JP2008113393A - Electrical device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electrical device such as an imaging device, which can preferably restrict opportunities for users in each department to use the imaging device during a period of time of banning the use of the imaging device. <P>SOLUTION: An imaging device 1 that is an example of electrical device is provided with an operation key 5a, a touch panel 5b and a storage section 46. The operation key 5a receives an instruction of execution start for any operations, setting of a time for prohibiting execution of any operations, and a specified password from an outside. During the time for prohibiting execution of any operations, when the storage section 46 receives the instruction of execution start for the operation, it stores use information which indicates such a situation. The touch panel 5b displays the use information stored in the storage section 46 if the operation key 5a receives the specified password. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrical device.

As a recent image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral, for example, as in Patent Document 1, an ID (IDentification) or password is set for each individual or each department, and the ID or password is authenticated. There are those that limit the available users by only allowing their use.
JP 2003-259046 A

  By the way, when an administrator who manages such an image forming apparatus intends to prohibit the use of the image forming apparatus only for a predetermined time period, the administrator posts a poster that describes the time period during which the use of the image forming apparatus is prohibited. The predetermined time zone is announced to the users under each department. However, as in Patent Document 1, when an ID is set for each department, a plurality of users belonging to the department know this ID. In this case, each user can illegally use the image forming apparatus if the input ID is authenticated even during a time period when the use of the image forming apparatus is prohibited. Therefore, the administrator cannot always obey the use prohibition of the image forming apparatus by the users under each department.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an electrical apparatus such as an image forming apparatus that can restrict as much as possible the use of a user under each department during the time when the use of the image forming apparatus is prohibited. .

  The electrical device according to the first aspect includes an instruction receiving unit, a setting receiving unit, a storage unit, a password receiving unit, and a notification unit. The instruction receiving unit receives an instruction to start execution of an arbitrary operation. The setting accepting unit accepts a setting of a time during which execution of an arbitrary operation should be prohibited. When the instruction receiving unit receives an instruction during the time received by the setting receiving unit, the storage unit stores usage information indicating this. The password accepting unit accepts a specific password from the outside. The notifying means notifies the usage information stored in the storage means when the password receiving means receives a specific password.

  For example, it is assumed that the specific password is a password that can be used only by an administrator who manages the electrical device. In this case, if the electric device is turned on or used within the time when the use of the electric device is prohibited, the electric device prints or displays this fact on, for example, paper. Or let me know. Thereby, the administrator can grasp | ascertain the situation where it is illegally used by the third party within the use prohibition time of an electric equipment. Furthermore, when not only the user ID but also the user ID is added as usage information, the administrator can specify the user.

  An electric device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the electric device according to the first aspect of the present invention, further comprising printing means for printing usage information on a recording medium. The notifying unit is a discharging unit that can discharge the recording medium on which the usage information is printed by the printing unit.

  In this case, examples of the electric device include an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral. Thus, this electrical apparatus can be applied to an image forming apparatus, and can achieve the same effects as those of the first aspect.

  An electric device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the electric device according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the notification means is a display means capable of displaying usage information.

  As a result, the administrator can know that the electric device has been used during the use prohibition time.

  An electric device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the electric device according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the notification means is a communication means capable of transmitting usage information to a specific external device via a network.

  For example, assuming that a specific external device is a device used by the administrator, the administrator can know that the electric device has been used during the use prohibition time, for example, via e-mail.

  An electric device according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the electric device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, further comprising stop means. When the instruction accepting unit accepts the instruction and the communication unit is in a state where it cannot communicate with the external device via the network, the canceling unit stops the execution of the operation in the instruction accepted by the instruction accepting unit.

  According to this electrical device, if the communication means is offline when the electrical device is about to be used, the operation instructed by the third party is not executed, so that unauthorized use of the third party within the prohibited use time is obviated. Can be prevented.

  An electric device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the electric device according to any of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the usage information includes image data used in an arbitrary operation.

  This makes it easier for the administrator to specify a third party who intends to use the electric device within the use prohibition time of the electric device from the image data used or about to be used in the operation.

  According to the present invention, the administrator can know that a user under each department has used it during a time period when the use of electrical equipment such as an image forming apparatus is prohibited. Therefore, the administrator can restrict unauthorized use of the electric device in the use prohibition time zone as much as possible.

<First Embodiment>
(1) Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus FIG. 1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus 1 that employs an electrical apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 is a model of a multi-function machine having functions as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a scanner device. The image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a document cover 3, a main body 4, an operation panel 5, a paper feed cassette 6, and a discharge tray 7.

  The document cover 3 is for holding down a document placed on a document placement table 2 provided in a portion of the body portion 4 facing the document cover 3, and the body portion is openable and closable with respect to the document placement table 2. 4 is attached.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the main body unit 4 includes a communication unit 41, a document reading unit 42, an image forming unit 43 (corresponding to a printing unit), a discharge unit 44, a control unit 45, and a storage unit 46. The communication unit 41 communicates with terminals other than the image forming apparatus 1. The document reading unit 42 reads a document placed on the document placing table 2 and acquires image data. The image forming unit 43 prints an image on a sheet based on image data from another terminal acquired through the communication unit 41 and image data acquired by the document reading unit 42. A developing device, a transfer device, etc. (none of which are shown) are included. The discharge unit 44 discharges the sheet on which the image is printed by the image forming unit 43 to the discharge tray 7. The control unit 45 is connected to the operation keys 5a and the touch panel 5b (all of which will be described later), the communication unit 41, the document reading unit 42, the image forming unit 43, the discharge unit 44, and the storage unit 46, and each of these functions. Take control. In addition, when the time when the image forming apparatus 1 is used is within the time for which use is prohibited (hereinafter referred to as “use prohibited time”), the control unit 45 performs an operation of generating use information indicating this. The storage unit 46 stores usage information generated by the control unit 45. The configuration and usage information of the control unit 45 will be described in detail in “(2) Configuration of control unit”.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the operation panel 5 is provided on the front side of the document placing table 2 in the main body 4, and includes operation keys 5 a (corresponding to instruction receiving means, setting receiving means, and password receiving means) and a touch panel 5 b ( Equivalent to notification means). The operation keys 5a include a start key for instructing the start of printing and setting keys for various settings. The touch panel 5b is composed of a liquid crystal display, and displays a screen for the user to make various settings. 3 and 4 are screen examples displayed on the touch panel 5b. In particular, FIG. 3 is a password input screen displayed when it is confirmed whether or not the user currently operating the image forming apparatus 1 is an administrator. This screen is displayed on the touch panel 5b when the "PWD input" tab is selected. FIG. 4 is an administrator mode menu screen displayed when a password is entered from the screen of FIG. 3 and the entered password is authenticated as an administrator password. When the screen of FIG. 4 is displayed, the administrator can set the use prohibition time of the image forming apparatus 1 using the operation keys 5a.

  The paper feed cassette 6 can store paper, and is provided in three stages below the main body 4.

  The discharge tray 7 is a plate-like member provided on the side surface of the image forming apparatus 1 so as to protrude laterally, and a sheet on which an image is printed by the image forming unit 43 in the main body unit 4 is stacked.

(2) Configuration of Control Unit As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 45 includes a password authentication unit 45a, a prohibited time determination unit 45b, a usage information generation unit 45c, a screen information generation unit 45d, and an image processing control unit 45e.

  When the password input screen of FIG. 3 is displayed on the touch panel 5b and a password is input from the screen, the password authentication unit 45a determines whether or not the input password is a password for an administrator. When the password authentication unit 45a authenticates the input password as a password for the administrator, the password authentication unit 45a outputs a signal indicating this to the screen information generation unit 45d.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 is used, for example, when the start key of the operation key 5a is pressed, the prohibited time determination unit 45b determines whether the currently used time is within the preset use prohibited time. Judge whether or not. When the prohibition time determination unit 45b determines that the current time is within the use prohibition time, the prohibition time determination unit 45b outputs a signal indicating this to the use information generation unit 45c.

  When the usage information generation unit 45c acquires a signal indicating that the image forming apparatus 1 has been used within the usage prohibition time of the image forming apparatus 1 and the current time from the prohibition time determination unit 45b, the usage information generation unit 45c generates usage information.

  Here, the usage information will be described. The usage information according to the present embodiment includes an operation performed by the image forming apparatus 1 within the usage prohibition time, a time when the operation was performed, and the like. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of a usage information table when the storage unit 46 stores usage information in the form of a table. The usage information table in FIG. 5 shows the execution operation of the image forming apparatus 1, the date and time when the operation was performed, the department ID to which the user using the image forming apparatus 1 belongs, and the operation performed by the image forming apparatus 1. In the case of “print”, the number of read sheets and the number of printed sheets read by the document reading unit 2 are stored as one record. As described above, since the storage unit 46 stores the usage information in the form of a table, when the usage information generation unit 45c newly generates the usage information, this is converted into a new record in the usage information table of FIG. to add. In FIG. 5, the department ID is written in the usage information table only when the user inputs the operation key 5a when using the image forming apparatus 1.

  The screen information generation unit 45d generates screen information to be displayed on the touch panel 5b and outputs the screen information to the touch panel 5b. For example, when a signal indicating that the password has been authenticated is acquired from the password authentication unit 45a, the screen information generation unit 45d generates screen information of the administrator mode menu screen in FIG. The screen information generation unit 45d stores the usage stored in the storage unit 46 when “display” of “use information output setting” is selected as the usage information output method from the administrator mode menu screen of FIG. Screen information for displaying the usage information in the information table on the touch panel 5b as shown in FIG. 6 is generated.

  The image processing control unit 45e outputs an image processing operation start instruction to the image forming unit 43 when the start key of the operation key 5a is pressed. Further, the image processing control unit 45e, when “print” of “use information output setting” is selected as the use information output method from the administrator mode menu screen of FIG. A usage information print instruction is output to the image forming unit 43 so that the usage information in the information table is printed on a sheet as shown in FIG.

(3) Operation of Image Forming Apparatus FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.

  Step S1-2: When the power of the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on by the user (S1) and the “PWD input” tab is selected from the screen on the touch panel 5b (S2), the screen information generating unit 45d of the control unit 45 is selected. Generates screen information for displaying the password input screen of FIG. 3 on the touch panel 5b, and the touch panel 5 displays the screen information. When a password is input from this screen, the password authentication unit 45a determines whether or not the input password is an administrator password.

  Steps S3-4: If the password authentication unit 45a authenticates that the input password is an administrator password in Step S2, the user who is currently using the image forming apparatus 1 is an administrator. It will be. Therefore, the screen information generation unit 45d generates image information for displaying the administrator mode menu screen of FIG. 4 on the touch panel 5b, and the touch panel 5b displays the image information. When the time zone of the use prohibition time of the image forming apparatus 1 is input from this screen (S3), the storage unit 46 stores this (S4).

  Steps S5 to 8: If the input password is not authenticated as the administrator password in step S2, the user who is currently using the image forming apparatus 1 is other than the administrator. Therefore, when the storage unit 46 stores the use prohibition time (S5) and the user uses the image forming apparatus 1 by pressing a start key for instructing to start printing, for example, The prohibition time determination unit 45b of the control unit 45 determines whether or not the current time corresponds to the time zone of the use prohibition time (S6). The usage information generation unit 45c generates usage information and updates the usage information table in the storage unit 46 (S7). When the storage unit 46 does not store the use prohibition time in step S5 and the image forming apparatus 1 is used by the user, the image forming apparatus 1 performs the printing operation without generating the usage information. (S8). In step S6, when the time when the image forming apparatus 1 is used does not correspond to the use prohibition time zone, the use information generation unit 45c does not generate use information.

  Steps S9-11: When “display” of “use information output setting” is selected from the administrator mode menu screen of FIG. 4 on the touch panel 5b in step S3 (S9), the screen information generating unit 45d The screen information for displaying the usage information in the usage information table stored in the storage unit 46 on the touch panel 5b is generated. The touch panel 5b displays usage information as shown in FIG. 6 (S10). When “print” of “use information output setting” is selected from the administrator mode menu screen of FIG. 4, the image processing control unit 45 e outputs a print instruction of use information to the image forming unit 43. The image forming unit 43 prints the usage information on a sheet as shown in FIG. 7, and the discharge unit 44 outputs it to the discharge tray 7 (S11).

  Step S12: When the power of the image forming apparatus 1 is turned off by the user, the image forming apparatus 1 ends a series of operations. If the power is not turned off, the image forming apparatus 1 repeats the operations after step S2.

(4) Effect In this image forming apparatus 1, for example, the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on when the power of the image forming apparatus 1 is turned on within the use prohibition time of the image forming apparatus 1 set by the administrator of the image forming apparatus 1. When it is used, this fact is printed on a sheet or displayed to notify the administrator. Thereby, the administrator can grasp the situation where the image forming apparatus 1 is illegally used by a third party within the use prohibition time.

  Further, if the image forming apparatus 1 is an apparatus that accepts an input such as a department ID to which the user belongs when the user uses the apparatus, as shown in FIG. At the same time, the administrator can specify the user who used the image forming apparatus 1 within the use prohibition time by printing the department ID or the like as usage information and notifying the administrator.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, an image forming apparatus 101 that employs an electrical apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment is a model of a multi-function peripheral similar to the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, and is connected to terminals 191, 192, and 193 via a network 181 as shown in FIG. ing. Of the terminals 191 to 193, the terminal 191 is assumed to be a management terminal owned by the administrator, and the terminal 191 is hereinafter referred to as a management terminal 191.

(1) Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus Similar to the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment includes a document cover 103, a main body 104, operation keys 105a, and a touch panel 105b. An operation panel 105, a paper feed cassette 106, and a discharge tray 107 are provided. Note that the document cover 103, the operation panel 105, the paper feed cassette 106, and the discharge tray 107 according to the present embodiment are given the same names in the first embodiment, and the document cover 3 and the operation panel 5 according to FIG. Since the configuration is the same as that of the paper feed cassette 6 and the discharge tray 7, description thereof is omitted. The main body 104 will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the main body unit 104 includes a communication unit 141, a document reading unit 142, an image forming unit 143, a control unit 145, a storage unit 146, and other input / output units. Examples of the other input / output unit include a discharge unit that discharges a sheet on which an image is formed to a discharge tray 107 outside the main body unit 104.

  The communication unit 141 communicates with each of the terminals 191 to 193 connected via the network 181. The document reading unit 142 reads a document placed on a document placement table (not shown) and acquires image data. The image forming unit 143 prints an image on a sheet based on the image data acquired from the terminals 191 to 193 and the image data acquired by the document reading unit 142. The control unit 145 controls each function connected to the control unit 145, or generates use information when the image forming apparatus 101 is used within the use prohibition time and transmits an e-mail to the management terminal 191. I do. The storage unit 146 stores usage information generated by the control unit 145. It is assumed that the usage information of this embodiment includes image data used during the operation in addition to the executed operation and time.

  Here, the function of the control unit 145 will be described. As shown in FIG. 10, the control unit 145 includes a password authentication unit 145a, a prohibited time determination unit 145b, a usage information generation unit 145c, a screen information generation unit 145d, a processing stop unit 145e, and a transmission information generation unit 145f.

  When a password is input on the password input screen of FIG. 3 displayed on touch panel 105b, password authentication unit 145a determines whether this password is a password for an administrator. When the password authentication unit 145a authenticates the input password as a password for the administrator, the password authentication unit 145a outputs a signal indicating this to the screen information generation unit 145d.

  When the image forming apparatus 101 is used, for example, when the start key of the operation key 105a is pressed, the prohibition time determination unit 145b determines whether the current time used is within the preset use prohibition time. Judge whether or not. When the prohibition time determination unit 145b determines that the current time is within the use prohibition time, the prohibition time determination unit 145b outputs a signal indicating this to the use information generation unit 145c and the process stop unit 145e.

  When the usage information generation unit 145c acquires a signal indicating that the image forming apparatus 1 is being used within the usage prohibition time of the image forming apparatus 101 and the current time from the prohibition time determination unit 145b, the information and the image data Generate usage information including

  The screen information generation unit 145d generates screen information to be displayed on the touch panel 105b and outputs the screen information to the touch panel 105b. For example, when a signal indicating that the password has been authenticated is acquired from the password authentication unit 145a, the screen information generation unit 145d generates screen information of the administrator mode menu screen in FIG. The administrator can set the use prohibition time and the mail address of the management terminal 191 from the administrator mode menu of FIG. 11 displayed on the touch panel 105b. As described above, in the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment, the administrator can acquire the usage information by mail by setting the mail address of the management terminal 191. The set mail address of the management terminal 191 is stored in the storage unit 145 together with the use prohibition time.

  When the processing cancellation unit 145e acquires a signal indicating that the image forming apparatus 1 is being used within the usage prohibition time from the prohibition time determination unit 145b, the processing cancellation unit 145e checks the connection state of the network 181 of the communication unit 141. If the communication unit 141 is not connected to the network 181, the processing cancel unit 145 e cancels the operation currently being executed by the image forming apparatus 1. For example, if the start key of the operation key is pressed and the image forming unit 143 is currently performing the image forming operation, the process canceling unit 145e stops the image forming operation in the image forming unit 143.

  When the image forming apparatus 1 is used within the use prohibition time and the communication unit 141 is connected to the network 181, the transmission information generation unit 145 f sends the use information to the mail address of the management terminal 191. The transmission information for transmitting to is generated. An example of mail transmitted to the management terminal 191 based on the transmission information generated in this way is shown in FIG. Since the usage information of the present embodiment includes image data, the management terminal 191 is sent with the image data attached together with the time of use of the image forming apparatus 101 as shown in FIG.

(2) Operation FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an operation flow of the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment.

  Steps S101 to 103: When the user turns on the power of the image forming apparatus 101 (S101) and a password is input from the password input screen of FIG. 3 displayed on the touch panel 105b, the password authentication unit 145a of the control unit 145 is entered. Judges whether the input password is an administrator password (S102). When the password authentication unit 145a authenticates that the input password is a password for the administrator, the screen information generation unit 145d generates image information for displaying the administrator mode menu screen of FIG. 11 on the touch panel 105b. The touch panel 105b displays this. When the use prohibition time and the mail address of the management terminal 191 are set on this screen, the storage unit 145 stores them (S103).

  Steps S104 to 107: If the input password is not authenticated as an administrator password in step S102, the user who is currently using the image forming apparatus 101 is a person other than the administrator. . Therefore, when the storage unit 146 stores the use prohibition time (S104) and the user uses the image forming apparatus 101 by, for example, pressing a start key instructing to start printing, The prohibition time determination unit 145b of the control unit 145 determines whether or not the current time corresponds to the time zone of the use prohibition time (S105). The usage information generation unit 145c generates usage information and stores it in the storage unit 145 (S106). If the storage unit 146 does not store the use prohibition time in step S104 and the image forming apparatus 101 is used by the user, the image forming apparatus 101 does not generate use information and performs a printing operation. (S107). In step S105, when the time when the image forming apparatus 101 is used does not correspond to the use prohibition time zone, the use information generation unit 145c does not generate use information.

  Steps S108 to S110: The processing cancellation unit 145e checks whether or not the communication unit 141 is connected to the network 181 (S108). When the communication unit 141 is connected to the network 181, the transmission information generation unit 145 f generates e-mail transmission information attached with the use time and the used image data (S 109), and the communication unit 141 manages this. It is transmitted to the mail address 191 (S110).

  Step S111: When the communication unit 141 is not connected to the network 181 in step S108, the processing cancel unit 145e cancels the operation that the image forming apparatus 1 is currently performing. Note that the usage information in this case is printed on a sheet by the image forming unit 143 when an administrator password is input to the image forming apparatus 101 thereafter.

  Step S112: When the power of the image forming apparatus 101 is turned off by the user, the image forming apparatus 101 ends a series of operations. If the power is not turned off, the image forming apparatus 101 repeats the operations after step S102.

(3) Effect When the image forming apparatus 101 is used within the use prohibition time, the image forming apparatus 101 transmits a mail attached with image data to the management terminal 191 together with the use time. As a result, the administrator can know that the image forming apparatus 101 is being used during the use prohibition time without directly performing an operation on the image forming apparatus 101, and can perform image formation from the image data. It becomes easy to specify a third party using the device 101.

  Further, as in the present embodiment, each time the image forming apparatus 101 is used, the administrator sends a mail to the management terminal 191 so that the administrator can tell in real time that the image forming apparatus 101 is being used by a third party. I can know.

  Further, when the communication unit 141 is offline when the image forming apparatus 101 is used, the image forming apparatus 101 stops the operation being executed, and thus the operation instructed by the third party is surely completed. It becomes difficult. Therefore, depending on the timing of stopping the operation, unauthorized use by a third party within the use prohibition time can be prevented in advance.

<Other embodiments>
(A) Although the case where image data is not included in usage information has been described in the first embodiment, image data may be further included as in the second embodiment.

  (B) The image forming apparatus 101 according to the second embodiment transmits the mail including the usage information to the management terminal 191 every time the image forming apparatus 101 is used within the usage prohibition time. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The image forming apparatus 101 may transmit the usage information stored in the storage unit 146 to the management terminal 191 at regular intervals.

  (C) In the first and second embodiments, the case where the use prohibition time is set by inputting the time when the use prohibition starts and the time when the use prohibition is set is described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The use prohibition time is set by inputting how many hours the use of the image forming apparatus is prohibited instead of inputting the start time and the end time, for example, “3 hours” from the current time. May be.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention can be applied as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction machine having a scanner function in addition to these functions.

1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. The block diagram which shows typically the inside of the main-body part which concerns on 1st Embodiment, and the inside of a control part. An example of a password input screen displayed on the touch panel according to the first embodiment. An example of an administrator mode menu screen displayed on the touch panel according to the first embodiment. The conceptual diagram of the usage information which the memory | storage part has memorize | stored. Screen example when usage information is displayed on the screen. Example of paper when usage information is printed on paper and discharged to the output tray. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a system using an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment. The block diagram which shows typically the inside of the main-body part which concerns on 2nd Embodiment, and the inside of a control part. An example of an administrator mode menu screen displayed on the touch panel according to the first embodiment. Example of usage information email sent to the management terminal 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,101 Image forming apparatus 5,105 Operation panel 5a, 105a Operation key 5b, 105b Touch panel 43,143 Image formation part 44,144 Ejection part 45,145 Control part 46,146 Storage part 45a, 145a Password authentication part 45b, 145b Prohibition time determination unit 45c, 145c Use information generation unit 45d, 145d Screen information generation unit 145e Processing stop unit 145f Transmission information generation unit

Claims (6)

An instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction to start execution of an arbitrary operation;
Setting accepting means for accepting setting of a time for which execution of the arbitrary operation should be prohibited;
Storage means for storing usage information indicating this when the instruction receiving means receives the instruction during the time received by the setting receiving means;
Password accepting means that can accept a specific password from outside,
Informing means for informing the use information stored in the storage means when the password accepting means accepts the specific password;
An electrical device comprising: A printing unit for printing the usage information on a recording medium;
The electrical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is a discharge unit that can discharge a recording medium on which usage information is printed by the printing unit.   The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is a display unit capable of displaying the usage information.   The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is a communication unit capable of transmitting the usage information to a specific external device via a network.   When the instruction accepting unit accepts the instruction, if the communication unit is in a state where it cannot communicate with an external device via the network, stop means for stopping the execution of the operation in the instruction accepted by the instruction accepting unit The electric device according to claim 4, further comprising:   The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the usage information includes image data used in the arbitrary operation.

Images