Cloud Job Identifier for Mobile Document Processing Authentication
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) require users to manually enter usernames and passwords for each document processing job, making the process laborious and error-prone, and their user interfaces are often not user-friendly or visually appealing.
Innovation Solution
A cloud service receives job settings data from a mobile device, generates a job identifier, and sends it to a document processing device, allowing users to create and process document jobs without re-entering authentication information and providing a user-friendly interface on the mobile device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users manually enter username and password for each document processing job on MFP, then authentication security is maintained, but operation time and user effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary authentication by capturing username and password once through the mobile device interface before the actual document processing job is executed. The authenticated user identity is then stored and reused for subsequent jobs, eliminating the need for repeated manual authentication entries on the MFP device.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device serves as an intermediary between the user and the MFP system. It captures authentication credentials, communicates with the MFP to establish the user session, and then enables the user to initiate document processing jobs without re-entering credentials. The MFP receives job initiation commands from the mobile device without requiring repeated authentication.
2Adaptability or versatility
If MFP uses conventional display interface for job creation, then device functionality is provided, but user interface usability and visual appeal deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring users to interact with the MFP's conventional display interface for job creation, the system inverts the interaction model by enabling job creation through a mobile device. The mobile device's superior interface capabilities are leveraged, while the MFP's role is reduced to receiving simplified job initiation commands and executing the actual document processing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If users create document jobs on MFP with multiple functions, then all document processing capabilities are available, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the complex user interface and authentication management functions from the MFP and relocates them to the mobile device. The MFP retains its core document processing capabilities (printing, scanning, copying, faxing) but eliminates the burden of managing complex user interactions, authentication sessions, and interface displays. This separation reduces the effective complexity users experience while maintaining full functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for allowing a user to create a document processing job (e.g., a print job, a scan job, a copy job, fax job) at a mobile device instead of at a document processing device, such as a printer, scanner, or copier. A cloud service interacts with the mobile device to retrieve job settings data from the mobile device. The cloud service generates a job identifier, associates the job identifier with job settings associated with the job settings data, and sends the job identifier to the mobile device, which displays the job identifier to the user. The user later enters the job identifier at the document processing device, which, in turn, uses the job identifier to request the job settings from the cloud service. The cloud service identifies the job settings based on the job identifier and sends the job settings to the document processing device.