Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Remote data accessing – Accessing a remote server
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-08
2001-03-27
Vu, Viet D. (Department: 2758)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Remote data accessing
Accessing a remote server
C709S241000, C707S793000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209030
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system of making a hard copy of a digital document, and more specifically to, for example, a system for control of hard copy to prevent the hard copy of a displayed screen when a Web page transmitted from a WWW (world wide Web) server is displayed on a personal computer using a browser on the Internet, or to display a warning message and make a hard copy when a hard copy is permitted.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a hard copy of document information and image information being displayed on the display screen is to be made, the information can be printed with a special message such as ‘confidential’, ‘important’, ‘no copying allowed’, etc. attached to each page or a cover page, depending on the importance or the confidentiality level of the information.
The technology of automatically adding the above described special messages in special color, for example, red, to the document information when the information is printed, for example, the technology of printing document data stored on a floppy disk with a special message, etc. added in specified color based on the contents preliminarily entered for the document data when the document data is read, and the technology of outputting on the index sheet the complete index information in a comprehensible and confidential format including the index information such as confidential document, an important document, etc. are disclosed in the following documents.
Tokukaisho 63-256448 by Yasuhisa Ishizawa
Document Processing Apparatus
Tokukaihei 9-86015 by Masahiro Ito
System Application Apparatus
Tokukaihei 6-348808 by Tatsuro Yoshioka, et al.
Image Generation and Storage Apparatus
According to an embodiment of the present invention described later, a copy control system is applied when a hard copy of a screen displayed on the display screen is to be made by a browser for browsing sources through the Internet. Therefore, the related conventional technology is described below.
When the Internet is used, an image on a Web page transmitted from a WWW sever through a network is displayed on the display screen using a browser such as Netscape Navigator from the Netscape Corporation, etc. The user normally makes a hard copy of a digital document such as a document, image data, photographs, etc. displayed on the display screen as necessary using a printer connected to, for example, a personal computer.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional technology of copying a Web page described in a hypertext description language, for example, HTML (HyperText Markup Language). In
FIG. 1
, the Web page transmitted from a WWW server to a client side through a LAN, etc. is received through a line control function in an operating system such as Windows 95 from the Microsoft Corporation, etc., and is interpreted by the browsing software. The line control function receives a Web page from the server side using a user identifier, a user ID, a password, etc. as necessary. The Web page image displayed on the display device by the browser is printed as a hard copy at a request from a user.
Normally, the contents of the Web page, etc. displayed on the display device by a commonly marketed browser are widely circulated. In most cases, there are no problems as to whether or not the user should print the contents. However, if information is confidential or very important, then security control is performed by the access control unit on the WWW server side so that only a specific user assigned a user identifier or a password is allowed to access a URL (Uniform Resources Locator).
As described above, the access to confidential and important information has been limited to a specific user according to the conventional technology, but the specific user can easily make a hard copy of the information displayed by the browser. As a result, for example, the user can have the contents of the hard copy checked by a third party, thereby causing the problem that the confidential information can be revealed to others.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims at easily maintaining the security of information by preventing hard copying of the contents of a Web page of the Internet, and printing a warning message on the hard copy as necessary when hard copying is permitted.
An embodiment of the present invention includes: an interpretation unit for interpreting tag information, which is provided in the hypertext of a document described in a hypertext description language, indicating either the prevention of hard copying of the screen display or the display of a warning message about making hard copy; and a control unit for performing control by, based on the interpretation result from the interpretation unit, either preventing hard copying of the screen display or displaying the warning message about making a hard copy when a user issues a request to make a hard copy.
The hypertext of the document described in a hypertext description language can be preliminarily defined, stored on a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from, for example, another computer server through a network such as the Internet, etc.
The tag information provided in the hypertext can indicate either preventing the hard copying or displaying a warning message about making a hard copy, or contain both of these.
Furthermore, the tag information can designate a file which stores information specifying the data of a copy record about the hard copying, for example, the date and time of making a hard copy, the number of copies, a hard-copied document, information specifying the operator of the hard copy, etc. When the tag information is interpreted, control is performed such that the specified file may store the data about the copy record.
The tag information provided in the hypertext can specify a display format of a warning message about making a hard copy, for example, a display format in which a message is displayed in a margin, or an overlay format in which a message is displayed by transparent characters or dot characters as overlay characters on the hard copy. When the message is interpreted, control is performed such that the hard copy of a document can be made by displaying a warning message about making the hard copy in the specified display format.
Furthermore, the functions performed by the control unit and the interpretation unit can be performed by the browsing software for browsing documents. The browsing software can be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. In this case, the present invention can be realized by allowing the computer to read the browsing software.
As described above, the hard copying of a document displayed on a display screen can be prevented according to the present invention. When the hard copying is permitted, the hard copy can contain a warning message to easily maintain the security of the contents of the document.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5765176 (1998-06-01), Bloomberg
patent: 5956034 (1999-09-01), Sachs et al.
patent: 6006242 (1999-12-01), Poole et al.
patent: 63-256448 (1988-10-01), None
patent: 6-348808 (1994-12-01), None
patent: 9-86015 (1997-03-01), None
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Vu Viet D.
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