JP2009086798A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve management of checking tampering etc. to a printed matter using an ordinary printer (printing device). <P>SOLUTION: In printing out information on paper, management on a sheet-by-sheet basis of a paper medium becomes possible by embedding an IC chip having a unique identification number on the printed information simultaneously with the information. With the information management of the unique identification number, it is possible to perform controlled paper management including use authority, duplication restriction management and audit trail management, and to prevent an unauthorized use of paper such as forgery and tampering. Namely, when printing, a print agent (including ink and toner), in which a medium (such as IC chip) having an identification number (identification information) recorded thereon is mixed, is coated on the medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique relating to medium management at the time of printing or copying on a medium including paper, and information security output to the medium.

  Conventionally, management such as prevention of forgery in a medium (particularly paper) has been performed. For this management, techniques such as special paper with watermarks and special ink were used to prevent counterfeiting and illegal copying. For example, in Patent Document 1, forgery is performed by copying an admission ticket or the like printed with a two-dimensional code overlaid on a special ink printed portion, and then cutting and pasting the special ink-printed portion on the two-dimensional code. The purpose is to provide a technique for appropriately determining the above. For this reason, in Patent Document 1, when error correction is used at the time of decoding, an error correction position is calculated, and it is confirmed whether or not the error correction position matches the position designated as the forgery determination position. To do. And when error correction is used in the designated block, determining that it is a forged ticket is disclosed.

JP 2001-6014 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to print a special two-dimensional code in addition to using special ink and printing contents. That is, it is difficult to realize management using a normal printer (printing apparatus).

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional problems and realize management of a paper medium and information output on paper when information is output on paper.
Therefore, in the present invention, at the time of printing, a medium (such as an IC chip) in which an identification number (identification information) is recorded in a printing agent (including ink and toner) is mixed and applied onto the medium. The present invention includes the following aspects. (1) An IC chip having a unique identification number is embedded in paper information when printing (or before and after). (2) Read an IC chip having a unique identification number embedded in paper. (3) An IC chip having a unique identification number is read and authentication management is performed. (4) The IC chip having a unique identification number is read and paper trail management is performed.

More specifically, the following aspects are included.
In a printing system for printing predetermined information on a medium, means for holding an IC chip storing a printing agent for printing on the medium and a predetermined identification number;
Means for receiving a print instruction; and means for executing printing in accordance with the print instruction by mixing the IC chip into the printing agent and applying the mixture onto the medium.
A printing system that enables a reading device to read the identification number stored in the IC chip coated with a printing agent on the printed medium. Further, in this printing system, means for reading the identification number of the IC chip applied by the means for executing printing, and means for storing the read identification number and information related to the print instruction in association with each other Further, the present invention includes a printing system that can determine the authenticity of the printed medium in accordance with a search result in the storing means for the identification number read by the reading device.

  Further, means for accepting a copy request for the medium printed by the printing system, means for reading the identification number from the medium, and the number of times the medium can be copied and the copy for the medium in association with the identification information Means for recording a table in which the number of executions is recorded; means for reading out the number of times of copying and the number of times of copying corresponding to the read identification number; the number of times of copying that has been read and the number of times of copying that has been read out Means for comparing the number of times added to the number of times included in the copy request, and means for executing copying in response to the copy request when the number of possible copies is large or equal as a result of the comparison. Such a copying apparatus is also included in the present invention. Furthermore, in this copying apparatus, the present invention also includes a copying apparatus in which the number of possible copies, the number of times of copying, and the number of times included in the copy request are the number of copies.

  In order to realize these copying apparatuses, a plurality of copying apparatuses and a database in which the table is recorded are connected via a network, and information indicating the number of times of printing (the number of sheets) is printed from the copying apparatus (by the user). The number of times of copying is updated in the database by transmitting the read identification number to the database. Further, when the copying apparatus is not connected to the database, it may be controlled to prohibit copying.

  Further, in the present invention, at the time of printing, a plurality of IC chips are applied to one medium, and each identification number of the applied IC chips is recorded as one group in association with the print contents in the above database. In reading, a group including at least one identification number among the groups and a medium (printed material) are determined. Further, a predetermined number of IC chips may be held in advance in association with a printing agent corresponding to the predetermined unit, or the identification number may be read each time printing is performed (an IC chip to be applied in advance). The print contents and the identification number may be associated with each other by storing the identification number of the data).

  By embedding an IC chip having a unique identification number in paper, information management, trail management, and unauthorized use detection can be performed for each paper.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, drawings to be used will be described.

  FIG. 1 shows an overall schematic diagram for realizing the present embodiment, in which 100 is a terminal device for instructing printing on paper, 101 is a device for copying paper, and 102 is A management system that manages print information for printing paper, 103 is a database that records print information, 104 is a management system that manages print information across networks, and 105 is 104 in the figure. , 106 is a network system, and 107 is a device for printing print information.

  FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a paper medium for realizing this embodiment, in which 200 is a paper medium, 201 is the information itself output to the paper medium, and 202 is output to the paper medium. IC chip having a unique identification number embedded together with information to be displayed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the apparatus 107 in FIG. 1 for outputting information to a paper medium for realizing the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, 300 is an apparatus main body for outputting information to the paper medium. And
301 is a device for reading information of an IC chip having unique identification information embedded in a paper medium, 302 is a device for printing information on a paper medium, and 303 is a unique identification together with information output on a paper medium. 1 shows an apparatus for simultaneously embedding numbered IC chips.

  FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 for issuing an information output instruction to a paper medium for realizing the present embodiment. 400 in the figure is an information output instruction management terminal apparatus. Yes, 401 is an application program for creating information, 402 is a program for printing information, 403 operates in 402 in the figure for instructing embedding of IC chip having unique identification information and authority information Indicates the program.

  FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the devices 102 and 104 in FIG. 1 for managing the information of the unique identification number for realizing the present embodiment, and 500 in the figure manages the information of the unique identification number. Reference numeral 501 denotes an information management program for a unique identification number.

  FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of embedding an IC chip having a unique identification number on a paper medium as a detail of FIG. 2 for realizing the present embodiment, in which 600 is an ink to be printed on paper. Yes, 601 is an IC chip having a unique identification number, and 602 is a paper medium.

  FIG. 7 shows a block diagram in which an IC chip having a unique identification number for printing this embodiment is printed on paper. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 700 denotes print information in which an IC chip having a unique identification number is embedded. 701 is an enlarged view of 700 in the figure, and shows a state in which the IC chip is embedded in the ink of the printed characters.

  FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of paper, a printing apparatus, and a print management server for realizing the present embodiment. In the figure, 800 indicates a paper medium to be printed, 801 is a printing apparatus, and 804 is 802 is an ink ejection port, 803 is a device for embedding an IC chip having a unique identification number in paper, 805 is an IC chip having a unique identification number on paper Is a program for calculating the conditions for embedding, and uses this program to determine where and how many IC chips are to be embedded. 806 is a print management server, and 807 is an IC chip having unique identification information. It is a program that determines conditions.

  9A to 9C show a processing flow for realizing the present embodiment, and the processing flow is classified into the following three. The process 1 shown in FIG. 9A is a terminal side process, and 901 in the figure creates information to be printed in 401 in the figure shown in FIG. The information to be created is, for example, text, graphics, or image data documented.

  In step 902, the format for printing the information created in step 901 is set in step 402 in FIG. In the next 903, in addition to the format setting of 902 in the drawing in 403 shown in FIG. 4, IC chip embedding designation and information management by the IC chip are set. This information indicates the association information between the printer and the IC chip, the printing authority, the copying authority, and the number of times.

  In the next step 904, the print information created in steps 901, 902, and 903 in the diagram 402 in FIG. In 905, print completion information is received from the print server, and print completion processing is performed.

  Next, the process 2 shown in FIG. 9B executes the following process as the print server side process. In step 906, print information is received from the terminal device in step 806 in FIG. This print information includes IC chip embedding instruction information.

  Next, in 907, the presence / absence of an IC chip embedding instruction is determined in 807 in FIG. If there is an instruction to embed an IC chip, the process proceeds to 908. In 908, IC chip embedding information is created. The embedding information includes a condition for determining whether to embed an IC chip on the printer side, and information serving as a basic value of information stored in a database managed by the print server.

  Next, in 909, the print information created in 906 and 909 is transmitted to the printer to instruct the printer to execute printing. When printing is executed in response to this instruction, in 910, print completion information is received from the printer.

  Next, in 911, IC chip embedding result information is determined from the print completion information received in 910 in the figure. In step 912, the IC chip management information is stored in the management table shown in FIG.

  Next, processing 3 shown in FIG. 9C executes the following processing as printer processing. First, in step 913, print information is received from the print server in step 801 in FIG. In step 914, the IC chip embedding information is determined from the print information received in step 913 in FIG. As a result, if there is an IC chip embedding instruction, the IC chip embedding condition is continuously analyzed in 915 to determine where and how many IC chips are embedded in the print information.

  Next, in 916, print information and IC chip embedding information are created, and in 917, the print information is transmitted to 804 in FIG.

  In 918, an IC chip embedding instruction is determined, and if there is an IC chip embedding instruction, printing information is output from 802 in the figure to 919 and IC chip from 803 in the figure to 800 in the figure in FIG. If there is no instruction, only print information is output to 800 in FIG.

  FIG. 10 shows a management table for managing information when an IC chip having a unique identification number for embodying the present embodiment is embedded together with print information.

  Next, as a method for realizing the present embodiment, a paper medium trail management system will be specifically described. Print information is generated by the block 401 application program of FIG. 4, and a print instruction is issued by the block 402 print program. At that time, an instruction to embed an IC chip having a unique identification number in a paper medium is issued using the block 403 unique identification number printing instruction subprogram.

  Using the block diagrams 302 and 303 of the printing apparatus for the sheet with the unique identification number in FIG. 3, information is printed on the sheet with the unique identification number in FIG. 2 and the IC chip with the unique identification number is embedded. At this time, the information instructed to print and the information of the unique identification number embedded in the paper are stored in the management information from the block 501 in FIG. 5 to the management table in FIG. When a paper medium with a unique identification number is used, the management information in FIG. 5 and the management information from the management table in FIG. 10 can be used to perform paper medium trail management, usage authority check, and copy restriction management.

  Next, a forgery and tampering prevention system will be specifically described as a method for realizing the present embodiment. The block 202 in FIG. 2 is embedded in printing 602 in the figure in a state in which the figure 601 is included in the figure 600 in FIG. The location is determined from the information given from 807 in FIG. 8 at 805 in FIG. 8, so it cannot be specified from the outside, and since the conditions are not constant, the location is not specified every time. It becomes possible to make it difficult to falsify information. Further, the falsification of the information is realized even by verifying the unique identification number of the paper medium from the information in the block 501 management apparatus in FIG. 5 and the management table in FIG.

It is a figure explaining the system outline which comprises the paper medium with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining the paper medium with a unique identification number. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a printing / copying apparatus for a paper medium with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining the printing instruction | indication apparatus of the paper medium with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining the apparatus which manages the information of the paper with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining embedding to the paper of IC chip with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining the embedding state of printing information and a C chip with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining the related apparatus which prints an IC chip with a unique identification number. It is a figure explaining the processing flow which produces the paper medium with a unique identification number (the 1). It is a figure explaining the processing flow which produces the paper medium with a unique identification number (the 2). FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a processing flow for creating a paper medium with a unique identification number (part 3); It is a figure explaining the IC chip management table with a unique identification number.

Explanation of symbols

100: Printing instruction terminal
101: Copy machine
102: Printer server
103: Printer server management database
104: Integrated management server
105: Integrated management database
106: Network
107: Printer
200: Paper with a unique identification number
201: Print information
202: IC chip with a unique identification number
300: Information printing and copying equipment on paper
301: Device for reading the unique identification number embedded in paper
302: Information printing device
303: Device for embedding an IC chip having a unique identification number in paper
400: Print output instruction terminal
401: Print information creation program
402: Printing program
403: Unique ID number print instruction subprogram
500: Unique ID number management device
501: Unique identification number management information
600: Ink
601: IC chip with a unique identification number
602: Paper
700: Printed character with IC chip with unique identification number
701: IC chip with unique identification number
800: Paper
801: Printer
802: Ink output section
803: IC chip output unit with a unique identification number
804: Printing device
805: IC chip information control program with unique identification number
806: Print management server
807: IC chip information setting program having a unique identification number
901: Document creation processing block
902: Print setting processing block
903: IC chip setting processing block having a unique identification number
904: Print execution processing block
905: Printer server print completion processing block
906: Print information reception processing block of the printer server
907: IC chip determination processing block having a unique identification number
908: IC chip information creation processing block having a unique identification number
909: Print instruction processing block
910: Printer printing completion processing block
911: IC chip information write determination processing block having a unique identification number
912: IC chip information storage processing block having a unique identification number
913: Print information reception processing block of printer
914: IC chip determination processing having a printer identification number
915: IC chip embedding analysis processing block with unique identification number
916: IC chip embedded information creation processing block having a unique identification number
917: Print instruction processing block
918: IC chip print determination processing block with unique identification number
919: IC chip embedding processing block having a unique identification number
920: Print processing block

Claims (4)

In a printing system that prints predetermined information on a medium,
Means for holding an IC chip storing a printing agent for printing on the medium and a predetermined identification number;
Means for accepting print instructions;
Means for performing printing in accordance with the printing instruction by mixing the IC chip into the printing agent and applying the mixture onto the medium;
An identification number stored in the IC chip coated with a printing agent on the printed medium is made readable by a reader. The printing system according to claim 1,
Means for reading an identification number of an IC chip to be applied by means for executing the printing;
Means for associating and storing the read identification number and information related to the print instruction;
A printing system that makes it possible to determine the authenticity of the printed medium according to a search result in the storing means for the identification number read by the reading device. Means for accepting a copy request for the medium printed by the printing system according to claim 1;
Means for reading the identification number from the medium;
Means for recording a table that records the number of times that the medium can be copied and the number of times that the medium is copied in association with the identification information;
Means for reading the number of times of copying and the number of times of copying corresponding to the read identification number;
Means for comparing the number of times that can be copied with the number of times that the copy request has been added to the number of times that the copy has been executed and the number of times that the copy has been read;
A copying apparatus comprising: means for performing copying in response to the copy request when the numerical value of the number of possible copies is large or equal as a result of the comparison. In the copying apparatus according to claim 3,
The copying apparatus, wherein the number of possible copies, the number of times of copying, and the number of times included in the copy request are the number of copies.

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