JP2013097542A - Wood grain authentication device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wood grain authentication device capable of eliminating need for a special component for authentication by using wood grain as ID authentication, and authentication operation such as moving a medium to be authenticated close to the authentication device as well.SOLUTION: The wood grain authentication device comprises: a camera 1 for photographing a medium to be authenticated formed of wood grain; an image processing section 2 for extracting a feature of the wood grain from an image photographed by the camera 1; a feature storage section 3 for storing extracted wood grain data; and an authentication section 4 for comparing the wood grain data stored in the feature storage section 3 with wood grain data newly photographed by the camera 1 to be acquired, and when determining that they are coincident, outputting an authentication signal. The image processing section 2 extracts, from the image, at least line data of the wood grain as the wood grain data.

Description

  The present invention relates to an ID authentication technique, and more particularly, to a wood grain authentication apparatus that uses a natural wood grain for ID authentication.

  Conventional ID authentication forms include managing IDs by attaching barcodes to authentication media or attaching or carrying RFID tags. For example, in Patent Document 1, while an RFID tag is carried by a nurse or the like, an ID receiving device is provided at the entrance of a hospital room, and the electrical lock of the hospital room is unlocked without unlocking operation to improve security. Yes.

JP 2008-245787 A

  In the case of the configuration described in Patent Document 1, the RFID tag is suitable for ID authentication because it can store a large amount of information. However, the RFID tag is more expensive than a barcode and requires an operation close to the authentication device. Was troublesome. In the form using the barcode, a certain space for providing the barcode is required for the authentication medium. When the medium itself is small, a design restriction occurs.

  Therefore, in view of such problems, the present invention focuses on natural trees that do not have the same two, eliminates the need for a special member for authentication by using the grain for ID authentication, It is an object of the present invention to provide a wood grain authentication apparatus that can eliminate an authentication operation such as approaching the authentication apparatus.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a wood grain authentication apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 includes a camera for imaging an authenticated medium formed of wood grain, and a feature extraction unit that extracts a grain feature from the captured image of the camera. And the feature storage unit that stores the extracted grain data, and the grain data stored in the feature storage unit and the grain data newly captured and captured by the camera, and outputs an authentication signal when it is determined that they match The feature extracting unit extracts line information constituting a wood grain pattern from the image as wood grain data.
According to this configuration, since the wood grain pattern of natural wood is used as an ID, it is possible to perform ID authentication using the annual ring pattern of a natural wood product that is usually carried around, and it is necessary to separately use an RFID card, a barcode seal, or the like. Disappears. In addition, it is only necessary to be able to capture an image, and an authentication operation such as approaching the authentication device is not required. Furthermore, when a plurality of trees are captured at the same time, it is possible to authenticate the plurality of trees simultaneously, which is convenient.
And since it authenticates using natural materials, the authentication medium can be designed to give comfort.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first aspect, when registering the grain data in the feature storage unit, there is a time limit setting unit that sets a data expiration date by a time stamp, When the period set by the time stamp has elapsed since registration, the registered grain data is deleted.
According to this configuration, re-registration work is required by providing the registration data with an expiration date, but it is possible to minimize the occurrence of errors with respect to changes over time due to natural tree scratches and the like.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the first or second aspect, the authentication unit recognizes the difference in the grain data due to the occurrence of a flaw at the time of authentication, and if the difference occurs, the grain data stored in the feature storage unit Is updated with data having a difference.
According to this configuration, an error is not caused by recognizing a flaw, and since the flaw itself is part of the grain data, highly accurate authentication can be continued.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to the third aspect, a new expiration date is set for the updated grain data by the time limit setting unit.
According to this configuration, since the time limit is updated when the data is updated, the re-registration work can be reduced.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the feature extraction unit extracts the color of the grain and combines it with the line data to obtain the grain data, and the authentication unit makes a determination based on both the color and the line. It is characterized by.
According to this configuration, high-precision authentication can be performed by using the color in addition to the line as part of the authentication information.

According to the present invention, since a natural wood grain pattern is used as an ID, it is possible to perform ID authentication using an annual ring pattern of a natural wood product that is usually carried around, and it is necessary to separately use an RFID card, a bar code seal, or the like. Disappears. Further, since authentication is performed from the captured image of the camera, an authentication operation such as approaching the authentication device is not required as long as the image can be captured. Furthermore, when a plurality of trees are captured at the same time, it is possible to authenticate the plurality of trees simultaneously, which is convenient.
And since it authenticates using natural materials, the authentication medium can be designed to give comfort.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the grain authentication apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of authentication.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a wood grain authentication apparatus according to the present invention, a camera 1 for imaging a grain, an image processing unit 2 for extracting the characteristics of a grain from an image captured by the camera 1, and registration data for ID authentication. The feature storage unit 3 that stores the image, the authentication unit 4 that determines whether the image stored in the feature storage unit 3 and the newly acquired image match, the operation unit 5 that performs various operations, and the authentication result are notified For example, a communication unit 7 for communicating with an external device (not shown), a history storage unit 8 for storing an authentication history, and the like.

  The camera 1 outputs the captured image as a color digital video signal with, for example, 256 gradations.

When recognizing the grain from the image captured by the camera 1, the image processing unit 2 extracts the recognized grain information. The image processing unit 2 stores line and color features peculiar to wood grain in advance, and if an image close to this feature image exists in the captured image, it is determined that the wood grain is captured.
The extracted wood grain is enlarged or reduced by the image processing unit 2 and outputted with a certain size. By unifying and outputting the grain size in this way, a change in size due to a difference in imaging distance of the imaged object is corrected.
The grain information is composed of line data and color data, and the line data can be extracted using, for example, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-277315. The color data is, for example, a color obtained by averaging the entire grain.

  The feature storage unit 3 stores line data and color data registered for authenticating the grain.

  The authentication unit 4 registers and authenticates the line data and color data extracted by the image processing unit 2. The grain data read in the registration mode state is registered, and the grain data read in the authentication mode state is compared with the registered data to determine whether there is matching data. Thus, if there is matching data, an authentication signal is output.

  The notification unit 6 includes a speaker for notifying the authentication result by sound and an LED for notifying by blinking.

  The operation of the wood grain authentication apparatus configured as described above will be described below. First, the registration operation flow will be described. A predetermined operation of the operation unit 5 enters a registration mode state, and registration is possible. In this state, when the camera 1 images the registration target grain, the captured video is sent to the image processing unit 2 and image processing is performed.

When recognizing the presence of a grain, the image processing unit 2 extracts the grain, adjusts the extracted grain size to a predetermined size, and generates line data and color data.
The generated data is stored in the feature storage unit 3 under the control of the authentication unit 4. At this time, an ID number for managing the grain is set and automatically attached, and time limit data (time stamp data) described later is also attached. The effective date of the grain data is set by this time limit data.

  Further, when a name or the like for identifying the grain data is input from the operation unit 5, this information is also registered. Completion of registration is output to the notification unit 6 and the communication unit 7 to notify that it has been registered by light, sound, or communication.

  At the time of registration, the authentication unit 4 performs a comparison process with the data already stored in the feature storage unit 3. If there is the same data in this comparison, the registration is rejected and the grain data extracted from the camera captured image Is destroyed.

Next, the flow of authentication will be described. Authentication is started by shifting to the authentication mode by a predetermined operation of the operation unit 5. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of this authentication process, and the description will be made based on this flow.
The video imaged by the camera 1 (S1) is transmitted to the image processing unit 2 and image processing is performed (S2). First, the image processing unit 2 recognizes that a wood grain has been imaged, and when the wood grain is recognized, enlarges or reduces the wood area so as to have a predetermined size, and separates and generates line data and color data.

The generated grain data is compared with data registered in the authentication unit 4. First, a comparison process is performed between the line data and the line data registered in the feature storage unit 3 (S3). If there is the same data, the next comparison between the generated color data and the registered color data is performed. Processing is performed (S5). At this time, since the vertical direction of the data is unknown, the data is rotated 180 degrees and the comparison is performed.
If there is no identical data in the line data, the grain data extracted from the imaging data is discarded (S4), and the authentication process ends. If the color data does not match the color data associated with the matched line data, the grain data is discarded (S6), and the authentication process ends.

  If the color data matches with the line data, the wood grain data is recognized as matching with the registered data, and the authentication unit 4 outputs an authentication signal. Further, the ID number and the authentication time of the authenticated data are recorded in the history storage unit (S7).

  Upon receiving the authentication signal, the notification unit 6 notifies that it has been authenticated by sound or light (S8). An authentication signal is output from the communication unit 7 to the outside. In response to this signal, for example, the electric lock is unlocked.

  However, as described above, the registered wood grain data has a time stamp pressed, and is erased when a predetermined period set by the time stamp elapses. This is because the pattern of natural wood changes due to the occurrence of scratches, and the color also changes due to secular change, so the data at the time of registration cannot be used permanently. For this reason, the stored data is managed by the authentication unit 4. For example, when a time stamp of one month is pressed, it is automatically deleted when one month has passed since registration, and the notification unit 6 uses sound or light. An update notification is made.

As described above, since the natural wood grain pattern is used as an ID, it is possible to perform ID authentication using the annual ring pattern of a natural wood product that is usually carried around, and there is no need to separately use an RFID card or a bar code seal. . Further, since the image processing unit 2 grasps the presence of the grain, an authentication operation such as approaching the authentication device is not required. Furthermore, when a plurality of trees are captured at the same time, it is possible to authenticate the plurality of trees simultaneously, which is convenient.
Since authentication is performed using natural materials, the authentication medium can be designed to give comfort.Also, re-registration work is required by setting an expiration date on the registration data. In addition, the occurrence of errors can be minimized, and by using the color in addition to the pattern as part of the authentication information, highly accurate authentication can be performed.

Here, the case where a damage | wound has generate | occur | produced in the wood of authentication object is demonstrated. If the line data extracted by the image processing unit 2 has a flaw in the wood, the flaw is also converted into data and generated integrally. Therefore, if the data is registered when the authentication unit 4 authenticates, it is determined that they match, but at the same time, a difference due to the occurrence of a flaw is also recognized.
When the authentication unit 4 recognizes the occurrence of the difference, the authentication unit 4 updates the registered data with the latest data including the difference. At the same time, the time stamp is reset and updated.
This data update is not necessarily performed. If the expiration date of the data based on the time stamp is, for example, about one month, it may be updated by a normal registration operation at this timing.

  As described above, recognition of the difference due to the flaw does not cause an error, and the flaw itself is made part of the grain data, so that highly accurate authentication can be continued. In addition, since the time limit is updated when the data is updated, the re-registration work can be reduced.

Such a wood grain authentication apparatus can be suitably used in a nurse call system including a wireless nurse call master unit. For example, the case of a wireless nurse call parent machine carried by a nurse is made of natural wood, and authentication can be performed by installing a camera for ID authentication for each hospital room. In this way, just by taking a picture of the wireless nurse call master unit carried by the nurse, the nurse can be authenticated and the associated patient information can be displayed on the corridor lamp in front of the hospital room. The teacher can easily grasp the details of the patient information.
In addition, by installing a camera to image the charging base of the wireless nurse call master unit installed in the nurse station, it is possible to simultaneously authenticate multiple wireless nurse call master units set on the charging stand. The status and usage status can be monitored, making it easier to manage the wireless nurse call master unit.

  Furthermore, the above-described wood grain authentication apparatus is also suitable for intercom equipment. When the above wood grain authentication device is applied to doorphones installed at the entrance and collective entrances installed at the entrances of apartment buildings, individual residents can be identified by using natural wood for resident key chains and mobile phones. Can do. As a result, the unlocking of the electric lock of the house, the unlocking of the automatic door of the apartment house entrance, etc. can be carried out.

  In the above embodiment, authentication is performed when both line data and color data match, but authentication may be performed using only line data. For color data, if the same type of wood is processed in the same way for each certified wood, there will be little difference, but the grain pattern that is line data will differ individually, so only line data is good. Can be authenticated.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera, 2 ... Image processing part (feature extraction part), 3 ... Feature storage part, 4 ... Authentication part, 6 ... Notification part, 7 ... Communication part, 8 ... History storage part.

Claims (5)

A camera for imaging a medium to be authenticated formed of wood;
A feature extraction unit for extracting the features of the grain from the captured image of the camera;
A feature storage unit for storing the extracted wood grain data;
Comparing the grain data stored in the feature storage unit with the grain data newly acquired by imaging by the camera, and having an authentication unit that outputs an authentication signal when it is determined that they match,
The said feature extraction part extracts the line information which comprises a grain pattern from an image as grain data, The grain authentication apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. When registering the grain data in the feature storage unit, it has a time limit setting unit for setting the data expiration date by a time stamp,
2. The wood grain authentication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time limit setting unit deletes the registered wood grain data when a period set by a time stamp has elapsed since registration. The authentication unit recognizes the difference of the grain data due to the occurrence of scratches at the time of authentication,
The wood grain authentication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when a difference occurs, the grain data stored in the feature storage unit is updated with the data having the difference. 4. The wood grain authentication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a new expiration date is set for the updated grain data by the time limit setting unit. The feature extraction unit extracts the color of the grain and combines it with the line data to obtain grain data,
5. The wood grain authentication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the authentication unit makes determination based on both color and line.

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