Patent Application
20080144090
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which processes a job according to job instruction information that instructs the image forming apparatus to perform various operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a workflow system for executing a process on an image forming apparatus according to job instruction information set by a user. Such job instruction information may include various information regarding processes that are to be executed by an image forming apparatus, such as scan instruction, scan setting, print instruction, print setting, and document saving.
Moreover, a method for managing the security of the job instruction information uses a technique of appending an electronic signature to the instruction information and verifying the electronic signature before executing the job.
In a case where an image forming apparatus regularly performs a complex process, it takes time to set the various functions of the image forming apparatus for each process. Therefore, an execution of any one of the various functions operable by an image forming apparatus can be selected by simply pressing a button in a conventional method. To improve such a method, a process is discussed which utilizes job instruction information. The job instruction information is information that describes process which is necessary to execute a job, and the functions which are used to execute a job. An information processing apparatus, such as an image forming apparatus, analyzes the process described in the job instruction information and automatically executes the described process.
However, the above-described method which utilizes the job instruction information has a following problem. Any user can use the job instruction information, so that, for example, a user B can erroneously use the job instruction information which is created by a user A. The user B may then send important documents to a person who is not a customer of user B.
To solve the above-described problem, an access right can be set on an image forming apparatus to restrict users who can use the job instruction information. However, even when users are restricted, the created instruction information may not be appropriate for executing a job. In addition, description of the instruction information may be altered.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-288112 solves the above-described problem by appending an electronic signature to job instruction information and verifying the electronic signature before performing a process flow. As a result, the technique prevents altering of the instruction information or spoofing. In addition, since a third person approves the job instruction information, an error in the instruction information has a good chance of being found, as compared to when the instruction information is created by one person.
However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-288112 does not place any restriction on document information to be processed by the image forming apparatus. Therefore, inappropriate document information may be processed even in a case where the job instruction information is genuine and is approved by verifying the electronic signature. Such a problem is not considered in the above described techniques.
According to an aspect of the present invention, A system which includes an image forming apparatus configured to perform a process according to instruction information that describes processing of document information. The system comprising, an receiving unit configured to receive document information and instruction information that describes processing of the document information, a registration unit configured to register instruction information and confirmation data which is used to confirm whether the processing described by the instruction information is to be performed on document information in association with each other, and a determination unit configured to determine whether an image forming apparatus can perform a process for the document information received by the receiving unit according to the instruction information received by the receiving unit, based on the instruction information received by the receiving unit and the confirmation data which is registered in the registering unit.
Further features and aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Various exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
Referring to
A document which is placed on a document feeder 101 of the read unit 1 is conveyed one after another to a document positioning glass plate 102. When the document is conveyed to a predetermined position on the document positioning glass plate 102, a lamp 103 in a scanner unit 104 is switched on, and the scanner unit 104 moves and irradiates the document. Reflected light from the document forms an image on a charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor 109 via mirrors 105, 106, 107, and a lens 108, and the light is converted into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is then sent to an exposure control unit 201 in the printer unit 2.
The exposure control unit 201 includes a laser and a polygon scanner. The laser beam is modulated according to the above-described image signal which is converted into an electric signal by the CCD image sensor 109 and is subjected to a predetermined image processing. The exposure control unit 201 irradiates a photosensitive drum 202 with the modulated laser beam. As a result, a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 202, and developed by a development unit 203.
A transfer sheet is conveyed from a transfer sheet loading unit 204 or transfer sheet loading units 205, 206, and 207, in synchronization with the head of the developed image. A transfer unit 208 transfers the developed image onto the conveyed transfer sheet. A fixing unit 209 fixes the transferred image onto the transfer sheet, and an ejecting unit 210 ejects the transfer sheet to the outside of the image forming apparatus. The transfer sheet ejected from the ejecting unit 210 is conveyed to the book binding unit 230. If there is an instruction to bind a transfer sheet ejected from the ejecting unit 210, the book binding unit 230 performs a binding process. On the contrary, when there is no instruction to bind the transfer sheet, the book binding unit 230 ejects the transfer sheet without performing binding.
Control system of the image forming apparatus 3 will be described below by referring to
In
The CPU circuit unit 122 controls the reader unit 1, an image processing unit 22, an operation unit 123, a document management unit 121, the image data selector 118, the image memory 120, and a compression/decompression unit 126. The CPU circuit unit 122 further includes a read-only memory (ROM) 124, a random access memory (RAM) 125, and various timer control units (not illustrated). The ROM 124 stores a control program and an error correction program. The RAM 125 is used as a work area of the various programs. The CPU circuit unit 122 performs control to compress necessary data among the image data which is stored in the image memory 120, using the compression/decompression unit 126, and to store the compressed data in a hard disk (HDD) 127. On the other hand, the CPU circuit unit 122 performs control to load image data that is stored in the HDD 127 onto the image memory 120, via the compression/decompression unit 126.
The control system of the image forming apparatus 3 includes the document management unit 121. Electronic data of an image which is read by the reader unit 1 is stored in the HDD 127 via the image data selector 118, and attribute information of the image data is stored in the document management unit 121. Attribute information includes number of pages, document identification number (ID), file name, expiration date, and security level of each electronic document. After electronic documents are merged, the CPU circuit unit 122 reads the security information managed by the document management unit 121. The CPU circuit unit 122 then calculates the security level after the document merging and stores the new security information in the document management unit 121.
The operation unit 123 in the image forming apparatus 3 includes various key groups that instructs an image operation such as image editing performed by the image processing unit 22, or number of copies. An image processing unit 22 is a circuit which performs image processing such as creating a mirror image, which is instructed through the operation unit 123. Furthermore, the operation unit 123 includes a display unit which displays description of the operation. A network interface unit 128 is in communication with external terminals.
In the hard key group 7-240, a start key 7-241 is a key to start copying. A stop key 7-242 stops the operation being performed by the image forming apparatus 3. A power switch key 7-243 is a key for switching on and off the power of the image forming apparatus 3. A power saving key 7-244 shifts the image forming apparatus 3 into a predetermined power saving mode. A restore key 7-246 returns the setting mode to a default state. A key group 7-245 includes a numerical keypad from 0 to 9, for inputting the number of copies or the zoom ratio. The key group 7-245 also includes a clear key for clearing an input from the numerical keypad. When a user inputs a number of copies into the key group 7-245, the display area 7-253 of the LCD unit 7-250 displays the input number of copies. A guide key 7-247 is a key for displaying various guide screens, and a user mode key 7-248 is a key for making various settings on the image forming apparatus 3.
The LCD unit 7-250 is a touch panel, and a user can enter an input by pressing the key displaying portion. The LCD unit 7-250 displays the status of the apparatus, a number of copies, a zoom ratio, selected paper, and various operation screens. The LCD unit 7-250 also displays touch keys. A key 7-252 is a key for selecting a paper feed tray or auto paper. Keys 7-258 and 7-262 are keys for adjusting the density. The density to be adjusted is displayed on the display area 7-263. A key 7-259 is a key and a display area for switching on and off the auto density control function. Keys 7-254 and 7-255 are keys for setting direct copying and zooming respectively. The zoom ratio is also displayed on a display area 7-264 of the LCD unit 7-250. A key 7-260 is an application mode key. When a user presses the key 7-260, the screen jumps to a screen for setting various modes.
The HDD 127 of the image forming apparatus 3 will be described below by referring to
A file system is applied to the user BOX area and the management data area, and the user BOX area and the management data area can be accessed in units of files. The user BOX area stores a file in which file names/user names for realizing the user BOX function are written for each BOX.
A file system dedicated to image format is applied to the image data area and the temporary data area, and only images can be input to and output from the image data area and the temporary data area. The temporary data area is temporarily used and is not guaranteed against power discontinuity. The temporary data area is used for a copy function. A number is allocated to a portion of the user BOX area illustrated in FIG. 4, so that data can be stored in each BOX number.
Referring to
A method in which a user manually selects a feature image will be described below. An operation screen of the image forming apparatus 701 is a touch sensor. The user touches around a logo “AB inc.”, as indicated by dots 515x and 515y, within the preview area 514 of the operation screen. Consequently, a dotted line 506a which surrounds the “AB inc.” logo is displayed. The dotted line 506a indicates that the user has selected the logo “AB inc.” as a feature image of the present job instruction. Similarly, the user selects “agreement” (indicated by dotted line 506b) as a feature image. Additionally, the user selects a table (indicated by dotted line 506c) in the image. The selection of a table indicates that the image is of a default format, and only the lines in the table are recognized and the numbers inside each cell is not recognized. That is, the table is selected to check whether the lines are present at a predetermined position in the document. The user can make the selection by setting an area as indicated by dots 515x and 515y, and pressing a “select” button 510. The user presses a “cancel” button 511 to cancel the selection. For example, the dot 515x of the selected feature image is selected and the user presses the “cancel” button 511 to cancel the selection. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in
When a user presses the “register” button 507, the image forming apparatus 701 displays a sub-screen 601, as illustrated in
The image forming apparatus 701 sends the instruction 708 and the feature image to the instruction management server 702 (step S805). The instruction management server 702 sends the received instruction 708 and the feature image to the PC 706 of the instruction approver (step S806). The instruction approver determines whether to approve the received instruction 708 and the feature image (step S807). If the instruction approver does not approve the instruction 708 and the feature image (NO in step S807), the PC 706 of the instruction approver sends a notification disapproving the instruction, to the instruction management server 702. Upon receiving such a notification, the instruction management server 702 deletes the received job instruction 708 and the scanned data of the document 709 (step S813). The instruction management server 702 then sends a notification of disapproval of the instruction to the image forming apparatus 701 (step S814). The image forming apparatus 701 displays a disapproval of the instruction on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus 701 (step S815).
On the contrary, if the instruction approver determines that the received instruction 708 and the feature image are approved (YES in step S807), the PC 706 of the instruction approver sends a notification approving the instruction, to the instruction management server 702. Upon receiving such a notification, the approval unit 704 of the instruction management server 702 appends an electronic signature 710 to the instruction (step S808). The instruction management server 702 then records the feature image and instruction on the storage unit 703 of the instruction management server 702 in association with each other (step S809) After recording, the instruction management server 702 sends a notification of approval of the instruction to the image forming apparatus 701 (step S810). The image forming apparatus 701 enables only selection of the approved instruction in the image forming apparatus 701 (step S811).
The above exemplary embodiment describes a case where a user creates instruction information in the image forming apparatus 701 and registers the instruction information in the instruction management server 702. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. A user can create instruction information in a user PC (not illustrated) and register the instruction information and the document file that the user has created, on the instruction management server 702.
In the above exemplary embodiment, the instruction management server 702 is located outside the image forming apparatus 701. However, the functions of the instruction management server 702 can be included inside the image forming apparatus 701.
The flow of the process for executing a job instruction to which an electronic signature is appended will be described below by referring to
In the above exemplary embodiment, a user sends the instruction information and document data (scanned data) from the image forming apparatus 701 to the instruction management server 702. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. A user can send the instruction information and document file which a user has created as a print job using the user PC (not shown), to the image forming apparatus 701. In such a case, the image forming apparatus 701 sends the instruction information to the instruction management server 702 to confirm whether processing in the instruction information can be executed, in a similar manner as in the above-described exemplary embodiment.
In the above exemplary embodiment, the instruction management server 702 is located outside the image forming apparatus 701. However, the functions of the instruction management server 702 can be included inside the image forming apparatus 701.
Data structure of a job instruction which is stored in the storage unit 703 of the instruction management server 702 will be described below by referring to
As illustrated in
An item, “permitted users” 1003, includes names of users who are permitted to use the instruction, and a plurality of users can be set. An item, “document attributes” 1004, stores the document attributes of the image data, and “file size” and “number of pages” are set at the time of registration.
An item, “image information” 1005, stores the image information attributes of the image data. For example, the position and the image of “AB inc.” logo which is registered as illustrated in
Therefore, when verifying the image data, the position of the logo is stored by adding some margin thereto. For example, when a feature image area is specified by an area indicated by (x, y) and (x+xl, y+yl), margins a and b are added as illustrated in
An item, “transmission information” 1006, indicates the category of the transmission information attribute. An item, “allowable number of pages for transmission”, indicates the number of pages that can be sent from the image forming apparatus 701. The number of pages is counted up while the pages can be sent until the number reaches the setting value. An item, “allowable number of destinations for multi-address transmission”, indicates the number of destinations to which transmission can be made simultaneously by multi-address transmission. “Allowable number of destinations for multi-address transmission” prevents personal information from being sent erroneously to tens of thousands of destinations. An item, “fax number”, registers the fax number of the destination, and the instruction restricts transmission to fax numbers other than the registered fax numbers. A job flow is registered in an item, “job flow” 1009, and jobs that can be performed by the image forming apparatus 701 are described in order. As described earlier, the table 602 illustrated in
The above-described exemplary embodiment describes a method for determining whether job instruction information can be executed on a scanned image data. Similarly, it can also be determined whether job instruction information can be executed on an image data which is previously stored in an image forming apparatus.
The present invention can also be achieved by providing a storage medium, which stores software (program code) for realizing the operations of the above-described exemplary embodiments performed on various servers and image forming apparatus, to a system or an apparatus. The program code stored in the storage medium can be read and executed by a computer (central processing unit (CPU) or micro-processing unit (MPU)) of the system or the apparatus.
In this case, the software (program code) itself realizes the operations of the embodiments. The software (program code) itself and the storage medium, which stores the software (program code), constitute the present invention. The storage medium can be, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a compact disc-read-only memory (CD-ROM), a CD-recordable (CD-R), a CD-rewritable (CD-RW), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a DVD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, or a ROM.
The above-described exemplary embodiments can be not only realized by executing program code read by a CPU. An operating system (OS) or the like working on a computer can also perform a part or the whole of processes according to instructions of the program code and realize functions of the above-described exemplary embodiments.
Furthermore, program code read from a storage medium can be stored in a memory equipped in a function expansion board inserted in a computer or a function expansion unit connected to a computer, and a CPU in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit can execute all or part of the processing based on the instructions of the program code to realize the functions of the above-described exemplary embodiments.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all modifications, equivalent structures, and functions.
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-341403 filed Dec. 19, 2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-341403 | Dec 2006 | JP | national |
