Granted Patent B2

US 12,438,735 · App. 18/498,108 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Inventors: Naoya Kakutani (Chiba, JP); Hisayuki Yamauchi (Kanagawa, JP)

Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA

H04L9/3268H04L9/321H04L9/3247H04L63/0823H04L63/126H04L9/30

Abstract

Claims (54)

1. An information processing apparatus, comprising:

one or more controllers including one or more processors and one or more memories, the one or more controllers configured to:

transmit an electronic certificate issuance request to an external apparatus;

receive an electronic certificate issued by the external apparatus in accordance with the electronic certificate issuance request;

receive an instruction via a user interface from a user, wherein the received electronic certificate and a communication protocol of a plurality of communication protocols supported by the information processing apparatus are associated with each other based on the receiving the instruction, wherein the information processing apparatus transmits the associated received electronic certificate to an apparatus, and wherein the information processing apparatus communicates with the apparatus according to the associated communication protocol;

update an electronic certificate stored in a storage with the received electronic certificate; and

enable to set, via a user interface, an electronic certificate automatic updating at a constant time interval,

wherein, in the electronic certificate automatic updating, an electronic certificate is received from the external apparatus in accordance with transmitting the electronic certificate issuance request, and the electronic certificate stored in the storage is updated with the received electronic certificate at the constant time interval, and

wherein the constant time interval is different from a validity period of the stored electronic certificate and is accepted via the user interface.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case that the electronic certificate automatic updating is not set in the setting, the stored electronic certificate is not updated at the constant time interval, and

in a case that the electronic certificate automatic updating is set in the setting, the stored electronic certificate is updated at the constant time interval.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to transmit a plurality of electronic certificate issuance requests to an external apparatus;

receive a plurality of electronic certificates issued by the external apparatus in accordance with each of the plurality of electronic certificate issuance requests; and

store the received plurality of electronic certificates to the storage.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to enable to set one or more communication protocols in association with each of the received plurality of electronic certificates.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to perform an encryption communication with the apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus using the set communication protocol.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the communication protocol includes at least one of TLS (Transport Layer Security), IPSEC (Internet Protocol Security), IEEE802.1X.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to verify a digital signature included in the received electronic certificate,

wherein, in a case that it is verified that the digital signature included in the received electronic certificate has been issued by the external apparatus, the one or more controllers are configured to update, in the updating, the electronic certificate stored in the storage with the received electronic certificate.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to obtain a CA (Certificate Authority) certificate from the external apparatus,

wherein, in the verifying, the one or more controllers are configured to verify the digital signature included in the received electronic certificate using the obtained CA certificate.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to cause an apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus via a network to display a screen for instructing to transmit the electronic certificate issuance request,

wherein a transmission of the electronic certificate issuance request is activated by an instruction input via the screen.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are further configured to display a screen for setting a connection with the external apparatus and perform setting of connection with the external apparatus in accordance with contents set via the screen,

wherein, in the transmitting, the one or more controllers are configured to transmit the electronic certificate issuance request to the external apparatus set by the setting of connection.

11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are configured to reflect the setting of the electronic certificate.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more controllers are configured to transmit, in the transmitting, the electronic certificate issuance request at a timing based on a validity period of the electronic certificate to the external apparatus.

13. A method of controlling an information processing apparatus, comprising:

transmitting an electronic certificate issuance request to an external apparatus;

receiving an electronic certificate issued by the external apparatus in accordance with the electronic certificate issuance request;

receiving an instruction via a user interface from a user, wherein the received electronic certificate and a communication protocol of a plurality of communication protocols supported by the information processing apparatus are associated with each other based on the receiving the instruction, wherein the information processing apparatus transmits the associated received electronic certificate to an apparatus, and wherein the information processing apparatus communicates with the apparatus according to the associated communication protocol;

updating an electronic certificate stored in a storage with the received electronic certificate; and

enabling to set, via a user interface, an electronic certificate automatic updating at a constant time interval,

wherein, in the electronic certificate automatic updating, an electronic certificate is received from the external apparatus in accordance with transmitting the electronic certificate issuance request, and the electronic certificate stored in the storage is updated with the received electronic certificate at the constant time interval, and

wherein the constant time interval is different from a validity period of the stored electronic certificate and is accepted via the user interface.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein, in a case that the electronic certificate automatic updating is not set in the setting, the stored electronic certificate is not updated at the constant time interval, and

in a case that the electronic certificate automatic updating is set in the setting, the stored electronic certificate is updated at the constant time interval.

15. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

transmitting a plurality of electronic certificate issuance requests to an external apparatus;

receiving a plurality of electronic certificates issued by the external apparatus in accordance with each of the plurality of electronic certificate issuance requests; and

storing the received plurality of electronic certificates to the storage.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:

enabling to set one or more communication protocols in association with each of the received plurality of electronic certificates.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising:

performing an encryption communication with an apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus using the set communication protocol.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the communication protocol includes at least one of TLS (Transport Layer Security), IPSEC (Internet Protocol Security), IEEE802.1X.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a processor to execute a method of controlling an information processing apparatus, the method comprising:

transmitting an electronic certificate issuance request to an external apparatus;

receiving an electronic certificate issued by the external apparatus in accordance with the electronic certificate issuance request;

receiving an instruction via a user interface from a user, wherein the received electronic certificate and a communication protocol of a plurality of communication protocols supported by the information processing apparatus are associated with each other based on the receiving the instruction, wherein the information processing apparatus transmits the associated received electronic certificate to an apparatus, and wherein the information processing apparatus communicates with the apparatus according to the associated communication protocol;

updating an electronic certificate stored in a storage with the received electronic certificate; and

enabling to set, via a user interface, an electronic certificate automatic updating at a constant time interval,

wherein, in the electronic certificate automatic updating, an electronic certificate is received from the external apparatus in accordance with transmitting the electronic certificate issuance request, and the electronic certificate stored in the storage is updated with the received electronic certificate at the constant time interval, and

wherein the constant time interval is different from a validity period of the stored electronic certificate and is accepted via the user interface.

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (68)