JP2005104003A - Printed matter containing hidden information and processing device of hidden information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printed matter containing hidden information which can hide make information in the printed matter and from which a receiver of the printed matter can acquire the hidden information, and a processing device of the hidden information. <P>SOLUTION: The image of the printed matter X having the information printed with transparent ink, in addition to ordinary ink, is picked up by a CCD camera 10. Then high-frequency components of the image picked up are removed by a high-frequency component removing means 20 and a hidden image constituted only of low-frequency components is held in a hidden image holding means 30. A hidden image recognizing means 40 judges whether the hidden image has some meaning, and displays the hidden image in an image display means 50 when the image has no meaning, while a hidden information processing means executes a processing corresponding to the meaning when the image has some meaning. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printed material in which information is concealed, and a technique for acquiring concealed information from the printed material.

  Conventionally, there has been a technique called steganography that acquires embedded information by embedding information invisible to human eyes into image data that is digital data, and applying special processing to the image data. It is used. This is used as a very effective technique for embedding information that is not desired to be known by a third party.

  Recently, there is a demand that the object to hide information as described above can be applied not only to digital data such as image data but also to tangible objects. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printed matter including hidden information and a hidden information processing apparatus in which information is concealed in a printed matter and a person who has received the printed matter can obtain the hidden information. And

  In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, printing is performed with a plurality of colored normal inks for printing a pattern and a transparent ink having infrared absorption or divergence characteristics different from the infrared absorption or divergence characteristics of the normal ink. It is characterized in that a printed matter including hidden information characterized by being used is used.

  An apparatus for acquiring and processing hidden information from a printed matter including hidden information includes an imaging unit that captures a frequency band wider than visible light, and information having a frequency higher than visible light from a captured image captured by the imaging unit. It is characterized by having a high frequency component removing means for deleting the image and a display means for displaying a hidden image by the remaining low frequency components.

  According to the present invention, an image obtained by creating a printed material on which hidden information is printed using a transparent ink having different infrared absorption or divergence characteristics from ordinary inks such as C, M, Y, and K, and photographing the printed material. Since the high-frequency component is removed from the image and the hidden image is acquired, the information is hidden in the printed material, and the person who receives the printed material can acquire the hidden information.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
(Printed matter including hidden information)
First, the information-embedded printed material used in the present invention will be described. The printed matter used in the present invention uses invisible transparent ink in addition to normal ink. Normally, four colors of C, M, Y, and K are used as printing inks. However, in the present invention, printing is performed by adding the transparent ink S. C, M, Y, and K inks are used to print a pattern that can be seen and recognized by humans. Transparent ink S cannot be recognized by humans but can be recognized by a CCD camera. Used for printing. Therefore, in addition to being transparent, the transparent ink S is required to have infrared absorption or divergence characteristics greatly different from those of the other four colors. Here, the case where it prints using normal printing ink C, M, Y, K and the transparent ink S is demonstrated using FIG. In FIG. 1, C, M, Y, and K indicate images printed with the respective color inks. In FIG. 1, the design is omitted, indicating that some design is provided. On the other hand, with the transparent ink S, the letter “A” is printed throughout. The printed matter X printed with the above five inks of C, M, Y, K, and S looks the same as an ordinary printed matter printed with four inks. Therefore, even if there is a person who circulates the printed matter and sees it, it is not known that the information by the ink S (character image “A”) is hidden there.

(Hidden information processing device)
Next, an apparatus for acquiring and processing hidden information from a printed matter including the above hidden information will be described. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the hidden information processing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, 10 is a CCD camera, 20 is a high frequency component removing means, 30 is a hidden image holding means, 40 is a hidden image recognition means, 50 is an image display means, and 60 is a hidden information processing means.

  The CCD camera 10 is a photographing means for photographing a printed matter and acquiring a photographed image, and a conventionally known CCD camera can be used. The high frequency component removing unit 20 has a function of removing a high frequency component having a predetermined frequency or higher from the acquired photographed image. It is possible to arbitrarily set the frequency to be removed, but in this embodiment, it is set so as to remove the high frequency component corresponding to the portion where the C, M, Y, K ink is applied. Has been. The hidden image holding unit 30 is a storage unit that records the remaining low-frequency component image obtained by removing the high-frequency component from the photographed image by the high-frequency component removing unit 20. As described above, in this embodiment, since the portions corresponding to the C, M, Y, and K inks are removed, only the image corresponding to the portion to which the S ink is applied is recorded as a hidden image. Become.

  The hidden image recognition unit 40 has a function of recognizing a hidden image recorded in the hidden image holding unit 30 and determining whether or not it has any meaning. Specifically, referring to a correspondence table (not shown) in which some image patterns are associated with their meanings, the hidden images recorded in the hidden image holding means 30 are image patterns registered in the correspondence table. , The hidden information processing means 60 is made to perform processing corresponding to the meaning. The image display means 50 is for displaying a hidden image and is realized by a display device such as a liquid crystal. The hidden information processing means 60 has a function of executing processing recognized by the hidden image recognition means 40. Each means in FIG. 2 is actually realized by a CPU, a memory, dedicated software, and the like.

  Next, the case where the hidden printed matter shown in FIG. 1 is processed by the hidden information acquisition apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be described. First, when the hidden printed matter X is photographed by the CCD camera 10, a photographed image in which the printed matter X is mixed with the printing by the S plate is obtained without looking at the printed matter X. The frequency band of light detected by the CCD camera is wider than the range recognized by humans. Therefore, the acquired photographed image includes not only the pattern printed in C, M, Y, and K but also information printed in S. Next, from the acquired photographed image, a frequency equal to or higher than the frequency band corresponding to visible light is cut, and only the image component corresponding to the ink S is extracted. As a result, information printed with the S ink is acquired as a hidden image. The acquired hidden image is temporarily recorded and held in the hidden image holding means 30.

  Subsequently, the hidden image recognition unit 40 compares the hidden image recorded in the hidden image holding unit 30 with the image pattern in the correspondence table prepared in advance. Thus, if the image pattern is similar to the image pattern at a predetermined ratio or more, processing corresponding to the meaning recorded in correspondence with the image pattern is performed. If they are not similar as a result of the comparison, the image display means 50 displays a hidden image.

(If the hidden image is meaningful)
Next, a case where a hidden image is meaningful will be described. Recently, mobile phones with a CCD camera have become widespread, and in response to this, a two-dimensional code or the like on which predetermined information is recorded is printed on a magazine. For example, a URL of a website is recorded in the two-dimensional code, and an image of the two-dimensional code is captured by photographing with a CCD camera attached to the mobile phone. When the captured image is a two-dimensional code, the software installed in the mobile phone recognizes the URL recorded from the image and uses the URL to access the Web site. Since such a series of processing is performed, the user can access a Web site corresponding to the page on the magazine only by photographing the two-dimensional code on the magazine.

  In the present invention, the two-dimensional code as described above is recorded as an image in the correspondence table, and as a meaning, a command for accessing a predetermined URL is recorded. By doing in this way, it is applicable also when acquiring the information which the two-dimensional code has. In this case, a normal picture is printed with C, M, Y, and K inks, and a two-dimensional code is printed with S ink. A high-frequency component is removed by 20 to obtain a two-dimensional code image which is a hidden image. Since the obtained two-dimensional code image matches the image pattern in the correspondence table prepared in advance, the corresponding meaning, that is, the information to access the predetermined URL is hidden by the hidden information processing means 60. Executed. Thereby, for example, the user can participate in the campaign with a game sensation of searching for hidden information and applying.

  Note that the hidden image processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 can be built not only as a single function but also as a built-in form in a terminal having an Internet connection function such as a recent mobile phone. In this case, the CCD camera 10 and the image display means 50 are shared with those of the cellular phone, and the hidden information processing means 60 can use an Internet connection function.

It is a figure which shows the printed matter containing the hidden information which concerns on this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the hidden information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... CCD camera 20 ... High frequency component removal means 30 ... Hidden image holding means 40 ... Hidden image recognition means 50 ... Image display means 60 ... Hidden information processing means

Claims (3)

A plurality of colored normal inks for printing a pattern;
A printed matter containing hidden information, wherein printing is performed with a transparent ink having infrared absorption or divergence characteristics different from the infrared absorption or divergence characteristics of the normal ink. Photographing means for photographing a frequency band wider than visible light;
High-frequency component removing means for deleting information having a frequency higher than that of visible light from a photographed image photographed by the photographing means;
Display means for displaying a hidden image by the remaining low-frequency components;
A hidden information processing apparatus characterized by comprising: Photographing means for photographing a frequency band wider than visible light;
High-frequency component removing means for deleting information having a frequency higher than that of visible light from a photographed image photographed by the photographing means;
Image recognition means for recognizing whether or not the remaining hidden image by the low frequency component has a predetermined meaning;
Hidden information processing means for executing processing corresponding to the meaning recognized by the image recognition means;
A hidden information processing apparatus characterized by comprising:

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