JP4062376B2 - Print control apparatus and print control method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a print control apparatus and a print control method , and in particular, a print control apparatus and a print control method suitable for printing a confidential print file with a printing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) connected via a network. About.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a system configuration in which computers are connected to a network, a general-purpose large-sized computer, that is, a vertical network centered on a mainframe is known. In recent years, due to the downsizing trend of computer systems, the number of systems in which a plurality of workstations are connected to a local area network (LAN) is increasing.
[0003]
In a printer placed in such a network environment, a file that requires confidentiality, that is, a confidential print file may be printed. In order to securely print a confidential print file, it is most desirable that a print requester or an operator who has been previously qualified to output the confidential print file directly perform printing on the printer console.
[0004]
However, for that purpose, a qualified person needs to be bound to the printer from the start of transfer of confidential print data to the end of printing, which is not easy to realize. In order to solve this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-134681 discloses a print control apparatus for a confidential print file in a vertical network. In this print control apparatus, confidential data can be protected without restraining qualified persons by using job information added to the print data when the print data is transferred.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The above printing control apparatus has the following problems. Workstations and printers connected to the horizontal network exchange conversations and data through a common communication protocol.
[0006]
There are many types of communication protocols used in a horizontal network, and it is difficult for workstations and printers on the network to support all communication protocols. Therefore, it is often the case that the print data is transferred to the printer as a file by implementing at least the FTP protocol, which is a standard file transfer protocol that is considered to be most commonly implemented in current printers.
[0007]
However, the FTP protocol rules do not provide for the transfer of confidential print files, which is insufficient from the viewpoint of ensuring security. Therefore, there has been a demand for a system that can ensure security by identifying a confidential print file from a print file without changing the FTP protocol, which is a standardized file transfer protocol.
[0008]
An object of the present invention is to provide a print control apparatus and a print control method capable of solving the above-described problems and distinguishing confidential print files without changing a general-purpose file transfer protocol.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention for solving the above-described problems and achieving the object includes a list in which security user identification information is registered in a print control device of a print server that prints print data received via a predetermined file transfer protocol; Confidential print file recognition means for determining whether or not the received print data is a confidential print file by referring to the user identification information on the file transfer protocol command and the security user identification information included in the list; Secure print data storage means for storing the print data determined to be a secure print file by the secure print file recognition means and the user identification information, and a print start instruction means for inputting security user identification information and a print start instruction; Security user identification information and print start instruction And manual printing control unit in response to an input read the print data from the confidential print data storage means, is characterized in that comprises a printer engine which prints the print data.
[0010]
According to the above feature, whether or not the print data is a confidential print file is determined based on whether or not the user identification information on the predetermined file transfer protocol command is on the scheduled list, and the confidential print is determined based on the determination result. The file is stored in the confidential print data storage means. Further, the confidential print file is read by the printer engine when the security user identification information is input.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print server including a print control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the print server 1 includes a printer control device 1a and a printer engine, that is, an image output terminal (IOT) 1b. The printer control device 1 a receives print data from the client host 3 through the host interface (I / F) 2. The received print data is rasterized, transferred to the IOT 1b through the printer interface (I / F) 4, and printed.
[0012]
The printer control device 1a can be realized by an operation device (console) 5 including an input means such as a keyboard and a display device, and a microcomputer including a ROM 6, a RAM 7 and a CPU 8. A fixed disk device 9 is provided as an auxiliary storage device.
[0013]
The host interface 2 and the client host 3 of the print server 1 have a function of executing a program that executes the FTP protocol, that is, an FTP server program and an FTP client program, respectively.
[0014]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part control function of the print server 1. The host interface 2 that executes the FTP server program executes FTP protocol processing and receives print data from the client host 3. When the FTP login request is made, the host interface 2 determines whether or not the user name described as one of the parameters of the user command (USER) of the received FTP command is a qualified person name. Specifically, the user recognition unit 10 as a means for recognizing a confidential print file is permitted to print the user command and the security user name as security user information registered in the security user list 11, that is, the confidential print file. Identify by comparing with qualified person names. The security user name is input in advance from the console 5 by the operator. In the illustrated example, user A and user S are registered as security users.
[0015]
The security spool 90 stores the received print data when the user command is included in the security user name on the security user list 11. On the other hand, the general spool 91 stores the received print data when the user command is not included in the security user name on the security user list 11.
[0016]
The print data stored in the general spool 91 is automatically transferred sequentially to the IOT 1b by the automatic print control unit 12 when print data for one print job is collected. Further, the print data stored in the security spool 90 is transferred to the IOT 1 b after undergoing a user name confirmation process by the manual print control unit 13.
[0017]
When the user name is input, the console 5 determines whether or not the user name is registered in the security user list 11, and if the user name is registered, the console 5 is permitted to enable the manual print control unit 13. Output a signal. When the manual print control unit 13 receives the permission signal from the console 5, the manual print control unit 13 compares the user name input from the console 5 with the user name stored in the security spool 90 together with the print data. If the two user names match as a result of the comparison, the print data is read from the security spool 90 and transferred to the IOT 1b.
[0018]
The process of the printer control apparatus will be described with reference to a flowchart. In FIG. 3, in step S <b> 1, it is determined whether an FTP command has been received. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S <b> 2, and it is determined whether the user command is registered in the security user list 11. If this determination is affirmative, the process advances to step S 3 to store the received print data in the security spool 90. If step S2 is negative, the process proceeds to step S4, and the received print data is stored in the general spool 91.
[0019]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart at the time of printing. In step S10, a print request is awaited. When a print request is input from the console 5, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S <b> 11, a display prompting the user name to be input is output on the display screen of the console 5. In step S <b> 12, it is determined whether or not the input user name is registered in the security user list 11. If this determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S13, and it is determined whether or not the user name stored together with the print data received in the security spool 90 matches the user name input together with the print request from the console 5. .
[0020]
If the user names match, the process proceeds to step S14, and the print data on the security spool 90 is transferred to the IOT 1b. If the user names do not match, or if the user name is not registered in the security user list 11, the process proceeds from step S12, S13 to step S15. In step S15, for example, an error process is performed to output a “printing impossible” display to the console 5.
[0021]
FIG. 5 is an FTP protocol command sequence between the client host 3 and the print server 1. In the figure, when a connection request is issued from the client host 3, the print server 1 responds to this, and subsequently, a user command (USER) and a pass command (PASS) are sent from the client host 3, and these are sent from the print server. If there is a response to this command, login success is confirmed. After successful login, various command sequences can be taken according to the purpose. Here, a simple sequence for the purpose of file transfer is taken as an example.
[0022]
After successful login, the client host 3 notifies the file type such as binary or ASCII by using a type command (TYPE). This is because the transfer method differs depending on the file type. Further, the client host 3 notifies the print server 1 of a port number necessary for file transfer by a port command (PORT). Finally, the client host 3 issues a store command (STOR) to request a file name to be transferred and a file transfer request.
[0023]
The print server 1 that has received the store command opens a new connection for data transfer using the port number of the port command received earlier. The client host 3 starts transferring data to the print server 1 after receiving a transfer permission response to the store command from the print server 1. After the print server 1 receives the command EOF indicating the end of data, the data transfer ends with an end confirmation response from the print server 1. In the above-described embodiment, the security process is performed by determining the user name set as one of the parameters of the user command transmitted from the client host 3 without fail in the FTP sequence.
[0024]
Subsequently, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the security user is determined based on the password set as the parameter of the pass command (PASS) in the sequence shown in FIG. Therefore, the security user list 11 is transformed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, in the security user list 11, two passwords are registered for each user name. The first password (pass 1) is a password for a general user, and the second password (pass 2) is a password for a security user. That is, by having two passwords, for example, when user A wants to print a general file, he / she writes the user name (USERA) and pass 1 (com) in the pass command, and when he wants to print a security file, user name (USERA) and path 2 (SEC) are described in the path command.
[0025]
In the second embodiment, when the user recognition unit 10 receives a user command and a pass command, and the password described in the pass command is a pass 1 registered in the security user list 11, The received print data is stored in the general spool 91. If the password is pass 2, the received print data is stored in the security spool 90.
[0026]
When the print data stored in the security spool 90 is output to the IOT 1b, manual print control is performed based on the result of comparing the password input from the console 5 with the password (pass 2) in the security user list 11 in FIG. Enable part 13. Further, when the password input from the console 5 matches the password stored in the security spool 90 together with the print data, the print data is transferred from the security spool 90 to the IOT 1b.
[0027]
In the second embodiment, the essentials of the process are the same as the example shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 except that the user name determination process described with respect to the first embodiment is replaced with a password determination process. As described above, in the second embodiment, it is determined which one of the two passwords is included in the FTP protocol command, and the general print file or the confidential print file is distinguished. Therefore, the user can store the file that is the target of the print request in any one of the general spool and the security spool depending on which password is used.
[0028]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the FTP protocol command widely used for print data transfer is not changed, and the FTP program on the client host side, that is, the print data supply side is changed. Security of confidential print files can be ensured without adding. That is, since the client host side can perform processing without being aware of the security function on the print server side, a security system can be easily realized on an existing network.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part control function of a print server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main hardware configuration of a print server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of print data spool storage processing;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of print printing processing.
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram of the FTP protocol.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list in which user identification information is registered.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Print server, 1a ... Printer control apparatus, 1b ... Printer engine, 3 ... Client host, 5 ... Console, 10 ... User recognition part, 11 ... Security user list, 13 ... Manual print control part, 90 ... Security spool, 91 ... General spool

Claims (6)

In a print control apparatus that prints print data received via a predetermined file transfer protocol,
A list in which a general user password and a security user password are associated with a user name and registered,
Whether the received print data is a general print file or a confidential print file, depending on whether the password described on the file transfer protocol command is a password of a general user or a security user included in the list Confidential print file recognition means for determining
Secure print data storage means for storing the print data determined to be a secure print file by the secure print file recognition means together with the password described in the file transfer protocol command;
General print data storage means for storing print data determined to be a general print file by the confidential print file recognition means;
A print start instruction means for inputting a password and a print start instruction;
Manual print control means for reading out print data from the confidential print data storage means in response to the print start instruction when the password input from the print start instruction means is a password of a security user registered in the list ; ,
Automatic print control means for reading out print data from the general print data storage means when print data for a predetermined print job is collected in the general print data storage means;
A print control apparatus comprising a printer engine for printing the print data. The confidential print file recognition unit is configured to perform the determination using the password when receiving the password described for FTP user authentication on the file transfer protocol command. The printing control apparatus according to claim 1. The manual print control means further reads out the print data from the confidential print data storage means on condition that the password inputted from the print start instruction means and the security user password stored in the confidential print data storage means match. The print control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the print control apparatus is configured as described above. In a print control method for printing print data received via a predetermined file transfer protocol,
Create a list in which the user name and general user password and security user password are registered and registered.
Whether the received print data is a general print file or a confidential print file, depending on whether the password described on the file transfer protocol command is a password of a general user or a security user included in the list Determine
The print data determined to be a confidential print file by the determination is stored in the confidential print data storage unit together with the password described in the file transfer protocol command ,
The print data determined to be a general print file by the determination is stored in the general print data storage means,
In response to input of a password and print start instruction, whereas to read out the print data from the confidential print data storing means when the entered password is a password security user registered in the list created in the above,
A print control method comprising: reading print data from a general print data storage unit and supplying the print data to a printer engine when print data for a predetermined print job is collected in the general print data storage unit . The determination as to whether the received print data is a general print file or a confidential print file is made based on FTP user authentication on the file transfer protocol command. The print control method according to claim 4, wherein the print control method is performed using the password when the password described for receiving the password is received. 6. The print data read from the confidential print data storage means is performed on condition that the input password and the security user password stored in the confidential print data storage means match. Print control method.

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