Printing Authentication System Unified User ID Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In a multi-system printing environment, users often receive multiple user IDs, leading to complex authentication processes and potential authentication failures when trying to print documents across different core systems, as each system manages user IDs independently, resulting in fragmented user authentication and billing management.
Innovation Solution
A printing authentication system with a device management apparatus that stores and manages multiple user IDs for a single user, allowing the system to authenticate and authorize print jobs across different systems, providing a unified user ID set for authentication and billing purposes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple core systems coexist and each system independently manages user IDs, then system flexibility and historical compatibility are improved, but authentication complexity increases and users may experience authentication failures when accessing printing resources across different systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a printing device as an intermediary that receives user identification information from multiple core systems, stores it in association with the user's name, and uses this stored information for authentication. This mediator approach allows different core systems to coexist without increasing authentication complexity at the printing device, as the device already holds the mapping between user names and multiple user IDs from various systems.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a user is given multiple user IDs from different core systems, then user accessibility to various systems is improved, but billing management becomes fragmented and inaccurate when tracking usage across multiple systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple user identification information from different core systems into a unified structure at the printing device. By storing user identification information in association with the user's name, the system consolidates what would otherwise be fragmented billing data across multiple systems into a single manageable structure, enabling accurate billing while maintaining user accessibility to various core systems.
3Reliability
If the printing device stores and manages multiple user IDs in association with user names, then authentication reliability is improved by ensuring all user IDs for a given user are recognized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The printing device performs self-service by autonomously storing and managing multiple user identification information in association with user names. The device independently handles the complexity of maintaining this mapping without requiring external intervention from core systems, thereby improving authentication reliability while containing the complexity management within the printing device itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A printing authentication system includes an identification information storage unit, a providing unit and a specifying unit. The identification information storage unit stores, as an identification information set, plural pieces of user identification information given to a same user. If authentication is valid with regard to an authentication request accompanying specific user identification information, the providing unit reads out a specific user identification information set including the specific user identification information from the identification information storage unit and provides the specific user identification information set. If user identification information, associated with print data, of a requester who requests printing of the print data matches any one of the user identification information constituting the specific identification information set, the specifying unit specifies the print data as a printing target.