JP7416259B2 - Electronic devices, image forming devices, and login authentication methods - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic device, an electronic forming apparatus, and a login authentication method that perform login authentication.

2. Description of the Related Art Some image forming apparatuses that are equipped with copy, printer, facsimile, and other functions have a function that allows the user to use the apparatus by inputting an ID and password and performing a login operation. An image forming apparatus equipped with such a function is effective when printing documents such as confidential documents that other users do not want to know.

Patent Document 1 describes an image forming apparatus that performs login authentication using a password composed of a first character string determined in advance and a second character string that is set each time the apparatus is used. has been done.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-135780

However, in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to issue a second character string every time the device is used, which is time-consuming. Furthermore, security cannot be ensured simply by simplifying login authentication.

The purpose of the present invention is to add a simple authentication method that differs for each login to the normal login authentication using an ID and password, thereby ensuring security at the time of login without adopting complicated authentication processing. do.

An electronic device according to one aspect of the present invention includes an image storage unit that stores a plurality of images, a user-specific identification number, a password associated with the identification number, and a password set from among the images stored in the image storage unit. a security information storage unit that stores information on the security image that has been accessed; an operation display unit that accepts input operations from the user and outputs input position information; and a login screen that is displayed on the operation display unit; a display control unit that reads the image stored in the image storage unit each time the operation display unit receives one character of the password, and causes the operation display unit to display the image that is different each time it is displayed as a background image; When a login screen is displayed on the operation display unit, information on an image that the operation display unit was displaying as the background image when the operation display unit accepted an input operation for the display portion of the background image is acquired. an acquisition section, an acquisition information storage section that stores information acquired by the acquisition section, an identification number and a password received by the operation display section, and information stored in the acquisition information storage section, which are stored in the security information storage section. and a login authentication unit that verifies whether the content matches the stored content and permits login if the content matches.

Further, an image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes the electronic device described above and an image forming section that forms an image on a recording medium.

Further, the login authentication method according to one aspect of the present invention includes an image storage unit that stores the plurality of images, a user-specific identification number, a password, and security set from among the images stored in the image storage unit. A login authentication method for an electronic device, comprising: a security information storage unit that stores image information in association with each other; and an operation display unit that receives user input operations and outputs input position information, the operation display unit an input step of accepting the input of the identification number and the password; and each time the operation display unit receives one character of the password, reading the image stored in the image storage unit and displaying a different image each time the image is displayed. a display step of displaying the background image on the operation display section; and when the operation display section is displaying the login screen, when the operation display section accepts an input operation on the display portion of the background image, the operation is performed; an acquisition step of acquiring information on the image that the display unit was displaying as the background image; a storage step of storing the information acquired in the acquisition step; and an identification number and password received by the operation display unit; The method further includes a login authentication step of checking whether the information stored in the storage step matches the content stored in the security information storage section, and permitting login if they match.

According to the present invention, complex authentication processing can be adopted by adding not only a password as a necessary condition for login authentication but also the condition of selecting a security image from among the background images that are switched and displayed while entering the password. The security level can be increased compared to logging in using only a password, and security measures can be strengthened.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming apparatus. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration of a security information storage unit. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of an image storage unit. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a range on a touch panel. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of login authentication processing. It is a figure showing an example of a display of a display part. It is a figure showing an example of a display of a display part. It is a figure showing an example of a display of a display part. It is a figure showing an example of a display of a display part. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of an acquired information storage unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic device, an image forming apparatus, and a login authentication method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The image forming apparatus according to this embodiment includes the electronic device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an image forming apparatus 100 in this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of image forming apparatus 100. The image forming apparatus 100 of this embodiment is used, for example, in a copier, printer, facsimile, or the like to print an image on paper. Alternatively, it may be a multifunction device having multiple functions such as a scanner function, a copy function, a printer function, and a facsimile function. The image forming apparatus 100 generally includes an operation section 13, a display section 14, a touch panel 15, an image reading section 5, an image forming section 6, a storage section 7, a paper feed cassette 17, a discharge tray 18, and the like. Note that the operation unit 13, the display unit 14, and the touch panel 15 are examples of the operation display unit in the claims.

When the image forming apparatus 100 performs an image reading operation, the image reading section 5 reads a document placed on the document table 12 and obtains a document image under the control of a control section 91 of the control unit 1, which will be described later. .

When the image forming apparatus 100 performs an image forming operation, the image forming section 6 forms an image on a sheet fed from the paper feed cassette 17 based on the document image acquired by the image reading section 5. The paper on which the image has been formed is ejected to the ejection tray 18.

Further, an operation section 13 and a display section 14 are arranged on the front side of the main body of the apparatus. The operation unit 13 includes, for example, a menu key for calling up a menu, a decision key for performing various operations and confirmation operations for settings, a start key, and the like.

The display unit 14 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. Further, the display unit 14 is integrally provided with a touch panel that allows the user to perform input operations by touching.

The control unit 1 includes a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The processor is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU, ASIC, or the like. This control unit 1 functions as a control section 91, a display control section 92, an acquisition section 93, an acquisition information storage section 94, and a login authentication section 95 when a processor executes a control program stored in a ROM or the like. Note that each of the above-mentioned parts of the control unit 1 may be configured by a hardware circuit instead of operating based on a control program.

The control unit 91 controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 100. The display control section 92 performs display control on the display section 14 . The acquisition unit 93 acquires information necessary for performing the login authentication process, and the acquired information storage unit 94 temporarily stores the information acquired by the acquisition unit 93. The login authentication unit 95 compares the content input for logging in with the content stored in the security information storage unit 71.

The storage unit 7 is a large-capacity storage device including an SSD and an HDD that store image data, various programs, data tables, etc., and includes a security information storage unit 71 and an image storage unit 72.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the security information storage section 71. The security information storage unit 71 stores a user's unique identification number (user ID) in association with a password, security image information (information that allows individual images to be identified, such as a file name), and a security touch range. The security image is an image predetermined for each user as an image used for login authentication. When a user is inputting a password and a security image associated with the user is displayed, the login authentication unit 95 allows the user to perform a touch operation (input operation) on the touch panel 15 in the display area of the security image. For example, one of the login authentication conditions is that the following is accepted. Further, the security image is set from among the images stored in the image storage section 72.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the image storage section 72. The image storage unit 72 stores a background image displayed by the display unit 14 at the time of login, and stores a plurality of images for each of a plurality of genres (types), for example. In this embodiment, there are four genres: sea, sky, city, and forest, and a plurality of images are stored in each genre.

The images stored in the image storage unit 72 may be stored in advance before the image forming apparatus 100 is shipped from the factory, or may be images read by the image reading unit 5 after the image forming apparatus 100 is installed, or images transferred from an external device. Images, images downloaded via a network such as the Internet, etc. may be stored.

The login authentication unit 95 also uses the position touched by the user when the security image is displayed as one of the login authentication conditions. The security touch range is a range on the touch panel 15 in the security image displayed on the display unit 14, which is predetermined for each user as a range in which a touch operation necessary for login authentication is performed. That is, in order to obtain login authentication, the user touches the range indicated by the security touch range on the touch panel 15 when the security image is displayed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the range on the touch panel 15. For example, the area where the security image is displayed and where the touch panel 15 is provided is divided into four. In this embodiment, in order to make the explanation easier to understand, the respective areas obtained by dividing the touch panel 15 into four are described as "upper left", "lower left", "upper right", and "lower right", but in reality, the touch panel 15 The range is shown using the coordinate system of . Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the security information storage section 71 stores the security touch range for each user ID.

The security image and security touch range may be set by the user specifying the image and range by operating the operation unit 13, by storing an arbitrary image and range in the security information storage unit 71 in advance, or by setting the security image and the security touch range at the time of the user's initial registration. The control unit 91 may automatically allocate the information to the security information storage unit 71 and store the information in the security information storage unit 71. Note that the security image is set from among the images stored in the image storage section 72.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of login authentication processing in this embodiment. 7 to 10 are diagrams showing display examples of the display unit 14. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the display when the user has finished inputting the user ID into the input field 74 in the window W displayed on the display unit 14.

After inputting the user ID, the user inputs a password into the input field 75 (FIG. 7) via the touch panel 15 or the operation unit 13. When the operation unit 13 accepts input of one character of the password based on this (S11; YES), the display control unit 92 reads one image at random from the image storage unit 72 and displays it on the display unit 14 as a background image. (S12). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the display on the display unit 14 at this time. At this time, it is assumed that the display control section 92 reads out the image with the file name "image11" stored in the image storage section 72 and displays it on the display section 14.

A touch operation in the area where the background image is displayed by the touch panel 15 (here, the display area of the background image excluding the display area of the window W) is not detected (S13; NO), and the operation unit 13 does not input the password. When one more character is received (S11; YES), the display control section 92 randomly reads out one image different from the above-mentioned image already displayed from the images stored in the image storage section 72, and displays it on the display section 14. The image is further displayed as a background image (S12). FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the display on the display unit 14 at this time. At this time, it is assumed that the display control unit 92 reads the image with the file name “image12” stored in the image storage unit 72 and displays it on the display unit 14.

Further, when no touch operation is detected by the touch panel 15 (S13; NO) and the operation unit 13 accepts the input of one more character of the password (S11; YES), the display control unit 92 stores the password in the image storage unit 72. One image different from the two images already displayed is read out at random from among the existing images, and further displayed on the display section 14 as a background image (S12). That is, the display control unit 92 reads the image stored in the image storage unit 72 every time the operation unit 13 receives a character of the password, and causes the display unit 14 to display a different image each time as a background image.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the display on the display section 14 at this time. At this time, it is assumed that the display control unit 92 reads the image with the file name “image01” stored in the image storage unit 72 and displays it on the display unit 14.

Then, a touch operation is detected by the touch panel 15 (S13; YES), and the touch position (an example of an input position) of this touch operation is not the login button 73 but the area where the background image is displayed (here, (the display area of the background image excluding the display area of the window W) (S15; NO), the acquisition unit 93 acquires the file name of the image displayed on the display unit 14 and the touch operation performed from the touch panel 15. The position is acquired and stored in the acquired information storage unit 94 (S14).For example, when the user performs a touch operation on the position indicated by the index finger in illustration 8 of FIG. 10, the touch panel 15 displays the coordinates of the touch position P1 of the touch operation. (an example of input position information) is output to the acquisition unit 93. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure stored in the acquisition information storage unit 94 in this case.

Subsequently, the processing of S11 to S15 is repeated by the control unit 91 and the like until the password input is completed, that is, until the login button 73 is touched. Note that, each time S14 is performed, the acquisition unit 93 acquires the file name of the image displayed on the display unit 14 and the touch position where the touch operation was performed from the touch panel 15, and stores them in the acquired information storage unit 94. .

Then, when the touch panel 15 accepts the touch of the login button 73 (S15; YES), the login authentication section 95 searches the security information storage section 71 for a user ID that matches the user ID input in the input field 74, The password stored in association with the searched user ID is read out, and the read password is checked to see if it matches the password consisting of the character string input one character at a time in the input field 75 up to this point. S16).

Furthermore, the login authentication unit 95 reads the file name and security touch range of the security image stored in association with the user ID from the security information storage unit 71, and reads the read file name and security touch range of the security image, It is checked whether the image file name stored in the acquired information storage unit 94 and the touch position match (S16). Regarding the touch position, the login authentication unit 95 determines whether the touch position stored in the acquired information storage unit 94 is within the security touch range, and determines that there is a match if the touch position is within the security touch range. . In addition, when a plurality of combinations of image file names and touch positions are stored in the acquisition information storage unit 94, the login authentication unit 95 can detect even one of the combinations of image file names and touch positions. If they match the file name and security touch range of the read security image, the file name and security touch range of the read security image match the image file name and touch position stored in the acquired information storage unit 94. It is determined that

The login authentication unit 95 stores the input user ID and password, the selected security image, and the security touch position as the contents stored in the security information storage unit 71 (user ID, password associated with this, and image file name). , and the touch position) (S17; YES), the user is permitted to log in to the image forming apparatus 100 (S18). Further, if the login authentication unit 95 does not determine the match (S17; NO), the login authentication unit 95 does not permit login. At this time, the display control section 92 causes the display section 14 to display an error message indicating login failure (S19).

In this way, while entering a password, the display control unit 92 switches and displays the background image on the display unit 14, and in addition to matching the password, the security image associated with the user is displayed as a background image on the display unit 14. When the background image (security image) is displayed, login is permitted on the condition that a touch operation on the touch panel 15 in the display area of the background image (security image) is accepted, so login authentication is faster than login authentication using only a password. The security level can be increased without adopting complicated authentication processing for authentication.

Furthermore, the condition for login permission is that the background image displayed on the display unit 14 is a security image associated with the user, and that the other person performs a touch operation on the security image. You cannot successfully log in unless you know that you are being logged in. Furthermore, since the display control unit 92 randomly reads images from the image storage unit 72 and displays them on the display unit 14, the timing at which the user touches the touch panel 15 in accordance with the display of the security image can be changed for each login. . As a result, it is meaningless for someone else to spy on your login operations and understand the timing of your touch operations, and it is possible to strengthen security measures against unauthorized logins.

In addition, in order to be permitted to log in, when the security image is displayed on the display unit 14 as a background image while entering the password, a touch operation in the security touch range known only to the user must be accepted via the touch panel 15. is also a condition. Therefore, even if someone else is able to recognize the security image associated with the authorized user, they will not be able to log in unless they know the required touch position for the security image. With this, security measures against unauthorized login can be further strengthened.

In this embodiment, one user ID is associated with one security image. However, for one user ID, the genre (type) of the security image, rather than the image itself, is They may be set in association. In this case, the image storage unit 72 stores a plurality of images classified by genre. The security information storage unit 71 stores the genre described above instead of the security image information. The display control section 92 reads out the images stored in the image storage section 72 one by one for each of the above-mentioned genres, and causes the display section 14 to display an image of a different genre as a background image each time it is displayed. The acquisition unit 93 then acquires the genre of the image that was displayed as a background image on the display unit 14 when the touch panel 15 received the touch operation, and the acquisition information storage unit 94 stores the genre of the image that was acquired by the acquisition unit 93. Store information including. The login authentication unit 95 uses the file name of the security image read from the security information storage unit 71 and the acquired information to confirm that the genre stored in the acquired information storage unit 94 and the type stored in the security information storage unit 71 match. Instead of matching the image file name stored in the storage unit 94, the condition for permitting login is set.

For example, if the genre of a user's security image is associated with "Ocean", if any image included in the "Ocean" genre is displayed as a background image while entering a password, the corresponding background image will be displayed as a background image. If a touch operation on the image is accepted via the touch panel 15, the login authentication section 95 will permit login. As a result, the user does not need to remember the exact contents of the security image, and only needs to remember the genre name of the security image to be able to log in.

In addition, in the login authentication process shown in FIG. 6, if the security image associated with the user is displayed multiple times as a background image, the touch position of each touch operation on the security image is stored. However, after S14, the login authentication unit 95 immediately retrieves the file name and security touch range of the security image stored in the security information storage unit 71 in association with the user ID, and the acquired information. The image file name stored in the storage unit 94 and the touch position are checked to see if they match, and if the login authentication unit 95 determines that they match, the display control unit 92 thereafter sets the security associated with the user. The image may not be displayed as a background image, but another image may be displayed as the background image.

Furthermore, in the above example, the image displayed when the operation unit 13 accepts the third character of the password is the security image, but the security image is displayed when the password is input. security image, and the user may not be able to touch the security image.

Therefore, when the security image is not displayed yet, when the user touches an area other than the login button 73 on the touch panel 15 and the touch position is accepted via the touch panel 15 (S13; YES, S15; NO), the display control unit 92 may randomly read images from the image storage unit 72 and further display them on the display unit 14 (in this case, the process moves to S12).
The user then repeats touching the touch panel 15 until the security image is displayed by the display control unit 92 (processes S12, S13, S15, and S14 are repeated). In this case, when the user touches the range corresponding to the security touch range when the security image is displayed and the touch operation is detected by the touch panel 15, the process of S14 is performed. Thereafter, when a touch operation of the login button 73 by the user is accepted via the touch panel 15 (S15; YES), the processes from S16 onwards are performed.

Claims (6)

an image storage unit that stores a plurality of images;
a security information storage unit that stores a user-specific identification number, a password associated with the identification number, and information on a security image set from among the images stored in the image storage unit;
an operation display unit that accepts user input operations and outputs input position information;
A login screen is displayed on the operation display section, and when the operation display section is displayed, each time the operation display section receives one character of the password, the image stored in the image storage section is read out, and a different image is displayed each time the operation display section is displayed. a display control unit that causes the operation display unit to display the background image;
When displaying a login screen on the operation display section, acquiring information on the image that the operation display section was displaying as the background image when the operation display section accepted an input operation for the display portion of the background image. an acquisition unit to
an acquired information storage unit that stores information acquired by the acquisition unit;
Login checking whether the identification number and password received by the operation display unit and the information stored in the acquired information storage unit match the contents stored in the security information storage unit, and permit login if they match. An electronic device comprising an authentication section. After the input of the password into the operation display section is started, but at a stage when all characters have not been input, the login authentication section receives the identification number and password accepted by the operation display section, and the acquired information. When determining that the information stored in the storage unit matches the content stored in the security information storage unit, the display control unit stores the information as the security image in the security information storage unit after the determination. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein an image other than the security image is displayed as a background image without displaying an image that is the security image. The security information storage unit further associates and stores a security touch range indicating a specific range on the operation display unit with the identification number,
The acquisition unit further acquires the input position information from the operation display unit when the operation display unit receives an input operation while the operation display unit is displaying the login screen,
The acquired information storage unit further stores input position information acquired by the acquisition unit,
The login authentication unit further verifies whether the input position information stored in the acquired information storage unit matches the content stored in the security information storage unit, and permits login if there is a further match. The electronic device according to claim 1. The image storage unit stores the images classified by type,
The security information storage unit stores the type instead of the information of the security image,
The display control unit reads out the images stored in the image storage unit one by one for each type, and causes the operation display unit to display the images of different types as background images each time they are displayed,
The acquisition unit acquires the type of image that the operation display unit was displaying as the background image when the operation display unit received the input operation,
The acquired information storage unit stores information acquired by the acquisition unit,
The login authentication unit determines that the type stored in the acquired information storage unit and the type stored in the security information storage unit match when the security image and the operation display unit receive an input operation. 2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the condition for permitting login is set in place of matching the image displayed as the background image by the operation display unit. The electronic device according to claim 1;
an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium;
An image forming apparatus equipped with an image storage unit that stores the plurality of images;
a security information storage unit that stores a user-specific identification number in association with a password and information on a security image set from among the images stored in the image storage unit;
A login authentication method for an electronic device, comprising: an operation display unit that receives a user's input operation and outputs input position information;
an input step in which the operation display unit receives input of the identification number and the password;
a display step of reading the image stored in the image storage unit each time the operation display unit receives one character of the password, and displaying the image, which is different each time it is displayed, on the operation display unit as a background image;
When the operation display unit is displaying the login screen, when the operation display unit receives an input operation on the display portion of the background image, the operation display unit receives information about the image displayed as the background image. and a retrieval step to obtain
a storage step of storing the information acquired in the acquisition step;
a login authentication step of verifying whether the identification number and password received by the operation display unit and the information stored in the storage step match the contents stored in the security information storage unit, and permit login if they match; and,
Login authentication method with .

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