DATA DELIVERY APPARATUS AND DATA DELIVERY METHOD

• US 20070081399A1
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kishimoto, Hiroaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,664 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 365/189.50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/608 Secure printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00236 using an image reading or reproducing device, e.g. a facsimile reader or printer, as a local input to or local output from a computer image input to or image output from a computer via a network H04N1/00209
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title

Abstract

A data delivery apparatus including a storage adapted to store limited-access data which associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user; a function determination unit adapted to determine whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user; an authentication unit adapted to, when the limited-access data destination device is determined not to have the access control function, request input of authentication information and performing an authentication process using the input authentication information; and a transmission control unit adapted to, when the authentication process by said authentication unit is successful, transmitting the limited-access data to the destination device.

Claims

1. A data delivery apparatus comprising:

a storage adapted to store limited-access data which associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user;

a function determination unit adapted to determine whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user;

an authentication unit adapted to, when the limited-access data destination device is determined not to have the access control function, request input of authentication information and performing an authentication process using the input authentication information; and

a transmission control unit adapted to, when the authentication process by said authentication unit is successful, transmitting the limited-access data to the destination device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a discrimination unit adapted to, when said function determination unit determines that the limited-access data destination device has said access control function, discriminate user data stored in the destination device and corresponding shared user data among user data stored in said storage; and

a registration unit adapted to register, in the destination device, user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in said storage, wherein when said function determination unit determines that the limited-access data destination device has the access control function, said transmission control unit transmits all the limited-access data to the destination device without the authentication process.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the limited-access data includes address book data which contains destination information for transmitting data, and access to which is permitted or limited for each user.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image forming unit adapted to form a hard copy of an image.

2. The apparatus according to claim X, further comprising a discrimination unit adapted to, when said function determination unit determines that the limited-access data destination device has said access control function, discriminate user data stored in the destination device and corresponding shared user data among user data stored in said storage,

wherein when data associated with user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in said storage is to be transmitted, said authentication unit further requests input of authentication information and performs an authentication process using the input authentication information, and

when the authentication process is successful, said transmission control unit transmits, to the destination device, data associated with the user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in said storage.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said transmission control unit transmits data associated with the shared user data to the destination device without the authentication process.

7. A data delivery method of delivering limited-access data which is stored in a storage, and associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user, comprising:

a function determination step of determining whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user;

an authentication step of, when the limited-access data destination device is determined not to have the access control function, requesting input of authentication information and performing an authentication process using the input authentication information; and

a transmission control step of, when the authentication process in the authentication step is successful, transmitting the limited-access data to the destination device.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising a discrimination step of, when the limited-access data destination device is determined in the function determination step to have the access control function, discriminating user data stored in the destination device and corresponding shared user data among user data stored in the storage means,

wherein in the authentication step, when data associated with user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in the storage means is to be transmitted, input of authentication information is further requested and an authentication process is performed using the input authentication information, and

in the transmission control step, when the authentication process is successful, data associated with the user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in the storage means is transmitted to the destination device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein in the transmission control step, data associated with the shared user data is transmitted to the destination device without the authentication process.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

a discrimination step of, when the limited-access data destination device is determined in the function determination step to have the access control function, discriminating user data stored in the destination device and corresponding shared user data among user data stored in the storage means; and

a registration step of registering, in the destination device, user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in the storage means,

wherein in the transmission control step, when the limited-access data destination device is determined in the function determination step to have the access control function, all the limited-access data are transmitted to the destination device without the authentication process.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the limited-access data includes address book data which contains destination information for transmitting data, and access to which is permitted or limited for each user.

12. A data delivery apparatus comprising:

a storage adapted to store limited-access data which associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user;

a function determination unit adapted to determine whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user; and

a transmission control unit adapted to, when said function determination means determines that the limited-access data destination device does not have the access control function, inhibit transmission of the limited-access data, and when said function determination unit determines that the limited-access data destination device has the access control function, transmit the limited-access data to the destination device.

13. A data delivery method of delivering limited-access data which is stored in storage means (205), and associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user, comprising:

a function determination step of determining whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user; and

a transmission control step of, when said function determination step determines that the limited-access data destination device does not have the access control function, inhibiting transmission of the limited-access data, and when said function determination step determines that the limited-access data destination device has the access control function, transmitting the limited-access data to the destination device.

14. A program, recorded on a computer readable medium, for causing a computer to execute a data delivery method for delivering limited-access data which is stored in storage, and associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user, said method comprising:

a function determination step of determining whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user;

an authentication step of, when the limited-access data destination device is determined not to have the access control function, requesting input of authentication information and performing an authentication process using the input authentication information; and

a transmission control step of, when the authentication process in the authentication step is successful, transmitting the limited-access data to the destination device.

15. The program according to claim 14, wherein said method further comprises a discrimination step of, when the limited-access data destination device is determined in the function determination step to have the access control function, discriminating user data stored in the destination device and corresponding shared user data among user data stored in the storage means,

wherein in the authentication step, when data associated with user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in the storage means is to be transmitted, input of authentication information is further requested and an authentication process is performed using the input authentication information, and

in the transmission control step, when the authentication process is successful, data associated with the user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in the storage means is transmitted to the destination device.

16. The program according to claim 15, wherein in the transmission control step, data associated with the shared user data is transmitted to the destination device without the authentication process.

17. The program according to claim 14, wherein said method further comprises

a discrimination step of, when the limited-access data destination device is determined in the function determination step to have the access control function, discriminating user data stored in the destination device and corresponding shared user data among user data stored in the storage means;

and

a registration step of registering, in the destination device, user data except the shared user data among the user data stored in the storage means, wherein in the transmission control step, when the limited-access data destination device is determined in the function determination step to have the access control function, all the limited-access data are transmitted to the destination device without the authentication process.

18. The program according to claim 14, wherein the limited-access data includes address book data which contains destination information for transmitting data, and access to which is permitted or limited for each user.

19. A program, recorded on a computer readable medium, for causing a computer to execute a data delivery method for delivering limited-access data which is stored in storage, and associates user data for specifying a user, with data, access to which is permitted or limited to the user, said method comprising:

a function determination step of determining whether a destination device to which the limited-access data is to be transmitted has an access control function of permitting or limiting access to the limited-access data for each user; and

a transmission control step of, when said function determination step determines that the limited-access data destination device does not have the access control function, inhibiting transmission of the limited-access data, and when said function determination step determines that the limited-access data destination device has the access control function, transmitting the limited-access data to the destination device.