Patent Application
20240089392
This application relates generally to printing. The application relates more particularly to authenticating multifunction peripheral users who bypass managed print services, sending their job directly to a multifunction peripheral via its network address.
Document processing devices include printers, copiers, scanners and e-mail gateways. More recently, devices employing two or more of these functions are found in office environments. These devices are referred to as multifunction peripherals (MFPs) or multifunction devices (MFDs). As used herein, MFPs are understood to comprise printers, alone or in combination with other of the afore-noted functions. It is further understood that any suitable document processing device can be used.
Various embodiments will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings wherein:
The systems and methods disclosed herein are described in detail by way of examples and with reference to the figures. It will be appreciated that modifications to disclosed and described examples, arrangements, configurations, components, elements, apparatuses, devices methods, systems, etc. can suitably be made and may be desired for a specific application. In this disclosure, any identification of specific techniques, arrangements, etc. are either related to a specific example presented or are merely a general description of such a technique, arrangement, etc. Identifications of specific details or examples are not intended to be, and should not be, construed as mandatory or limiting unless specifically designated as such.
Early on, most printers were directly connected to a computer from which printing will be requested. More powerful devices, such as MFPs, would be prohibitively expensive for a single user. A common practice is to share an MFP among many networked users. Larger printing environments, such as businesses, law firms and schools, employ multiple MFPs which may be on multiple floors or at multiple locations. A particular networked printing environment may employ a print server. Users who are authenticated to this print server, which may be part of a cloud print service, can send their job directly to the print server and release it from any authenticated MFP. Direct network printing, such as sending a print job directly to an MFP's address such as their IP address, is a common alternative to print servers. In this method, users send print jobs from their own devices directly to a printer via their network. This system is convenient for a smaller user base or a decentralized setting where a resource-heavy print server would be overkill. A tradeoff is that there is less oversight and management capabilities in traditional direct IP printing. Without centralized user management and device permission, direct IP print jobs will be released on their own printing rules.
Cloud print services, such as the e-BRIDGE Global Print from Toshiba TEC, provide an application suite giving a platform for users to print to the cloud and release their jobs from any MFP that is registered with the cloud and is associated with the user. While any suitable print server service can be used, example embodiments herein reflect a use case of e-Bridge Global Print. With such a system, users can also send print jobs from their own devices straight to a printer. While it is understood that any MFP addressing may be used, such as a device network name, MAC address, etc., example embodiments herein reflect a use case of direct IP printing. Direct IP printing comes with its own limitations. Because direct printing is less centralized, it's time-consuming to configure printer drivers on every workstation.
Example embodiments herein provide an MFP application, referred to as an eApp that validates incoming direct IP print jobs against a centralized system before allowing them to print. Users need to first register for e-BRIDGE Global Print. The registration process sends a request to e-BRIDGE Global Print with the computer name and operating system (OS) username. A successful registration writes a user, such as Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive user, computer name, and OS username in a table. This forms a mapping record.
When a registered user sends a print job from their own devices straight to an MFP, the MFP requests authentication to the MFP eApp. The MFP receives, via the eApp, the username and computer name of the job owner, and then the eApp requests authentication to e-BRIDGE Global Print. If e-BRIDGE Global Print responds with an OK, the MFP receives a device permission list and releases the print job.
The example embodiment summarized above provides several features. A centralized user management automatically syncs with the devices of all users in the organization. Users cannot be impersonated since a username and computer name are provided in the direct IP printing. Centralized device permission management allows a centralized system to control operation and render visibility of each MFP in the organization.
Turning now to
Processor 208 is also in data communication with a storage interface 224 for reading or writing to a storage 228, suitably comprised of a hard disk, optical disk, solid-state disk, cloud-based storage, or any other suitable data storage as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art.
Processor 208 is also in data communication with additional interfaces, such as Bluetooth interface 226, NFC interface 230 and card reader 232 for data exchange with proximity cards, such as card keys.
Processor 208 is also in data communication with a network interface 236 which provides an interface to a network interface controller (NIC) 240, which in turn provides a data path to any suitable wired interface or physical network connection 244, or to a wireless data connection via wireless network interface 248. Example wireless network interfaces include optical, cellular, Wi-Fi, wireless universal serial bus (wireless USB), satellite, and the like. Example wired interfaces include Ethernet, USB, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), Lightning, telephone line, or the like.
Processor 208 can also be in data communication with any suitable user input/output (I/O) interface 250 which provides data communication for interfacing with user peripherals, such as displays, keyboards, mice, track balls, touch screens, or the like. While touchscreens are discussed in example embodiments herein, it is to be appreciated that any suitable user interface, such as keyboards, switches, displays, trackballs or mice may be used. Processor 208 can also be in communication with hardware monitor 252, such as a page counter, temperature sensor, toner or ink level sensor, paper level sensor, or the like.
Also in data communication with data bus 220 is a document processor interface 256 suitable for data communication with the document rendering system 260, including MFP functional units. In the illustrated example, these units include a copy engine comprising copy hardware 264, a scan engine comprise of scan hardware 268, a print engine comprised of print hardware 272 and a fax engine comprised of fax hardware 276 which together comprise document rendering system 260. It will be understood that functional units are suitably comprised of intelligent units, including any suitable hardware or software platform.
Turning now to
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.
