Information processing device, printing device, printing system, program, and printing control method

Abstract

To solve the following problem: in PIN printing using a cloud printing service, traffic for print data for which a PIN check has failed is wasted.SOLUTION: A printing apparatus requests, from an information processing apparatus, attribute information on a designated print job registered on the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus transmits, to the printing apparatus, the attribute information of the designated print job in response to the request. The printing apparatus receives, when a password attribute is included in the attribute information, an input of password information from a user, and transmits a job acquisition request together with the password information to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus receives the job acquisition request with the input password information, verifies the received password information, and transmits, when the verification is successful, the designated print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing apparatus, for printing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a printing apparatus, a printing system, a program, and a printing control method.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, a cloud print mechanism for inputting a print job via the cloud and transmitting the print job to a printing apparatus has started to spread (Patent Document 1). In such a printing system, first, an administrator registers a printing apparatus with a cloud print service (hereinafter also referred to as CPS) to which the administrator belongs. Thereafter, a user permitted to use the CPS selects a printer registered with the CPS as an output printer using each client terminal, performs desired print settings, and transmits a print job to the CPS. The CPS that has received the print job transfers the print job to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus executes printing based on the transferred print job. In particular, the mechanism of cloud print using IPP (Internet Printer Procotol) is defined in PWG5100.18, RFC3995, RFC3996, and the like.

[0003] Also, a PIN printing method using IPP is defined in PWG5100.11 and the like. When a PIN code is input for a print job to be PIN printed on a client terminal, the print job is transmitted to the CPS together with the PIN. When the printing apparatus is requested to obtain a print job upon being notified of the existence of the print job by an event notification from the CPS, the CPS stores the PIN information in the Job-password or Job-password-encryption attribute and sends it to the printing apparatus together with the print data. When printing is performed on the printing apparatus, if the preset PIN information matches, the printing apparatus executes the print job.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

[0005] Incidentally, when CPS and PIN printing are combined, the user enters a PIN code from the client terminal, and the print data and PIN information are sent to the CPS. The cloud print service stores the received print data and PIN information, and when it receives a print job request from the printing device, it sends the stored print data and PIN information to the printing device. The user enters the pre-set PIN information from the printer's control panel, and if the PIN code matches, printing can be performed.

[0006] If the user has forgotten their PIN code at this point, the printer will fail to verify the PIN. The user then cancels the print job from the printer. In this case, since the print job has already been sent to the printer, communication traffic for the print data occurs between the CPS and the printer. For a pay-as-you-go cloud service, this creates a problem: the communication traffic for the print data that failed PIN verification is wasted.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of at least one of the above-mentioned problems. One aspect of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for efficiently transferring print data in the case of PIN printing. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To achieve at least one of the above objectives, the present invention has the following configuration. According to one aspect of the present invention, a first transmission means transmits attribute information of a specified print job to the printing device in response to a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered with attribute information from the printing device, A receiving means that receives a job acquisition request from the printing device along with the password information entered in the printing device according to the password attribute included in the attribute information, Verification means for verifying the received password information using the value of the password attribute included in the attribute information of the specified print job, If the verification by the verification means is successful, a second transmission means transmits the specified print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing device. A registration means that receives a print job sent from a terminal and registers it along with the attribute information of the print job. to have death, The registration means also registers the password attribute if the attribute information includes the password attribute. do An information processing device characterized by the above is provided.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present invention, The system receives print jobs sent from terminals and registers them along with their attribute information. If the attribute information includes a password attribute, the system also registers the password attribute. A first transmission means that transmits a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered in the information processing device to the information processing device, When the attribute information transmitted in response to the request for attribute information includes a password attribute, an operation means for accepting password information input from the user is provided. The information processing device has a second transmission means that, for print jobs for which the password attribute has been received, transmits a job acquisition request along with the input password information. When a print job is received in response to the job acquisition request sent along with the password information, the printing means will print based on the data of the print job. A printing apparatus characterized by the above is provided.

[0010] According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a printing control method using a printing system including an information processing device, a printing device, and a terminal, The information processing device receives a print job sent from a terminal and registers it along with the attribute information of the print job, and if the attribute information includes the password attribute, it also registers the password attribute. The printing device transmits to the information processing device a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered in the information processing device. The information processing device transmits the attribute information of the specified print job to the printing device in response to the request for the attribute information. When the printing device receives the password attribute in the attribute information transmitted in response to the request for the attribute information, it accepts the input of password information by the user and transmits a job acquisition request to the information processing device together with the input password information. The information processing device receives a job acquisition request from the printing device together with the password information input according to the password attribute included in the attribute information, and verifies the received password information with the value of the password attribute included in the attribute information of the specified print job. When the verification is successful, the information processing device transmits the specified print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing device. When the printing device receives a print job in response to the job acquisition request, it performs printing by a printing means based on the data of the print job. A print control method characterized by the above is provided.

Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, the transfer of print data can be efficiently performed in the case of PIN printing.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0012] [Figure 1] It is a diagram showing an example of a printing system. [Figure 2] It is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a printing device. [Figure 3] It is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a cloud print service. [Figure 4] It is a sequence diagram at the time of executing PIN printing in the prior art. [Figure 5] It is a sequence diagram at the time of executing PIN printing in the present embodiment. [Figure 6]This is an example of a flowchart when acquiring a print job of a printing apparatus in this embodiment. [Figure 7] This is an example of a flowchart when receiving a print job acquisition request of a cloud print service in this embodiment. [Figure 8] This is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen of a printing apparatus in this embodiment. [Figure 9] This is an example of a packet when acquiring a print job in this embodiment. [Figure 10] This is an example of a sequence of cloud printing using IPP.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Although a plurality of features are described in the embodiments, not all of these plurality of features are essential for the invention, and the plurality of features may be arbitrarily combined. Further, in the accompanying drawings, the same or similar configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions are omitted.

[0014] <First Embodiment> First, the configuration of a printing system according to the present invention will be described using FIG. 1. The printing system according to this embodiment includes a printing apparatus 101, a client terminal 103, and a cloud print service (hereinafter also referred to as CPS) 102. The printing apparatus 101 communicates with the CPS 102 on the Internet via the network 100. The network 100 may be configured by combining communication networks such as LAN and WAN, cellular networks (for example, LTE and 5G), wireless networks compliant with IEEE802.11, and the like. That is, the network 100 only needs to be capable of transmitting and receiving data, and any communication method of the physical layer may be adopted.

[0015] The printing device 101 has a scanning function that transmits data based on an image obtained using a scanner to an external device, a printing function that prints an image onto a sheet such as paper based on a print job received from an external device, and a copying function. The printing device 101 can also receive print jobs via the CPS 102 and perform printing. In this embodiment, a Multi-Function Peripheral (MFP) with multiple functions is given as an example of a printing device, but it is not limited to this. For example, a Single-Function Peripheral (SFP) with only a printing function may also be used. In addition, in this embodiment, printing onto a sheet such as paper is given as an example, but it is not limited to this, and it can also be applied to print control in 3D printing, which forms three-dimensional objects based on three-dimensional shape data. Note that the printing device is sometimes called an image forming apparatus.

[0016] CPS102 receives print jobs from client terminals such as client terminal 103 and saves the print jobs. Subsequently, it notifies the printing device 101 registered with CPS102 that a print job has been submitted. Upon receiving this notification, the printing device 101 acquires the print job and executes the printing process. CPS102 may consist of one or more information processing devices. If it consists of multiple information processing devices, functions such as user authentication and print data provision may be distributed, the load of a single function may be distributed, or a combination of these may be used.

[0017] <Hardware configuration of the printing device 101> The hardware configuration of the printing device 101 in this embodiment will be explained with reference to Figure 2. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the printing device 101. The printing device 101 has a reading function for reading images on a sheet, a file transmission function that can transmit the read images to an external communication device, and so on. It also has a printing function for printing images onto a sheet. Furthermore, it is assumed that it has a function to receive and print print jobs from the CPS 102, as well as the user management function and hold-print function mentioned above.

[0018] The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 controls the operation of the entire printing device 101. The CPU 201 reads and executes control programs stored in the ROM (Read Only Memory) 202 or storage 204 to perform various controls such as print control and read control. The ROM 202 stores control programs that can be executed by the CPU 201. The RAM (Random Access Memory) 203 is the main memory accessed by the CPU 201 and is used as a work area or temporary storage area for deploying various control programs. The storage 204 stores print jobs, image data, various programs, and various setting information. Print jobs and other information downloaded from the CPS 102 are also stored in the storage 204. In this way, the hardware such as the CPU 201, ROM 202, RAM 203, and storage 204 constitute a so-called computer.

[0019] In this embodiment, the printing apparatus 101 uses one CPU 201 and one memory (RAM 203) to execute each process shown in the flowchart described later, but other configurations are also possible. For example, multiple processors, memories, and storage can work together to execute each process shown in the flowchart described later. Alternatively, some processes may be executed using hardware circuits.

[0020] The printer 210 prints an image on a sheet fed from a paper cassette (not shown) based on the input print image and print control commands. The printing method may be an electrophotographic method that transfers and fixes toner onto paper, or an inkjet method that prints by ejecting ink onto paper.

[0021] Scanner 208 reads a document placed on a document glass (not shown) and generates image data. The image data generated by scanner 206 can be printed by printer 210, stored in storage 204, or transmitted to an external device via network interface (I / F) 211.

[0022] The control unit 206 is equipped with a liquid crystal display with touch panel functionality and various hard keys. The control unit 206 functions as a display unit that shows information to the user and a reception unit that receives user instructions. In other words, the control unit 206 provides a user interface. The CPU 201 works in cooperation with the control unit 206 to control the display of information and the reception of user operations.

[0023] The network interface 211 is connected to a network cable and can communicate with external devices on network 100 or the internet. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the communication interface is a wired communication interface compliant with Ethernet®, but it is not limited to this. For example, it may be a wireless communication interface compliant with the IEEE 802.11 series. Also, both may be wireless communication interfaces. Furthermore, it may be a communication interface for mobile communication such as 3G lines such as CDMA, 4G lines such as LTE, or 5G NR.

[0024] This embodiment illustrates a case where the printer 101 manages a database for managing user accounts, but it is not limited to this. User account management for users of the printer 101 can also be achieved in cooperation with an external authentication server. For example, user accounts may be managed in cooperation with the Active Directory service provided by Microsoft® or the Azure® Active Directory service.

[0025] <Hardware configuration of Cloud Print Service 102> The hardware configuration of the cloud print service 102 in this embodiment will be explained using Figure 3. The CPU 301 to the control unit 306 in Figure 3 correspond to the CPU 201 to the control unit 206 in Figure 2, and the network interface 307 corresponds to the network interface 211. Since each component in Figure 3 is almost identical to the components of the corresponding printing device in Figure 2, a detailed explanation will be omitted. The client terminal also has a configuration similar to that in Figure 3.

[0026] <Register a print job> The procedure for enabling printing using the above-described printing system is explained below. Figure 10 is an example of a sequence diagram showing the mechanism of cloud printing using IPP, particularly the procedure for registering a printing device and making the registered printing device available from a client terminal.

[0027] First, the printer 101 sends a printer registration request to the CPS 102 through operation (S1001). This operation can be performed using the control panel 206 of the printer 101, or it can be performed using a remote UI provided by the printer 101 to a computer or the like. Subsequently, the printer 101 notifies the CPS 102 of the supported attribute information and attribute values ​​using the Update-Output-Device-Attributes operation (S1002). This registers the attribute values ​​of the printer 101 in the CPS 102. The attribute values ​​of the printer 101 include, for example, whether or not it supports PIN printing, which is a print job with a password.

[0028] Subsequently, the printing device registers the event notification to CPS102 using the Create-Printer-Subscription operation (S1003). After registering the notification, the printing device 101 checks whether an event has occurred using the Get-Notification operation (S1004). As a result, when a new event occurs, such as the registration of a print job to be executed by the printing device 101, CPS102 notifies the printing device 101 of the event. Adding the printing device to CPS102 using the above procedure only needs to be done prior to cloud printing using the printing device 101.

[0029] Meanwhile, the client terminal 103 searches for the printers registered in the CPS 102 and adds a selected printer to the client terminal 103 as the printer to be used (S1005). Then, it retrieves the attribute information and attribute values ​​of the added printer from the CPS 102 using the Get-Printer-Attributes operation (S1006). The retrieved attribute information and attribute values ​​of the printer may be saved in association with the registered printer. Note that the password attribute (PIN attribute), which indicates that the printer supports password-protected print jobs, i.e., PIN printing, is also included in the attribute information of the printer.

[0030] After this, when the client terminal 103 executes a print job, it can select the printing device added in S1005 and S1006, and then print using the selected printing device. When printing, if the printing device selected by the client terminal 103 is the printing device 101 registered in CPS102, the print settings screen is displayed according to the acquired attribute information, and the print job is sent to CPS102 along with the configured print attributes. Note that the attribute information of the printing device is sometimes referred to as the print settings.

[0031] <PIN printing using cloud printing service> Next, we will explain conventional PIN printing for cloud print services using Figure 4. Figure 4 is a sequence diagram of conventional technology that implements PIN printing using CPS. Here, we will explain using CPS with IPP as an example. Figure 4 starts from the state where the steps up to S1006 in Figure 10 have been completed and the printing device 101 is available for use by the client terminal 103. In addition, one of the attributes of the printing device 101 is that it supports PIN printing.

[0032] First, the user specifies an arbitrary file to print from the client terminal 103 and executes the print command. At this time, the user sets a PIN code to set a password for the print data. When the client terminal 103 detects the execution of the print command, it sends print attribute information including the PIN information and the print data to the CPS 102 (S401). The print job is sent using, for example, the IPP Print-Job operation or the Send-Document operation. The PIN code is stored in the IPP attribute Job-password-encryption or Job-password attribute. When the CPS 102 receives the print job from the client terminal 103, it saves the received print data and print attribute information to its own storage in S402. Figure 4 shows a procedure without event notification, but if event notification registration has been made and event confirmation has been received, the CPS 102 may send an event notification to the printing device 101 indicating the registration of a new print job for the printing device 101.

[0033] Next, the user goes to the printer 101 and selects "Display Print Job List Screen" from the printer 101's operation screen (S403). The "Display Print Job List Screen" is displayed as a menu item on the initial operation screen. Note that this explanation describes an example where the user selects "Display Print Job List Screen," but there may be other triggers, such as logging into the printer, opening the job status screen, or the printer sending a job list acquisition request. Upon detecting the request to display the print job list screen, the printer 101 sends a job list acquisition request to the CPS 102 (S404). The job list acquisition request will use, for example, the IPP Get-Jobs request operation.

[0034] Upon receiving a request to retrieve the job list, CPS102 transmits print job list information to the printer 101 in S405. The job list information shall contain only representative print attribute information necessary for displaying the job list, such as the job name and job owner name.

[0035] In S406, the printer 101, having acquired the job list information, displays the acquired job list information on the operation screen. An example of this is shown in Figure 8, job list screen 801. Then, in S407, the user selects any one job they want to print from the job list. Upon detecting the job selection, the printer 101 sends a print job acquisition request specifying the selected print job to the CPS 102 in S408. The job acquisition request shall use the IPP's Fetch-Job or Fetch-Document operation. An example of this is shown in Figure 9(A).

[0036] Upon receiving a print job acquisition request, CPS102 transmits the corresponding print job data and all print attribute information to the printing device 101 in S409. Once all print data has been received, the printing device 101 transmits a notification of completion of print data acquisition to CPS102 in S410.

[0037] The printer 101 determines that the print data is PIN-protected because the received print attribute information includes the Job-password attribute. Therefore, in S411, the printer 101 displays the PIN input screen 804 shown in Figure 8 on the operation screen. In S412, the printer 101 detects the user's PIN input and, in S413, compares the entered PIN code with the PIN code value received from the CPS 102 to verify whether the values ​​match. If the verification is successful, in S414 the printer 101 executes the printing process for the corresponding print job. During the printing process, the printer 101 displays the printing screen 802, and when printing is finished, it displays the print complete screen 803. On the other hand, if the verification fails, in S415 the printer 101 does not execute the printing process and displays the verification failure screen 805 shown in Figure 8. Then, in S416, the printer 101 notifies the CPS 102 of the job status, including whether the print was successful or failed. Job status notifications will be implemented using, for example, the IPP Update-Job-States operation.

[0038] Even when PIN code verification fails, the printer 101 still receives all print data at S409. This creates a problem where communication data for the unprinted print data is wasted. In the case of a pay-as-you-go cloud service, this also results in wasted communication charges.

[0039] <Sequence of sending and receiving print jobs in the first embodiment> Next, the PIN printing sequence in this embodiment will be explained using Figures 5 to 9.

[0040] First, the overall sequence in this embodiment will be explained using Figure 5. Steps S501 to S507 are the same as the flow of steps S401 to S407 in Figure 4. However, the print job received in S501 may have a set PIN code included in its job attributes. In that case, the PIN code is also saved (registered) as a job attribute in S502. At this time, it may be determined whether or not the printer's attributes include a PIN attribute indicating support for PIN printing, and the received PIN attribute may be saved only if it does. After that, the printer 101 sends a request to the CPS 102 to acquire the job attributes of the job selected in S507 (S508).

[0041] Then, in response to the job attribute acquisition request, the job attributes are sent from the CPS102 to the printing device 101 (S509). If a PIN is set for the target print job, the job attributes include the PIN attribute; if a PIN is not set, the job attributes do not include the PIN attribute, so it is possible to determine whether or not a PIN is set from the job attributes. Figure 9(C) shows an example of a job acquisition response packet. The job attribute acquisition response packet may be, for example, this job acquisition response packet with Operation set to "Fetch-JOb Attribute Response" and the Payload section removed. However, the configuration with the Payload section removed from Figure 9(C) does not include the PIN attribute, and if the PIN attribute is included, it further includes the Job-password attribute and Job-password-encryprion attribute shown in Figure 9(B), for example. The Job-password attribute includes the PIN code as its value, but the job attribute acquisition response only needs to indicate that a PIN is set, so the PIN code does not need to be included. The PIN is sometimes called password information or authentication information, and the PIN attribute is sometimes called the password attribute or authentication information attribute. Password information may include not only the password itself, but also an encrypted version of the password. An encrypted password may include a hash value of the password.

[0042] If the received job attributes include a PIN attribute, the printer 101 displays the PIN input screen 804 shown in Figure 8 and requests the user to enter the PIN (S510). The printer 101 then sends the PIN code entered by the user in S511 and a request to acquire the print job to the CPS 102 (S512). An example of the packet sent at this time is the job acquisition request shown in Figure 9(B). This packet includes that it is a job acquisition request and the job ID, as well as the IPP attributes Job-password-encryption and its attribute value, and the Job-password attribute and its value. The attribute value of Job-password-encryption indicates the encryption method (hash function), and the attribute value of Job-password indicates the entered PIN code.

[0043] The CPS102 verifies the received PIN code by comparing it with the PIN code of the job stored in its own storage (S513). If a hash function is applied to the PIN code, the hash value of the PIN code is used for verification. If the verification results in a mismatch of PIN codes, the CPS102 sends a job acquisition error to the printer 101 as shown in Figure 9(D) (S514). This message indicates that the job acquisition request has failed. The printer 101 then displays a print error as shown in the PIN verification failure screen 805 in Figure 8 (S515). If the PIN codes match, the CPS102 sends the job data with the PIN attribute removed to the printer 101 as shown in Figure 9(C) (S516). This message indicates that the job acquisition request was successful and includes the job attributes excluding the PIN attribute and the print data.

[0044] Then, the printing device 101 performs the printing process (S517), indicates that printing is complete (S518), and sends a completion notification to the CPS 102 (S519).

[0045] ● Processing procedure using a printing device Next, the specific control performed by the printing device 101 to realize the process described in the sequence diagram of Figure 5 will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 6. Each step shown in the flowchart of Figure 6 represents a process realized by the CPU 201 of the printing device 101 executing a program read from the RAM 203.

[0046] The CPU 201 detects a job selection made by the user via the operation unit 206 (S601). It then sends a request to the CPS 102 to obtain the job attributes of the detected job (S602). Next, it receives the requested job attributes from the CPS 102 (S603). It determines whether the received job attributes include the PIN attribute (S604).

[0047] If it is determined in S604 that the PIN attribute is not included, a job acquisition request is sent to CPS102 (S605). If the request in S605 is successful (S606), job data is received from CPS102 (S607). Once reception is complete, a completion notification is sent to CPS102 (S608). Next, printing is performed (S609), a success result is displayed to the operation unit 206 (S610), and a completion notification is sent to CPS102 (S611). If the request in S605 is unsuccessful (S606), an error result is displayed to the operation unit 206 (S615).

[0048] On the other hand, if the PIN attribute is included in S604, a PIN input screen is displayed on the operation unit 206 (S612). Then, the PIN input is detected (S613), and the detected PIN information is added to the job acquisition request in S605 (S614). The process then proceeds to S605.

[0049] ● Processing procedure using CPS Next, the specific control performed by the CPS102 to realize the process described in the sequence diagram of Figure 5 will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 7. Each step shown in the flowchart of Figure 7 represents a process that is realized by the CPU 301 of the CPS102 executing the program read from the RAM 303.

[0050] CPU301 receives the job acquisition request S605 (S701). Next, it determines whether the received attribute includes the PIN attribute (S702).

[0051] In S702, if the PIN attribute is not included, a job acquisition success response is sent to the printer 101 (S703). The success response is as shown in Figure 9(C) and includes the attributes, settings, and print data of the target print job.

[0052] In S702, if a PIN attribute is included, the received PIN code is verified against the PIN code of the job stored in its own storage (S704).

[0053] In S704, if the PIN code matches, the PIN attribute is removed from the job attributes of the target job stored in storage (S705). Then the process continues to S703.

[0054] In S704, if the PIN code does not match, a job acquisition error response is sent to the printer 101 (S706). The job acquisition error response is as shown in Figure 9(D) and includes a status code indicating that the job acquisition failed.

[0055] By verifying print jobs with PIN information set in this way using a cloud print service, it is possible to reduce the communication costs incurred when sending print data to the printer in the event of a verification failure.

[0056] <Variation> In the above embodiment, the PIN code entered from the operation unit of the printer 101 is sent to the CPS 102 for verification. If the job attributes sent from the CPS 102 to the printer 101 in S509 include the PIN code or encryption method and the encrypted PIN code, the printer 101 can verify the PIN code. If the verification is successful, the printer 101 sends a job acquisition request to the CPS 102, and the CPS 102 sends job information (print data and print attributes) to the printer in response to the request. Furthermore, in this case, information indicating that the verification was successful may be added to the job acquisition request and sent from the printer 101 to the CPS 102. In this case, if a PIN is set for the target print job, the CPS 102 may send the print data and print attributes only to job acquisition requests that indicate that the verification was successful. Even with this configuration, the transfer of print data in the event of PIN verification failure can be eliminated.

[0057] ●Summary of the configuration of the embodiment [Item 1] A first transmission means transmits attribute information of a specified print job to the printing device in response to a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered with attribute information from the printing device. A receiving means that receives a job acquisition request from the printing device along with the password information entered in the printing device according to the password attribute included in the attribute information, Verification means for verifying the received password information using the value of the password attribute included in the attribute information of the specified print job, The system includes a second transmission means that, if the verification by the verification means is successful, transmits the specified print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing device. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0058] [Item 2] The information processing device described in item 1, The attribute information transmitted by the second transmission means does not include the password attribute. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0059] [Item 3] An information processing device as described in item 1 or 2, Record transmits the attribute information, including the aforementioned password attribute. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0060] [Item 4] An information processing device described in any one of items 1 to 3, If the verification of the password information by the verification means fails, information indicating the failure is transmitted to the printing device. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0061] [Item 5] An information processing device described in any one of items 1 to 4, The system further includes a registration means for receiving print jobs sent from a terminal and registering them along with attribute information of the print jobs, The registration means also registers the password attribute if the attribute information includes the password attribute. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0062] [Item 6] The information processing device described in item 5, The system further includes a second registration means for registering attribute information of the printing device in response to a registration request for the printing device from the printing device, The registration means registers the password attribute included in the attribute information of the print job received from the terminal if the attribute information of the print job includes an attribute that the printing device supports password-protected print jobs. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0063] [Item 7] An information processing device described in any one of items 1 to 6, The system further includes means for transmitting a list of registered print jobs to the printing device in response to a request from the printing device to obtain a job list. An information processing device characterized by the following:

[0064] [Item 8] A first transmission means that transmits a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered in the information processing device to the information processing device, When the attribute information transmitted in response to the request for attribute information includes a password attribute, an operation means for accepting password information input from the user is provided. The information processing device has a second transmission means that, for print jobs for which the password attribute has been received, transmits a job acquisition request along with the input password information. When a print job is received in response to the job acquisition request sent along with the password information, the printing means will print based on the data of the print job. A printing apparatus characterized by the following features.

[0065] [Item 9] A printing apparatus as described in item 8, The information processing device further has means for sending a request to obtain a list of print jobs registered in the information processing device, The first transmission means transmits a request for attribute information of a specified print job from the job list information obtained in response to the job list acquisition request. A printing apparatus characterized by the following features.

[0066] [Item 10] A printing apparatus as described in item 8 or 9, If information is received indicating that the verification of the password information failed in response to the job acquisition request sent along with the password information, that information will be output. A printing apparatus characterized by the following features.

[0067] [Item 11] An information processing device described in any one of items 1 to 7, A printing apparatus as described in any one of items 8 to 10, A printing system characterized by including the following.

[0068] [Item 12] A program for causing a computer to function as an information processing device as described in any one of items 1 through 7.

[0069] [Item 13] A program for causing a computer to function as a printing device as described in any one of items 8 through 10.

[0070] [Item 14] A printing control method using a printing system including an information processing device, a printing device, and a terminal, The printing device transmits to the information processing device a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered in the information processing device. The information processing device transmits the attribute information of the specified print job to the printing device in response to a request for attribute information. The printing device, when the attribute information transmitted in response to the attribute information request includes a password attribute, accepts password information input from the user and sends a job acquisition request to the information processing device along with the input password information. The information processing device receives a job acquisition request from the printing device along with the password information entered according to the password attribute included in the attribute information, and verifies the received password information with the value of the password attribute included in the attribute information of the specified print job. If the verification is successful, the information processing device transmits the specified print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing device. When the printing device receives a print job in response to the job acquisition request, it performs printing using the printing means based on the data of the print job. A printing control method characterized by the following:

[0071] [Other examples] The present invention can also be realized by supplying a program that implements one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or storage medium, and by having one or more processors in the computer of that system or device read and execute the program. It can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., an ASIC) that implements one or more functions.

[0072] The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, claims are attached to disclose the scope of the invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0073] 101 Printing equipment, 102 Cloud print service, 103 Client terminals

Claims

1. A first transmission means transmits attribute information of a specified print job to the printing device in response to a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered with attribute information from the printing device, A receiving means that receives a job acquisition request from the printing device along with the password information entered in the printing device according to the password attribute included in the attribute information, Verification means for verifying the received password information using the value of the password attribute included in the attribute information of the specified print job, If the verification by the verification means is successful, a second transmission means transmits the specified print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing device. It has a registration means that receives a print job sent from a terminal and registers it along with the attribute information of the print job, The registration means is characterized in that, if the attribute information includes the password attribute, the information processing device also registers the password attribute.

2. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, The attribute information transmitted by the second transmission means does not include the password attribute. An information processing device characterized by the following:

3. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, Record transmits the attribute information, including the aforementioned password attribute. An information processing device characterized by the following:

4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, If the verification of the password information by the verification means fails, information indicating the failure is transmitted to the printing device. An information processing device characterized by the following:

5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, The system further includes a second registration means for registering attribute information of the printing device in response to a registration request for the printing device from the printing device, The registration means registers the password attribute included in the attribute information of the print job received from the terminal if the attribute information of the print job includes an attribute that the printing device supports password-protected print jobs. An information processing device characterized by the following:

6. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, The system further includes means for transmitting a list of registered print jobs to the printing device in response to a request from the printing device to obtain a job list. An information processing device characterized by the following:

7. A first transmission means that transmits a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered in the information processing device to an information processing device that receives a print job sent from a terminal and registers the attribute information of the print job, and if the attribute information includes a password attribute, also registers the password attribute, When the attribute information transmitted in response to the request for attribute information includes a password attribute, an operation means for accepting password information input from the user is provided. The information processing device has a second transmission means that, for print jobs for which the password attribute has been received, transmits a job acquisition request along with the input password information. When a print job is received in response to the job acquisition request sent along with the password information, the printing means will print based on the data of the print job. A printing apparatus characterized by the following features.

8. A printing apparatus according to claim 7, The information processing device further has means for sending a request to obtain a list of print jobs registered in the information processing device, The first transmission means transmits a request for attribute information of a specified print job from the job list information obtained in response to the job list acquisition request. A printing apparatus characterized by the following features.

9. A printing apparatus according to claim 7, If information is received indicating that the verification of the password information failed in response to the job acquisition request sent along with the password information, that information will be output. A printing apparatus characterized by the following features.

10. An information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, A printing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9, A printing system characterized by including the following.

11. A program for causing a computer to function as an information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

12. A program for causing a computer to function as a printing apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9.

13. A printing control method using a printing system including an information processing device, a printing device, and a terminal, The information processing device receives a print job sent from a terminal and registers it along with the attribute information of the print job, and if the attribute information includes a password attribute, it also registers the password attribute. The printing device transmits to the information processing device a request for attribute information of a specified print job from among the print jobs registered in the information processing device. The information processing device transmits the attribute information of the specified print job to the printing device in response to a request for attribute information. The printing device, when the attribute information transmitted in response to the attribute information request includes a password attribute, accepts password information input from the user and sends a job acquisition request to the information processing device along with the input password information. The information processing device receives a job acquisition request from the printing device along with the password information entered according to the password attribute included in the attribute information, and verifies the received password information with the value of the password attribute included in the attribute information of the specified print job. If the verification is successful, the information processing device transmits the specified print job and the attribute information of the print job to the printing device. When the printing device receives a print job in response to the job acquisition request, it performs printing using the printing means based on the data of the print job. A printing control method characterized by the following:

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