JPH07250249A - Communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select whether immediately outputting a document to be handled by cipher communication or not by selecting either an immediate output function or a confidential output function making possible arbitrary outputting. CONSTITUTION:When it is decided that a key corresponding to a designated key number is not registered, a display part displays a key error and while observing the picture, a user conducts the key operations of an operation part 6. When the erasure of received data is judged, the data are cleared and processing is returned later. When it is desired to leave the received data remaining according to the will of the user or when the immediate output is not selected at the time of confidential box registration, the received data are automatically stored in a confidential box 5 without being made into plane sentences. In this case, when an operation is conducted to output the content of the confidential box 5, a control part 1 recognizes the confidential output, decides whether any cryptographic key is registered or not and decides whether that cryptographic key is matched or not and when it is matched, the data are outputted by a printer part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device for performing secret cryptographic communication, and more particularly to a communication device such as a facsimile machine having a cryptographic communication function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In facsimile communication, various special communication can be optionally performed for communication between facsimile machines of the same manufacturer. Cryptographic communication is one of the special communications.

In order to carry out this encrypted communication, first, in the transmitting side facsimile apparatus, a key provided on the operation section of the apparatus main body is operated to make a call by one-touch key operation or speed dial operation. When registering a one-touch key or speed dial, specify the encryption key number and the confidential box of the receiving station.

The function of using this confidential box is one of the memory reception functions. Conceptually, a part of the memory area for memory reception is divided into an appropriate number, and each division is individually or grouped. Owned by. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, if BOX1 is assigned to the owner A of the confidential box and BOX2 is assigned to the owner B, it is a third party to the owners A and B. If C wants to send data such as a manuscript that A does not want anyone else to see, C knows the number of the confidential box assigned to A (BOX1 in this case), and You can send the data to.

Although the above-mentioned function is commonly called a confidential box function, the confidential box is usually protected by a password called an ID.
If D is unknown, it is impossible to output data from the confidential box. Thus, it is usually necessary to register the BOX number and the ID number in the confidential box.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, in addition to the BOX number and the ID number registered in each confidential box,
It is possible to register a secret encryption key for cipher reception. In this case, if the ID number and the secret encryption key do not match, the received document cannot be printed out correctly. This encryption key registration is to register the key corresponding to the encryption key number to be used. The key is usually
Since it is expressed using hexadecimal numbers, it is very troublesome to input it directly. Therefore, a key number is assigned to each key, and normally, it is possible to register 20 types of key numbers from '01' to '20'.

On the other hand, the receiving side specifies the encryption key number when registering the confidential box. This encryption key must match on the sending side and the receiving side, but the key number does not have to match because a key number is arbitrarily selected. Then, when the received encrypted data is output, it is output by confidential output.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the procedure of the encrypted communication as described above. In this figure, 91 to 93 are signal processing procedures on the transmission side, and 91 encodes image data. Subsequently, in order to perform secret communication, the key is encrypted at 92 and transmitted at 93. Reference numerals 94 to 96 are signal processing procedures on the receiving side, and the encrypted received data received at 94 is flattened at 95. This plain culture is to decrypt the ciphertext using the same key as the sender. The plain-text data is encoded by 96 and becomes the original image data. If the key corresponding to the specified key number is not registered, it is stored in the confidential box without being flattened.

[0009]

When the encrypted communication is performed in this way, the receiving side cannot output the encrypted data unless it takes the confidential output procedure after receiving the encrypted data. It is used as a countermeasure against eavesdropping using a public telephone line, and if attention is paid to this point, it is often sufficient to keep the confidentiality of the data only on the telephone line. it is conceivable that.

The confidential box function is advantageous in that the data contents can be kept secret from other users when a plurality of users share a facsimile apparatus on the receiving side, but on the other hand, Even if the confidential box is received, it cannot be noticed by other users.Therefore, it is necessary to confirm whether or not the confidential box owner is receiving the message, and before confirming it. If the power of the device itself is turned off for some reason, the received data stored in the confidential box may be lost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and enables a user to arbitrarily select whether to temporarily store encrypted data in a confidential box or to immediately output it after reception is completed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide such a communication device.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a communication device having a function of performing cipher communication, when the cipher reception data is output, the cipher reception data is immediately received after the reception. You can select either the immediate output function that performs plaintext decryption processing and output, or the confidential output function that stores the encrypted received data in the memory without invalidating it and then can output it arbitrarily by user operation. Is configured.

[0013]

According to the above configuration, the user can arbitrarily select whether to output immediately or not. Therefore, when the immediate output function is selected, the data received in the memory is It is output immediately without any operation. When the confidential output function is selected, the received data is once stored in the memory and is output by performing an output operation according to a predetermined output method when the user wants to output the data.

Therefore, when the immediate output function is selected, only the confidentiality on the telephone line can be obtained, and immediately after reception without any troublesome operation such as output of received data as in normal reception. , You can get the data. On the other hand, if you select the confidential output function,
Not only the confidentiality on the telephone line but also the confidentiality for the other person who uses the receiver can be obtained, and the confidential range of the received data can be widened.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a facsimile apparatus embodying the present invention. In this figure,
Reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit including a microcomputer and the like, and controls the entire control. This control unit 1, as shown in FIG.
It is composed of PU2, program ROM3, RAM4 and the like. The RAM 4 has a confidential box 5 as one form of the memory area.

Returning to FIG. 1, 6 is an operation unit, and 7 is an encoding /
A decryption circuit, 8 is an encryption / plain culture circuit that performs encryption when the facsimile machine operates as a transmission side, and performs plain culture when the facsimile machine operates as a reception side, 9 a modem / modem unit, and 10 an NCU ( Reference numeral 11 is a public telephone line. A reading unit 12 reads a document. Thirteen
Is an image processing unit that performs processing such as shading correction on the read image data. Reference numeral 14 is a transmission function unit, 15 is a reception function unit, and 16 is a recording unit having a printer unit and the like.
As shown in FIG. 2, the above-mentioned components and the CPU 2 are
It is connected through the data bus 17.

In the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment having the above structure, the RAM 4 is used to receive the encrypted data.
The confidential box 5 must be registered therein, but when registering this confidential box, the user can select "immediate output / not output".

As a result, when "immediate output" is selected, the data received in the confidential box 5 is plainly written in the encryption / plain culture circuit 8 immediately after reception, and is encoded / decrypted. The decryption process is performed at 8, and the data is automatically output without the user operating the keys of the operation unit 6. On the other hand, when "No immediate output" is selected, the received data is temporarily stored in the confidential box 5, and when the user wants to output it, the output operation is performed according to the predetermined output method, and the plain text and decryption are performed. Is output.

Next, an example of the operation when operating as the receiving side of the control unit 1 of the facsimile apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be described with reference to. First, in the transmitting side facsimile apparatus, when a key is provided on the operation section of the apparatus body to make a call by one-touch key operation or speed dial operation, it is determined in step # 10 whether cipher reception is present or not. .

In this case, in the cryptographic communication, it is necessary for the transmitting side to specify the cryptographic key number and the confidential box of the receiving station when registering the one-touch or speed dial. Also, on the receiving side, it is necessary to specify the encryption key number when registering the confidential box 5, but in the present embodiment, "immediate output / not output" is selected at the same time when the confidential box is registered. .

When it is determined in step # 10 that the confidential reception is performed, it is determined in step # 15 whether or not the confidential box 5 designated by the transmitting side is for encrypted communication, and it is determined that it is not for encrypted communication. In this case, the process proceeds to step # 40 and returns as a communication error. When it is determined that the confidential box 5 is for encrypted communication, it is determined in step # 20 whether or not immediate output is designated.

When it is determined in step # 20 that the immediate output is selected, the output is the same as the normal reception. That is, the process proceeds to step # 25, and whether or not the encryption key has been registered is decrypted, and when it is recognized that the encryption key is registered, in step # 30, whether the encryption key matches based on the decryption result. , To determine whether or not.

In this case, the image data is represented by digital data of "1" and "0". For example, when five 0 (white) lines continue in the image data, it is called "01". Represented by a code (encoding). 1 (black) is represented by the same predetermined rule. When this code "01" is encrypted with a key and is plain-cultured with the key prepared on the receiving side, if the key is matched, the encryption / plain-culture circuit 8
Since "01" is output at, the image data of "0000" is obtained by further decoding it. However, when the keys do not match, "01" is output as plain culture output.
Instead, "00" is obtained. This "00" is 0
If it is a code indicating that three are consecutive, the number of bits will be different from the actual number.

According to such a principle, when the plain culture is successively performed for one line (one main scanning direction), for example, when the facsimile mode is the fine mode, and the image data is 1728 bits per line, It means that the encryption keys match, but if they are not 1728 bits, they do not match. If they match, the decryption of the second and subsequent lines is performed, and then the decryption is performed. Then, the image data decrypted in step # 35 is output by the printer unit in the recording unit 16.

When it is determined in steps # 25 and # 30 that the key corresponding to the designated key number is not registered, the key error display is displayed on the display unit (not shown) in step # 50. At this time, a display of "wrong encryption key" and a screen for selecting whether to clear the memory are displayed. Looking at this screen, the user sees this display content and operates the keys of the operation unit 6, and from this key operation output, step #
If it is determined in 55 that the received data should be erased, the data is cleared in step # 60 and then the process returns.

If the user wants to retain the received data, or if the immediate output is not selected when registering the confidential box in step # 20, the received data is automatically set to the confidential box 5 without being flattened. Accumulate in. In this case, when it is desired to view the received data later, the received data is output by confidential output starting from step # 5. In this case, data is stored in the confidential box 5 designated by the user, and when an operation for outputting the contents of the confidential box 5 is performed, the control unit 1 causes the control unit 1 to execute step # 5.
In step # 25, it is determined whether or not the encryption key is registered, and in step # 30, it is determined whether or not the encryption keys match. If they match,
In step # 35, the data is output by the printer section.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the encrypted reception data is output in the communication device having the function of performing the encrypted communication, the encrypted reception data is immediately subjected to the plain culture decryption after the reception. It is configured to be able to select either the immediate output function that performs processing and outputs, or the confidential output function that stores the encrypted received data in the memory without invalidating it and then can arbitrarily output by user operation. So, you can output documents handled by encrypted communication immediately,
You can choose not to. When immediate output is specified by this, only confidentiality on the telephone line can be obtained, and the data can be received immediately after reception without performing a troublesome operation such as output of received data as in normal reception. Can be

On the other hand, if the immediate output is not designated, not only the confidentiality on the telephone line but also the confidentiality for other persons who use the receiver can be obtained, and the confidential range of the received data can be widened. it can. Thus, in the present invention,
By selecting whether to output immediately or not, not only the confidential range of the encrypted received data can be selected, but also the output method can be selected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific state of the control unit and a connection state with other components.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example regarding an output method performed by a receiving station.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a confidential box function.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an operation procedure of each of a general transmission side and a reception side in encrypted communication.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 control part 2 CPU 3 ROM 4 RAM 6 operation part 7 encoding / decoding circuit 8 encryption / plain culture circuit 12 reading part 13 image processing part 14 transmission function part 15 reception function part 16 recording part

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location H04L 9/12 H04N 1/00 106 Z 1/40

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a communication device having a function of performing encrypted communication, when outputting encrypted received data, an immediate output function of immediately performing plain culture decryption processing on the encrypted received data after reception, and outputting the encrypted received data. A communication device, wherein the encrypted received data is stored in a memory without being invalidated, and then any one of a confidential output function capable of being arbitrarily output by a user operation can be selected. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, which is configured as a facsimile machine.