording medium containing RFID information, it is possible to disable access to digital information stored on a server from the recording medium to be discarded without reducing the user's work efficiency. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an example of a communication system including an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a process for writing RFID information in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a process for reading RFID information in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming apparatus and a control method for an image forming apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0009] Fig. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an example of a communication system including an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, the communication system according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 1 and a management server 2. The image forming apparatus 1 assigns (stores) RFID information to an RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) ​​tag of a sheet P (hereinafter referred to as output sheet; an example of a recording medium) on which digital information (e.g., image data, document information) is printed.

[0010] Here, the RFID information is information that enables identification of an RFID tag (or the output paper P) that is included in the output paper P. Here, the RFID tag is a tag that can communicate with the image forming apparatus 1 by RFID, and is a medium in which the RFID information can be written (stored, saved).

[0011] Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 1 has an operation panel 63 that accepts operations from a user. The image forming apparatus 1 can read RFID information from an RFID tag on an output sheet P. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 1 can communicate with a management server 2, and acquires digital information from the management server 2 using the RFID information read from the RFID tag. Then, the image forming apparatus 1 presents the acquired digital information to the user via the operation panel 63.

[0012] The management server 2 is an example of a server that can communicate with the image forming apparatus 1 via a network such as the Internet and that stores RFID information and digital information in association with each other. The management server 2 can also communicate with the image forming apparatus 1 and transmits to the image forming apparatus 1 the digital information that is stored in association with the RFID information read by the image forming apparatus 1.

[0013] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a UART 57, a CPU 58, a ROM 59, a RAM 60, a NVRAM 61, an operation panel I / F 62, an operation panel 63, an RFID reader 64, an RFID writer 65, an I / O 66, image processing ICs 67 and 68, etc.

[0014] A UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter) 57 converts various signals transmitted to and received from external devices such as the management server 2. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 58 is an example of a processor that controls the entire image forming apparatus 1 by executing various programs stored in a storage medium such as a ROM 59, using a RAM 60 as a working area.

[0015] The ROM (Read Only Memory) 59 is an example of a storage medium that stores various programs executed by the CPU 58. The RAM (Random Access Memory) 60 is a working area used when the CPU 58 executes various programs.

[0016] The NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM) 61 is an example of a non-volatile storage medium that stores various information used for control of the image forming apparatus 1 by the CPU 58. For example, the NVRAM 61 functions as an example of a storage unit that stores digital information such as image data to be printed on the output paper P and document information.

[0017] The operation panel I / F 62 is an I / F with the operation panel 63. The operation panel 63 is an example of an operation unit that enables a user to perform various operations on the image forming apparatus 1.

[0018] The RFID reading unit 64 is an example of an RFID reading unit capable of reading RFID information from an RFID tag carried by the output paper P. The RFID writing unit 65 is an example of an RFID writing unit capable of writing RFID information to an RFID tag carried by the output paper P by RFID.

[0019] The I / O 66 inputs and outputs various information to and from peripheral devices of the image forming apparatus 1. The image processing ICs 67 and 68 are ICs (Integrated Circuits) that perform image processing on digital information such as image data and document information to be printed on the output paper P.

[0020] 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a control unit 301, an RFID reader 64, an RFID writer 65, an image writer control unit 302, an operation panel 63, an I / F unit 303, and a server communication unit 304.

[0021] The control unit 301 controls a series of operations in each functional block (such as the RFID reading unit 64, the RFID writing unit 65, the image writing control unit 302, the operation panel 63, the I / F unit 303, and the server communication unit 304).

[0022] The RFID reading unit 64 reads RFID information from an RFID tag attached to the output paper P. The RFID writing unit 65 outputs the RFID information as image data to the RFID tag attached to the output paper P, and writes the RFID information to the RFID tag.

[0023] The image writing control unit 302 converts image data input from the I / F unit 303 into a control signal, and controls the writing of a latent image onto an image carrier included in the image forming apparatus 1 using the control signal.

[0024] The operation panel 63 displays various information such as the status of the image forming apparatus 1 and digital information acquired from the management server 2. The operation panel 63 also accepts input to the image forming apparatus 1.

[0025] Furthermore, the operation panel 63 is an example of an operation unit that displays an information invalidation selection screen (an example of a selection screen) on the management server 2 that allows the user to select whether or not to invalidate the RFID information stored in the RFID tag of the output paper P. As a result, by selecting to invalidate the RFID information on the information invalidation selection screen, it becomes impossible to access digital information using the RFID information remaining on the output paper P to be discarded. As a result, when discarding the output paper P on which the RFID information remains, access to the digital information stored in the management server 2 from the output paper P to be discarded can be disabled without reducing the user's work efficiency.

[0026] Furthermore, when the RFID information read by the RFID reading unit 64 is invalid information, the operation panel 63 displays that the digital information is invalid information.

[0027] The I / F unit 303 communicates with a terminal device that issues a print request to the image forming apparatus 1. The I / F unit 303 also transmits digital information such as image data sent from the terminal device to the control unit 301 and issues a print request to the image forming apparatus 1.

[0028] The server communication unit 304 has a means for communicating with the management server 2 that stores digital information such as image data and document information. When invalidating RFID information is selected on the information invalidation selection screen, the server communication unit 304 transmits invalidation information indicating that the RFID information is invalid to the management server 2.

[0029] Furthermore, the server communication unit 304 transfers the RFID information received from the control unit 301 (RFID information read by the RFID reading unit 64) to the management server 2. As a result, the server communication unit 304 acquires digital information from the management server 2 based on the RFID information received from the control unit 1010.

[0030] 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a process for writing RFID information in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. After starting printing on the output paper P, the control unit 301 determines whether or not to write RFID information to the RFID tag of the output paper P (step S401). In the present embodiment, the control unit 301 determines whether or not to write RFID information to the RFID tag of the output paper P based on the settings of the image forming apparatus 1, the print settings set by the user, and the like.

[0031] When RFID information is not written to the output paper P (step S401: No), the control unit 301 discards (deletes) the document information printed on the output paper P and digital information such as image data (step S407).

[0032] On the other hand, when writing RFID information to the output paper P (step S401: Yes), the RFID writing unit 65 writes the RFID information to an RFID tag included in the output paper P (step S402). Furthermore, the server communication unit 304 transmits digital information (image data, document information, etc.) linked to the RFID information written to the RFID tag to the communication unit of the management server 2 (step S403).

[0033] Thereafter, the control unit 301 displays on the operation panel 63 an information invalidation selection screen (one example of a selection screen) on which it is possible to select whether or not to invalidate the written RFID information (step S404). By selecting to invalidate the RFID information on the information invalidation selection screen, it becomes impossible to access the digital information using the RFID information remaining on the output paper P to be discarded. As a result, when the output paper P on which the RFID information remains is discarded, access to the digital information stored in the management server 2 from the output paper P to be discarded can be invalidated without reducing the user's work efficiency.

[0034] Then, if invalidating the RFID information is not selected on the information invalidation selection screen (step S405: No), the control unit 301 discards (deletes) digital information such as image data printed on the output paper P and document information from the NVRAM 61 (an example of a memory unit) (step S407).

[0035] On the other hand, if invalidating the RFID information is selected on the information invalidation selection screen (step S405: Yes), the server communication unit 304 transmits invalidation information indicating that the RFID information is invalid to the management server 2 (step S406). The management server 2 can determine that the data (RFID information) on the management server 2 is invalid, for example, by adding invalidation information to the RFID stored in association with the digital information.

[0036] Thereafter, the control unit 301 determines that printing of digital information such as document information and image data onto the output paper P is completed, and discards (deletes) the digital information printed onto the output paper P from the NVRAM 61 (step S407). That is, the NVRAM 61 functions as an example of a storage unit that holds digital information until it is selected on the information invalidation selection screen whether or not to invalidate the digital information.

[0037] 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a process for reading RFID information in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. First, the RFID reading unit 64 reads the RFID information from the RFID tag carried by the output paper P (step S501).

[0038] Next, the control unit 301 accesses the target data in the management server 2 via the server communication unit 304 (step S502). Specifically, the control unit 301 accesses the target data, which is digital information stored in association with the read RFID information, among digital information such as image data and document information stored in the management server 2.

[0039] At that time, the control unit 301 checks whether the target data exists in the management server 2 (step S503). If the target data does not exist in the management server 2 due to deletion by the user or the like (step S503: No), the control unit 301 causes the operation panel 63 to display that the target data does not exist (step S504).

[0040] On the other hand, if the target data exists in the management server 2 (step S503: Yes), the control unit 301 judges whether the RFID information is invalid information or not based on the invalidation information added to the read RFID information (step S505). If the RFID information is invalid information (step S505: Yes), the control unit 301 displays on the operation panel 63 that the RFID information is invalid information (step S506). In this case, the control unit 301 does not display the target data on the operation panel 63.

[0041] On the other hand, if the RFID information is not invalid information (step S505: No), the control unit 301 displays the target data on the operation panel 63 (step S507).

[0042] In this way, according to the image forming device 1 of the present embodiment, by selecting to invalidate the RFID information on the information invalidation selection screen, it becomes impossible to access the digital information using the RFID information remaining on the output paper P to be discarded. As a result, when discarding the output paper P on which the RFID information remains, it is possible to invalidate access to the digital information stored in the management server 2 from the output paper P to be discarded without reducing the user's work efficiency.

[0043] In the above embodiment, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is described as being applied to a multifunction peripheral having at least two of the functions of a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function. However, the image forming apparatus can be applied to any image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a scanner device, or a facsimile device. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] 1. Image forming device 2 Management Server 57 UART 58 CPU 59 ROM 60 RAM 61 NVRAM 62 Operation panel I / F 63 Operation Panel 64 RFID reader 65 RFID writing unit 66 I / O 67,68 Image Processing IC 301 Control Unit 302 Image writing control unit 303 I / F section 304 Server Communication Department P Output paper [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0045] [Patent Document 1] JP 2006-14110 A

Claims

1. a server communication unit capable of communicating with a server that associates and stores RFID information stored in an RFID tag of a recording medium with digital information printed on the recording medium; an operation unit that displays a selection screen on which the user can select whether or not to invalidate the RFID information; A storage unit that stores the digital information; A control unit, the server communication unit, when it is selected to invalidate the RFID information using the selection screen, transmits invalidation information indicating that the RFID information is invalid to the server; The control unit erases the digital information from the memory unit when the selection screen is not used to select invalid information for the RFID information, and erases the digital information from the memory unit when the selection screen is used to select invalid information for the RFID information after the invalidation information is sent to the server.

2. an RFID writing unit that writes the RFID information into the RFID tag; an RFID reader that reads the RFID information from the RFID tag; The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

3. A method for controlling an image forming apparatus including: a server communication unit capable of communicating with a server that associates and stores RFID information stored in an RFID tag of a recording medium with digital information to be printed on the recording medium; and a storage unit that stores the digital information, a display step of displaying a selection screen by an operation unit, which allows the user to select whether or not to invalidate the RFID information; a transmission step of the server communication unit transmitting, when the selection screen is used to invalidate the RFID information, invalidation information indicating that the RFID information is invalid to the server; a control unit deleting the digital information from the storage unit when it is not selected to invalidate the RFID information using the selection screen, and deleting the digital information from the storage unit when it is selected to invalidate the RFID information using the selection screen after the invalidation information is transmitted to the server; A method for controlling an image forming apparatus comprising the steps of:

Images