JP4747960B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image in a special manner when a pattern of a background pattern is detected in an image of a document.

  In the information society in recent years, there is a strong demand for a review of security for electronic information, and there is no doubt about security measures related to the Internet such as anti-virus measures and access restrictions. On the other hand, the security of paper documents is not yet advanced, and there is a problem that confidential information is copied and taken out to the outside. Under such circumstances, technologies for preventing forgery copying of paper documents have begun to appear little by little. For example, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, when an original image is formed, a watermark pattern is formed with a light-transmitting special ink simultaneously with the formation of the image, and when the original is actually copied, When the pattern is detected by light, the copying operation is automatically stopped to prevent forgery copying.

Today, a technique called “background pattern printing” has been developed as a further advanced technique for preventing counterfeit copying. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is to print hidden characters 102 and patterns 103 on the background portion of the copy 101 when the original 100 is copied, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, when the original 100 is generated as image data by an application on a computer and is printed as a hard copy, the hidden character 102 and the pattern 103 are printed on the background portion of the image to copy the copy 101 (the original is a hard copy) In some cases. In either case, the hidden character 102 is usually formed by large dots that can be detected by the scanner, and the pattern 103 is formed by small dots that cannot be detected by the scanner. In the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing, when the original 100 is copied, the hidden character 102 is printed as if it is raised from the pattern 103 in the copy 101, so that it is possible to easily determine that the copy 101 is a counterfeit copy. ing.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-102797 (see paragraph number 0018, etc.)

However, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing technology has the following disadvantages in the future.
That is, when the second copy 104 is to be generated from the copy 101 for private use / storage, etc., as shown in FIG. 7B, the pattern 103 of the copy 101 is not read and hidden. If only the character 102 is read and image data is generated, the hidden character 102 continues to be clearly copied even in the third, fourth,... Copies, so that forgery copying can be reliably prevented and there is no problem.

On the other hand, when the resolution at the time of reading the copy 101 is improved, as shown in FIG. 7C, not only the hidden character 102 of the copy 101 but also the pattern 103 that should not be reproduced originally is image data. As a result, the second copy 104 is generated and the hidden character 102 may not be clearly discriminated from the pattern 103 in the second copy 104. As a result, a second copy 104 similar to the original 100 is generated, and there is a possibility that forged copying cannot be prevented in the third, fourth,.
An object of the present invention is to reliably prevent counterfeit copying of the original in the second, third,... Copy or the third, fourth,.

In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention provides:
A scanner unit that reads an image of a document;
It is determined whether there is a background pattern in the image based on the reading result of the scanner unit, and when it is recognized that there is a background pattern in the image, the resolution is lower than the resolution of the image that has already been read. Then, again, a control unit that causes the scanner unit to read the image,
It is characterized by having.

In the image forming apparatus,
A display panel unit capable of displaying the reading status of the image;
The control unit is
When it is recognized that there is a background pattern in the image, it is preferable to display on the display panel unit that the scanner unit is read again at a resolution lower than the resolution of the image that has already been read. .

Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus,
It is preferable to include a printer unit that records the already read image and the image read again at a resolution lower than the resolution of the image on a recording medium and outputs the recording medium as a copy.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent forgery copying of the original in the second, third,... Copy or the third, fourth,.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated examples.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes an operation panel unit 10, a display panel unit 20, a scanner unit 30, a printer unit 40, a control unit 50, and the like. 20, the scanner unit 30, the printer unit 40, and the control unit 50 are connected to each other.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel unit 10 is a part composed of a plurality of operation buttons for setting various conditions such as when reading an image of a document or copying. When the user presses an operation button in the operation panel unit 10, a condition based on the operation button is transmitted to the control unit 50 as a signal.

  The display panel unit 20 is a part composed of a known liquid crystal panel or the like. The display panel unit 20 performs display based on the transmission content in accordance with the signal transmitted from the control unit 50. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the situation at the time of reading a document (see FIG. 3). In addition, an instruction to the user (see FIG. 4), a situation during copying of an image of the document (see FIG. 5), and the like are displayed.

  The scanner unit 30 is a part composed of a known scanner. The scanner unit 30 reads an image on a document and performs image processing on the read result, and transmits the read result after the image processing to the control unit 50 as image information.

  The printer unit 40 is a part constituted by a known laser printer or the like. The printer unit 40 records an image based on the transmission contents on a recording medium in accordance with a signal transmitted from the control unit 50, and outputs the recording medium as a copy.

  The control unit 50 is a part composed of a known CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory) and the like. In the control unit 50, various data, processing programs, and the like are stored in the ROM, and the CPU executes processing according to the ROM processing program while using the RAM as a work area.

  For example, the control unit 50 receives a signal from the operation panel unit 10 and controls the operation of the scanner unit 30 and the printer unit 40 under conditions based on the signal, or receives a signal from the operation panel unit 10 and converts it into the signal. The content based on the image is displayed on the display panel unit 20, or image information is received from the scanner unit 30, and the printer unit 40 is caused to perform a copying operation based on the image information.

  In particular, in the control unit 50, a large number of background pattern patterns are pre-registered (stored) in the ROM, and the CPU stores the registered pattern and the background pattern pattern of the original image read by the scanner unit 30 (pattern 103 in FIG. 7). Pattern matching processing), and it is possible to detect whether or not there is a background pattern in the image of the document.

  Next, the copy control process executed by the control unit 50 in the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When a signal to start copying the original image is transmitted by the operation of the operation panel unit 10 by the user, the scanner unit 30 recognizes that and starts the reading of the original image (step S1). In this case, every time the scanner unit 30 reads an image of a document, the reading result is sequentially processed, and the reading result after the image processing is transmitted to the control unit 50 as image information.

When the process of step S1 is started, it is determined based on the image information transmitted from the scanner unit 30 whether or not a background pattern is present in the image of the document (step S2).
Specifically, it is determined whether or not a repetitive pattern (a dot pattern that repeatedly appears) exists in an image of a document. If it is recognized that a repetitive pattern exists, it is determined whether or not the repetitive pattern matches a registered pattern. .

  As a result of the determination in step S2, if it is recognized that there is no repetitive pattern in the document image, or if it is recognized that the repetitive pattern exists in the document image but the repetitive pattern does not match the registered pattern, the document Recognizing that there is no background pattern in the image, the printer unit 40 is caused to copy the content of the image of the document (step S3). In this case, the printer unit 40 records the original image read by the scanner unit 30 on a recording medium, and outputs the recording medium as a copy.

  When the processing in step S3 is completed, it is determined whether or not the next page exists in the document based on the image information transmitted from the scanner unit 30 (step S4). As a result of the determination, it is recognized that the next page exists. Then, the processing after step S1 is executed again. On the other hand, if it is recognized that the next page does not exist, the copy control processing is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S2 that a repetitive pattern exists in the document image and the repetitive pattern matches the registered pattern, the recognizing pattern is recognized by the scanner unit 30. The reading operation is stopped (step S5).

  In the process of step S2, when it is recognized that a repetitive pattern exists in the document image without determining whether or not the repetitive pattern matches the registered pattern, the pattern of the tint block is included in the image of the original document. It may be recognized that it exists, or when a large dot and a small dot are identified in an image of a document and a hidden character of the ground pattern (corresponding to the hidden character 102 in FIG. 7) is recognized from the outline of the large dot. It may be determined that there is a background pattern in the image of the document.

  When the processing in step S5 is completed, a first message indicating that the pattern of the ground pattern has been detected in the image of the document is displayed on the display panel unit 20 in the display mode shown in FIG. 3 (step S6).

  In a state where the display panel unit 20 displays the first message, the user recognizes that fact and operates the display panel unit 20 (presses the “OK” part in FIG. 3), or a certain time has elapsed. If it is recognized, a second message prompting the user to change the reading resolution of the document image is displayed on the display panel unit 20 instead of displaying the first message (step S7).

  In this case, the display panel unit 20 displays the second message in the display mode shown in FIG. In the second message, the current reading resolution (the resolution of the original image read in step S1) and the changeable resolution are displayed, and the reading resolution of the original image read by the scanner unit 30 is lower than the current resolution. The user is prompted to change the resolution. In the second message of FIG. 4, the current reading resolution is “1200 dpi” and the changeable resolution is “600 dpi, 400 dpi, 300 dpi, 200 dpi”, which is lower than 1200 dpi.

When the processing of step S7 is completed, it is determined whether or not the resolution has been changed by the operation of the display panel unit 20 by the user (step S8).
Specifically, it is determined whether the user has selected “changeable resolution” in FIG. 4 and pressed the “OK” part. FIG. 4 illustrates a state where “600 dpi” is selected as the resolution that can be changed.

If it is determined as a result of the determination in step S8 that the resolution has been changed, it is repeatedly determined whether or not the user has instructed to read the image of the document again by operating the operation panel unit 10 (step S9).
Specifically, it is repeatedly determined whether or not the user has pressed the circle button corresponding to the “copy / send” part in FIG.

  As a result of the process in step S9, if it is recognized that the re-reading of the original image has been instructed, the processes in and after step S1 are executed again. In this case, in the processing of step S1, the scanner unit 30 is caused to start reading the image of the document at the resolution after the user operates the display panel unit 20 (at the resolution after change).

  As a result of the determination in step S8, in the state where the display panel unit 20 displays the second message, if the user presses the “cancel” portion in FIG. Cancel (delete the image information transmitted from the scanner unit 30) (step S10).

  When the processing in step S10 is completed, instead of displaying the second message, a third message indicating that the job is canceled is displayed on the display panel unit 20 in the display mode shown in FIG. 5 (step S11), and the copy is performed. The control process ends.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 described above, when the pattern of the tint block pattern is detected from the image of the document in the process of step S2, the image of the document is again processed at a resolution lower than the resolution of the already read image by the processes of steps S7 to S9. Is read, it is difficult to detect the pattern of the background pattern in the image at the time of reading. Therefore, when the second copy is generated, only the hidden characters of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern remain clearly, and it is ensured that the original copy is forged in the second, third,. Can be prevented.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various improvements and design changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  As the improvement / design change matter, in the process of step S3, the image information transmitted from the scanner unit 30 may be distributed to another external device other than the image forming apparatus 1. In this case, only the image information of the image read at a resolution that does not detect the background pattern in the original image is delivered to the external device, and the image information is prevented from leaking when the background pattern remains. be able to.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 1. FIG. 1 is an external view of an operation panel unit 10. 3 is an external view (first message) of the display panel unit 20. 4 is a diagram illustrating an appearance (second message) of the display panel unit 20. 6 is an external view (third message) of the display panel unit 20. 4 is a flowchart showing a copy control process executed by a control unit 50 over time. It is a figure for demonstrating copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing and its inconvenience.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 10 Operation panel part 20 Display panel part 30 Scanner part 40 Printer part 50 Control part

Claims (3)

A scanner unit that reads an image of a document;
It is determined whether there is a background pattern in the image based on the reading result of the scanner unit, and when it is recognized that there is a background pattern in the image, the resolution is lower than the resolution of the image that has already been read. Then, again, a control unit that causes the scanner unit to read the image,
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
A display panel unit capable of displaying the reading status of the image;
The control unit is
When it is recognized that there is a background pattern in the image, the display panel unit displays again that the image is read by the scanner unit at a resolution lower than the resolution of the image that has already been read. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
An image forming apparatus comprising: a printer unit that records an already read image and an image read again at a resolution lower than the resolution of the image on a recording medium and outputs the recording medium as a copy.

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