Abstract:
A computer generated method disclosed. The method includes receiving a print job, processing the print job data stream, determining if a condition occurs during processing of the print job data stream that matches one or more pre-defined criteria and inserting one or more secure print command lines if a condition occurs that matches one or more pre-defined criteria.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention relates to the field of printing systems. Particularly, the invention relates to securing confidential print jobs. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Computing centers that employ one or more printers to serve a group of users, such as a networked group or other work group, typically rely on the printers to batch process print jobs (e.g., print-out a series of different print jobs in succession). Often a user of the group needs to print a job at a group printer that includes confidential or sensitive documents. However, in such instances it may be inappropriate to immediately print such a job and have the job placed in a printer output bin where other users may have access. Accordingly, many group printers provide a secure print option. 
         [0003]    Secure print enables a user to designate a document as secure prior to printing. In response, the print job instructs the printer to hold the job at the printer with a security number (PIN), rather than immediately printing. The user is then required to physically go to the printer panel and input the PIN number in order to print the document. 
         [0004]    However, there are other instances where it would be desirable to designate a print job for secure print without a user having to manually provide the designation. For example, an administrator can enforce a secure print policy. 
         [0005]    Accordingly, a mechanism to automate the control of secure print jobs is desired. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    In one embodiment a computer generated method is disclosed. The method includes receiving a print job, processing the print job data stream, determining if a condition occurs during processing of the print job data stream that matches one or more pre-defined criteria and inserting one or more secure print command lines if a condition occurs that matches one or more pre-defined criteria. 
         [0007]    In another embodiment, a print server is disclosed. The print server includes a printing software product to receive a print job, process the print job data stream, determine if a condition occurs during processing of the print job data stream that matches one or more pre-defined criteria and inserts one or more secure print command lines if a condition occurs that matches one or more pre-defined criteria. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained from the following detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings, in which: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of a data processing system network; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of automatically producing a secure print jobs; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates one embodiment of a computer system. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0012]    A mechanism to automatically produce secure print jobs is described. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the underlying principles of the present invention. 
         [0013]    Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of a data processing system network  100 . Network  100  includes a data processing system  102 , which may be either a desktop or a mobile data processing system, coupled via communications link  104  to network  106 . In one embodiment, data processing system  102  is a conventional data processing system including a processor, local memory, nonvolatile storage, and input/output devices such as a keyboard, mouse, trackball, and the like, all in accordance with the known art. In one embodiment, data processing system  102  includes and employs the Windows operating system, or other operating system, and/or network drivers permitting data processing system  102  to communicate with network  106  for the purposes of employing resources within network  106 . 
         [0015]    Network  106  may be a local area network (LAN) or any other network over which print requests may be submitted to a remote printer or print server. Communications link  104  may be in the form of a network adapter, docking station, or the like, and supports communications between data processing system  102  and network  106  employing a network communications protocol such as Ethernet, the AS/400 Network, or the like. 
         [0016]    According to one embodiment, network  100  includes a print server  108  that serves print requests over network  106  received via communications link  110  between print server  108  and network  106 . Print server  108  subsequently transmits the print requests via communications link  110  to one of printers  109  for printing, which are coupled to network  106  via communications links  111 . 
         [0017]    In one embodiment, a print application at data processing system  102  allows a user to select the desired print server  108  and submit requests for service requests to printer  109  via print server  108  over network  106 . In other embodiments, additional/alternative presentation architectures (e.g., Printer Job Language (PJL), PostScript, etc.) may be implemented at the print application. 
         [0018]    Although described as separate entities, other embodiments may include print server  108  being incorporated in one or more of the printers  109 . In yet further embodiments, the print server and printer may be physically separate entities. Therefore, the data processing system network depicted in  FIG. 1  is selected for the purposes of explaining and illustrating the present invention and is not intended to imply architectural limitations. Those skilled in the art will recognize that various additional components may be utilized in conjunction with the present invention. 
         [0019]    According to one embodiment, print server  108  implements a printing software product that manages the printing of documents from data processing system  102  and one or more of printers  109 . In other embodiments, the printing software product manages printing of documents from multiple data processing systems  102  to the one or more printers  109 . In a further embodiment, the printing software product may be implemented using either InfoPrint Manager (IPM) or InfoPrint ProcessDirector (IPPD), although other types of printing software may be used instead. 
         [0020]    In one embodiment, the printing software product processes a print job data stream and determines if a printing condition indicates that the print job is to be printed as a secure print job. In one such embodiment, a condition may be indicated by the print job data stream. Thus, printing software product analyzes the print job data stream against criteria to determine if a print job is to be printed as a secure print job. 
         [0021]    Criteria are algorithms or rules that define an action (e.g., insert secure print commands to make the print job secure) upon a data stream matching the criteria. The criteria are pre-defined before a print job is received and may be modified as desired, and may include rules that act on one or more variables. 
         [0022]    Additionally, a condition may be indicated by information at printer server  108 , resulting in the printing software product analyzing system information against criteria to determine if a print job is to be printed as a secure print job. For instance, system information may include a print job processing schedule (e.g. time, date, day) or selection of a printer  109  (e.g. PRINTER 1  or PRINTER 2 ) at print server  108 . 
         [0023]    In one embodiment, the printing software product searches for and detects the presence of specific print job data stream commands by parsing print job command line arguments and matching them to known commands. In such an embodiment, the printing software product searches for commands within the data stream that indicate that the print job is a secure print job. For instance, these may be PJL commands, such as @PJL SET HOLD=OFF/ON/PROOF/STORE/PRINT, @PJL SET HOLDTYPE=PUBLIC/PRIVATE and @PJL SET HOLDKEY=4 digits PIN, 0000, 1234, . . . 9999. However, other embodiments may implement PostScript commands or other proprietary commands. 
         [0024]    Typically, a print job designated as secure includes secure command line arguments to instruct the printer to hold the job at the printer with a PIN number that the user must enter to release it. These secure print jobs are submitted by using command line specific parameters. For instance, the printing software product may insert the proper secure commands into the data stream in response to a secure print request command (e.g., qprt-P ‘queue’-U2-V1234 printfile). Alternatively, the secure commands may be already inserted in the data stream (e.g., PJL SET HOLD=ON; @PJL SET HOLDTYPE=PRIVATE, @PJL SET HOLDKEY=“1234) prior to receipt at the printing software product. 
         [0025]    According to one embodiment, the printing software product searches for commands within the data stream that indicate that the print job is directed to a particular printer (e.g. PRINTER 1 ). In another embodiment, the printing software product may select the printer for which the print job is directed by overriding the data stream selected printer (e.g., for printer workload balancing). 
         [0026]    In such embodiments, the criteria are set so that print jobs that are specified for the particular printer are designated, and subsequently produced, as secure documents. Accordingly, the printing software product inserts the secure commands into the data stream to instruct the printer to hold the job at the printer with a PIN number. This embodiment may be implemented where the printer administrator has determined that the particular printer is predominately utilized to produce confidential documents or the particular printer is in an insecure location. 
         [0027]    In another embodiment, the printing software product searches for commands within the data stream that indicate that the print job is produced by one of a selected group of users. In such an embodiment, the criteria are set so that print jobs that are generated from any members of the group are held as secure documents. This embodiment may be implemented where the printer administrator has determined that the users in the group often produce confidential documents that need to be held. 
         [0028]    In yet another embodiment, the printing software product determines the particular period (e.g., time, date, day) that it will process the print job. In such an embodiment, the criteria are set so that print jobs that are processed during that period are held as secure documents. This embodiment may be implemented with the above described printer criterion, where hold commands are inserted into the data stream for all print jobs sent to PRINTER 1  between the hours or 5 pm and 7 am. Printers other than PRINTER 1  would not be a part of this criteria. 
         [0029]    In a further embodiment, the printing software product searches for commands within the data stream that includes printable text indicating that the print job is confidential (e.g. words such as “confidential” or “top secret”). In such an embodiment, the criteria are set such that print jobs including commands using one or more of the pre-defined printable words are held as secure documents. 
         [0030]    In still a further embodiment, the printing software product searches for commands within the data stream that indicate the job is already properly secured with commands already inserted in the data stream (e.g., PJL SET HOLD=ON; @PJL SET HOLDTYPE=PRIVATE, @PJL SET HOLDKEY=“1234) prior to receipt at the printing software product. In such an embodiment, there is no need to insert additional secure commands into the data stream. Therefore, the criteria are set such that print jobs including proper secure print commands will not have additional secure commands inserted into the data stream. 
         [0031]    One skilled in the art will recognize that various other embodiments may implement additional criteria as an impetus for inserting secure print commands for a print job. 
         [0032]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of automatically producing secure print jobs. At processing block  210 , the criteria are set for which a print job data stream is compared to determine if secure print commands are to be inserted. At processing block  220 , a print job data stream is received at the printing software product. At processing block  230 , the print job data stream is analyzed. At decision block  240 , it is determined whether the data stream and other system information meet the criteria. 
         [0033]    If none of the criteria are met the printing software product processes the print job data stream for printing, processing block  260 . At processing block  270 , the print job is transmitted to a print engine for printing. However if one or more criteria are met, the printing software product inserts the secure print command lines into the data stream prior to processing and transmitting to a print engine, processing block  250 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  illustrates a computer system  300  on which data processing system  102  and/or server  108  may be implemented. Computer system  300  includes a system bus  320  for communicating information, and a processor  310  coupled to bus  320  for processing information. 
         [0035]    Computer system  300  further comprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device  325  (referred to herein as main memory), coupled to bus  320  for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor  310 . Main memory  325  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor  310 . Computer system  300  also may include a read only memory (ROM) and or other static storage device  326  coupled to bus  320  for storing static information and instructions used by processor  310 . 
         [0036]    A data storage device  325  such as a magnetic disk or optical disc and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system  300  for storing information and instructions. Computer system  300  can also be coupled to a second I/O bus  350  via an I/O interface  330 . A plurality of I/O devices may be coupled to I/O bus  350 , including a display device  324 , an input device (e.g., an alphanumeric input device  323  and or a cursor control device  322 ). The communication device  321  is for accessing other computers (servers or clients). The communication device  321  may comprise a modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interface device, such as those used for coupling to Ethernet, token ring, or other types of networks. 
         [0037]    Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps. Alternatively, these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components. 
         [0038]    Elements of the present invention may also be provided as a machine-readable medium for storing the machine-executable instructions. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, propagation media or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, the present invention may be downloaded as a computer program which may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection). 
         [0039]    Whereas many alterations and modifications of the present invention will no doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after having read the foregoing description, it is to be understood that any particular embodiment shown and described by way of illustration is in no way intended to be considered limiting. Therefore, references to details of various embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which in themselves recite only those features regarded as essential to the invention.