Patent Application
20090254987
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-97659, filed on Apr. 4, 2008 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
The embodiment(s) discussed herein relate to, for example, an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, an output control device, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
A personal computer as an information processing apparatus manages a user including information thereof on an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) that works thereon. Furthermore, the OS manages the user by setting access authority to resources such as usable functions and files according to each user. Based on the user ID entered by a user at the time of login, the OS specifies access authority information that is managed according to the user. The OS controls the access to the resource by a login user based on the access authority information. The access authority includes, for example, an administrator authority (administrator) granting access authority to all resources, and a user authority having access authority limited at a level that is lower than the administrator authority. The OS may set the access authority at a plurality of levels as well as the administrator authority and the user authority depending on the OS type.
In recent years, for the purpose of preventing leakage of confidential information, composing information is added to a confidential document when the confidential document is printed. Watermark printing (referred to as pattern printing) is known as a printing method for adding composing information. For the watermark printing, the background that includes patterns or texts that are unnoticeable to humans in the printing of the original is added to a document as an output target. When the printing original printed by the watermark printing is copied by a copy machine or the like, the patterns or the texts emerge over the copy. As described above, the watermark printing is a technique that may distinguish the printing original from the copy and prevent leakage of confidential information.
Furthermore, as a printing method for urging prevention of leakage of confidential information or handling caution of confidential information, header/footer printing and stamp printing are known. The header/footer printing is a technique for printing a specified text in a position (header/footer) on a printing paper that is out of the area in which an output target text is printed. The stamp printing is a technique for printing a specified text or mark on an arbitrary position of a printing paper. The stamp printing is different from the watermark printing in that printing of the original is provided in a state humans recognize the text or the mark.
As a printing method for adding composing information to an output target, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-014127 discusses a technique that a printer driver performs overlay printing. And Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-166033 discusses a technique for adding composed data corresponding to a confidential section when a confidential document is printed.
In general, a user who gives a printing instruction of a document selects whether or not to compose and print composing information depending on a document to be printed. The user also selects the composing information to be used. Accordingly, the user may print confidential information without adding the composing information because of user's forgetting or bothersome burden of selecting operation of the composing information. Such a situation is not preferable in view of calling attention concerning prevention of leakage of confidential information and handling of printed matters.
According to an embodiment of the invention, an information processing apparatus in which at least either a first access authority at a first level or a second access authority at a second level that is higher than the first level may be set according to a user is provided. The information processing apparatus includes a first storage unit that stores authority information indicating an access authority level of a current user, a second storage unit that stores composing information in association with a user, a selecting unit that refers to the authority information stored in the first storage unit and selects the composing information stored in the second storage unit in association with the user to which the second access authority is set when the authority information indicates the first access authority, a composing unit that composes the composing information selected by the selecting unit and output target data generated based on an output instruction by the current user, and an outputting unit that outputs composed data of processing results by the composing unit.
The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.
With reference to accompanying diagrams, an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The following configuration of the embodiment is an example. The present invention is not limited to this configuration of the embodiment.
The first storage unit 1 stores authority information indicating the access authority level set by a current user of the information processing apparatus 10. The second storage unit 2 stores composing information corresponding to the user. The storage unit 1 and the second storage unit 2 may be separate storage devices, and also may be achieved using the same storage device.
The selecting unit 3 refers to the authority information stored in the first storage unit 1. If the access authority level indicated by the authority information is the first level, the selecting unit 3 selects the composing information stored in the second storage unit 2 corresponding to the user to which the access authority level is set to the second level.
The composing unit 4 composes the composing information selected by the selecting unit 3 and output target data 6 that is generated based on an output instruction by the current user. The outputting unit 5 outputs the composed data of processing results by the composing unit 4.
The selecting unit 3 accesses the first storage unit 1 when the output target data 6 is received as a trigger (at OP 1). The selecting unit 3 refers to the authority information corresponding to the current user of the information processing apparatus 10 stored in the first storage unit 1 (at OP 2).
The selecting unit 3 determines the access authority level of the authority information acquired by the reference (at OP 3). If the access authority level is the first level, the selecting unit 3 accesses the second storage unit 2 and selects the composing information specified by a user (for example, administrator) to which the access authority at the second level is set (at OP 4 and at OP 5).
The composing unit 4 receives and composes the output target data 6 and the composing information selected by the selecting unit 3 to generate composed data (at OP 6). The outputting unit 5 transmits the composed data, generated by the composing unit 4 for example, to a given output device (at OP 7).
In OP 3 described above, when the access authority level is other than the first level, the selecting unit 3, the composing unit 4, and the outputting unit 5 perform processing corresponding to the specification by the current user. When there is an access authority level positioned between the first level and the second level, it is possible to employ either the same handling as the first level or the same handling as the second level.
The CPU 11 operates and controls the personal computer 20 by performing, for example, various device driver(s), which include a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) stored in EP-ROM (not shown), an OS (Operating System) stored in the HDD 13, and device drivers that include a printer driver, and application programs.
Furthermore, the CPU 11 performs various processing by reading out these programs from the HDD 13, and then loads these programs on the RAM 12 when performing this OS, these device drivers, and these application programs.
The input device 15 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The input device 15, for example, is used when a user performs setting operation and processing instruction by using a screen displayed in the display 14. The display 14 displays processing results of various programs.
The portable media drive 16 as an auxiliary storage device accesses a portable media. Any type of portable media is applicable. The CPU 11 accesses the portable media loaded to the potable media drive 16 when a processing instruction of a user is given or a given processing result is given as a trigger, and then reads out the various programs and data stored in the portable media and stores the various programs and data in the portable media.
The network adaptor 17 is used to perform transmission and reception of data between the personal computer 20 and another device through a communication line.
The printer 18 may be connected with the personal computer 20 by a given interface such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) through a cable. The printer 18 receives print data (composed data) from the printer driver described below operating on the personal computer 20, and then prints the print data on a paper. An embodiment is described indicating that the printer 18 is directly connected to the personal computer 20 by a cable. The printer 18 may be directly connected to the communication line and also may be connected to another device connected to the communication line. In these cases, the personal computer 20 gives a printing request to the printer 18 that employs a connection mode through the communication line by using the network adaptor 17.
The first storage unit 1 illustrated in
The application program 21 is an application such as, for example, a document preparation program or a Web browser. The application program 21 supplies a print image of the data to be printed to the OS by using an Application Program Interface (API) of Graphic Device Interface (GDI).
The OS includes a GDI 22, a spooler 24, and a print manager 25. The GDI 22 is a Graphic Device Interface that handles an output device such as a display and a printer. The GDI 22 receives, from the application program 21, the print image indicating a printing instruction and the print content by the above-described API. The spooler 24 is a program that temporary stores the print data to be output to a printer as a spooler (spool) file 26. The print manager 25 stores the print data, supplied from the spooler 24, in the spool file 26, and provides the print data, read out from the spool file 26 according to a processing state of printing job, to the printer 18 via the spooler 24.
The printer driver 23 includes a drawing portion 23a and a converting portion 23b. The drawing portion 23a receives the print image from the application program 21 via the GDI, and develops the print image into, for example, bit map data by page in the RAM 12 or the HDD 13. When composing processing for composing the data to be printed of the watermark printing and the like and the composing information is specified, the drawing portion 23a further develops the print image into, for example, bit map data in the RAM 12 or the HDD 13 based on the composing information. The converting portion 23b converts the generated bit map data into print data according to the printer 18, and transmits the bit map data to the spooler 24. When the above-described composing processing is specified, the converting portion 23b composes the bit map image of the print image and the bit map data of the composing information, and converts the data into print data. This composing processing performs composition of data by using a dot corresponding to each bit map data. The composing processing changes the processing content(s) depending on the specified printing function. For example, if the watermark printing is specified, the composing processing composes logical sum of the background in the print image and the data of the composing information. For example, when the header/footer printing or the stamp printing is specified, the compositing processing composes logical sum of the print image and the data of the composing information on the whole surface of one page. Although particular examples such as watermark printing, header/footer printing, etc., are discussed herein, the present invention is not limited thereto and may include any technique of ensuring data integrity by controlling output target of data.
The printer driver 23 receives a display instruction of a setting screen by operation using the input device 15 operated by a user (at OP 11).
The printer driver 23 acquires the authority information of the current user managed by the OS according to reception of the display instruction of the setting screen (at OP 12). This authority information is stored in an operation management file by the OS as corresponding information of identification information indicating the user ID and authority level corresponding to the user.
The printer driver 23 determines the access authority level of the current user based on the acquired authority information (at OP 13). When it is determined that the current user is a user to which the administrator authority is set, the printer driver 23 displays the setting screen in a state that all the setting information may be set (at OP 18). For reference at the time of processing by the printer driver 23, the content set in this setting screen is stored as, for example, a setting file in the HDD 13 in association with each setting item of the setting screen. The printer driver 23 refers to the setting file, and displays the setting screen showing the display content corresponding to the setting content to each setting item. This setting file is generated for each user. The printer driver 23 refers to the setting file according to the logged user. This setting file includes the composing information created by this user. That is, when it is determined that the current user is a user to which the administrator authority is set in OP 13, the setting screen displayed in OP 18 displays the composing information created by the user as the administrator. If the composing information is in a mode that may be uniquely specified from the user information, the composing information may be filed in a different file from the setting file.
The setting content may be recorded in one file in a state that the setting content for each user is identified in such a way that the setting file may not be a different file for each user.
On the other hand, when the current user is determined to be a user to which the user authority is set, the printer driver 23 hides an administrator setting item in the setting screen (at OP 14). This processing doesn't hide the administrator setting item, and may have the processing content that sets such an item to unselectable.
After that, the printer driver 23 determines whether or not the composing information in which the administrator authority is set is set to be commonly used by users (at OP 15). The information on this setting is stored in, for example, the management file handled by the printer driver 23 stored in the HDD 13. If the composing information is commonly used by users, the printer driver 23 stores, in a management file, the information indicating that the composing information is commonly used by users. On the other hand, if the composing information is not commonly used by users, the printer driver 23 stores, in the management file, the information indicating that the composing information is not commonly used by users. This information may be stored in a setting file instead of a management file. In this case, the printer driver 23 accesses the setting file of the user to which the administrator authority is set, and may refer to the setting information corresponding to this setting item. As described above, even when a setting file is generated for each user, the printer driver 23 may access each setting, confirms that this setting file is a file of the user to which the administrator authority is set, and may refer to the setting information corresponding to the setting item may be referred.
When the printer driver 23 determines that the composing information is commonly used by users, the setting screen is set in such a way that the composing information is unselectable (at OP 16). The setting content to be set in this setting screen displays that the selection item of the composing information is unselectable in the setting screen or that the selection item is non-displayed. On the other hand, when the printer driver 23 determines that the composing information is not commonly used by users, the printer driver 23 adds, as a choice, identification information indicating the composing information created by the current login user, and also adds, as choice, identification information indicating the composing information created by the user to which the administrator authority is set (at OP 17). Therefore, in this case, the setting screen includes, as choice, the identification information of the composing information created by the administrator and the user, respectively. That is, even though the user to which the user authority is set does not create the composing information, the composing information created by the user to which the administrator authority is set becomes selectable. Consequently, the user may easily select the composing information.
The printer driver 23 displays the setting screen that is set according to the above-described processing on the screen of the display 14 (at OP 18).
The setting screen 41 of
The setting screen 44 of
The setting screen 48 of
The setting screen 51 of
However, the printer driver 23 controls the display of the setting screen 51 of
The above-described embodiment has described the example of printing processing as output processing. The above-described embodiment is also applicable to displaying processing. In such a case, the output device is the display 14, not the printer 18.
Next, other embodiment(s) will be described. While above-described embodiment uses the access authority level of the user which uses one information processing apparatus, an embodiment uses a level set to a plurality of information processing apparatuses.
As illustrated in
Each configuration of the first information processing apparatus 70 will be described below. The setting unit 71, the transmitting unit 73, the receiving unit 74, and the outputting unit 75 are achieved by the printer driver performed by the CPU. The storage unit 72 corresponds to a non-volatile storage device such as an HDD or portable media. The setting unit 71 displays the above-described setting screen illustrated in
Here, each configuration and processing of the second information processing apparatus 80 will be described. The receiving unit 81, the selecting unit 83, the composing unit 84, and the outputting unit 85 are achieved by the printer driver performed by the CPU. The storage unit 82 corresponds to a non-volatile storage device such as an HDD or portable media.
The receiving unit 81 receives identification information of the composing information that is set to be commonly used with the composing information transmitted from the transmitting unit 73 of the first information processing apparatus 70, and stores the identification information in the storage unit 82. At the time of reception of the output target data 86 generated by the application program as a trigger, the selecting unit 83 refers to the identification information of the composing information, stored in the storage unit 82, which is set to be commonly used, and then selects the composing information indicated by the identification information. The composing unit 84 receives the output target data 6 and the composing information selected by the selecting unit 83, and then composes the data and the information to generate composed data. The outputting unit 85 transmits the composed data generated by the composing unit 84 to the first information processing apparatus 70 through the communication line.
Once again, description will be made of processing of the first information processing apparatus 70. The receiving unit 74 of the first information processing apparatus 70 receives the composed data transmitted from the outputting unit 85 of the second information processing apparatus 80, and then supplies the composed data to the outputting unit 75. The outputting unit 75 transmits the received composed data to the printer connected to the second information processing apparatus 80, and makes a print request.
According to the above-described system configuration, the composing information set by the first information processing apparatus 70 is used in the second information processing apparatus 80. Thus, the composing information may be easily selected. Since the second information processing apparatus 80 adds the composing information without depending on the setting by the user of the second information processing apparatus 80, it is possible to prevent confidential documents from being printed without being added with the composing information.
All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the present inventions have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-97659 | Apr 2008 | JP | national |
