Remote communication system that improves security of remote session between image forming apparatus and connection terminal

• US 10,289,357 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2018
• Issued: 05/14/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions, Inc. (Kyocera Corporation)
• Original Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions, Inc. (Kyocera Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakajima, Koki, Nakamura, Takeshi, Fukushima, Keisuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Shiferaw, Henok
• Application Number:
  US15/994,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20190004741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 348 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/121 Facilitating exception or error detection and recovery, e.g. fault, media or consumables depleted
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1222 Increasing security of the print job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1236 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1238 Secure printing, e.g. user identification, user rights for device usage, unallowed content, blanking portions or fields of a page, releasing held jobs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1288 in client-server-printer device configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session

Abstract

A remote communication system according to one aspect of the disclosure includes an image forming apparatus, an electronic device, a session relay system, and a session management unit. When a start of a test for a communication state via the session is requested by the electronic device, the session management unit requests the session relay system for a first test ID as the first session ID and a second test ID as the second session ID. When the session is relayed by the session relay system by associating the connection established between the electronic device and the session relay system with the connection established between the image forming apparatus and the session relay system using the first test ID and the second test ID, the image forming apparatus executes the test for the communication state with the electronic device via the relayed session.

Claims

1. A remote communication system comprising:

an image forming apparatus;

an electronic device located outside a network to which the image forming apparatus belongs;

a server computer that relays a remote session which is a direct interconnection between the image forming apparatus and the electronic device via a network; and

a session management unit that manages the remote session,

wherein the server computer notifies a first session ID and a second session ID to the session management unit, the first session ID and the second session ID being session IDs generated as the connection information to identify communication by the remote session in the server computer,

the session management unit executes a notification of the first session ID to the electronic device and a notification of the second session ID to the image forming apparatus,

the electronic device establishes an HTTP-based WebSocket connection with the server computer, the connection using the first session ID,

the image forming apparatus establishes an HTTP-based WebSocket connection with the session relay system, the connection using the second session ID,

the server computer is a remote communication system that relays the remote session by associating the WebSocket connection established with the electronic device with the WebSocket connection established with the image forming apparatus using the first session ID and the second session ID,

when a start of a test for a communication state via the remote session is requested by the electronic device, the session management unit requests a first test ID as the first session ID and a second test ID as the second session ID from the server computer,

when the remote session is relayed by the server computer by associating the WebSocket connection established between the electronic device and the server computer with the WebSocket connection established between the image forming apparatus and the server computer using the first test ID and the second test ID, the image forming apparatus executes the test for the communication state with the electronic device via the relayed session, and

the electronic device notifies by displaying an execution result of the test on the display unit of the electronic device.

2. The remote communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the remote session management unit obtains a communication condition of information for the test from the image forming apparatus and the server computer, and

the electronic device notifies the communication condition obtained by the session management unit when the execution result of the test is an error.

3. The remote communication system according to claim 1,

wherein when a start of the test is requested by the electronic device, the session management unit causes the image forming apparatus to install an application for executing the requested test.

4. The remote communication system according to claim 3,

wherein the image forming apparatus uninstalls the application when the remote session is terminated.

5. The remote communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the first test ID and the second test ID are identical test IDs.

6. The remote communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the first session ID and the second session ID are identical session IDs.