JP3203103B2 - Copy management method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copy management method for a copying machine, and more particularly to a copy management method for managing copying of a confidential document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a copy of a document has been easily obtained due to the spread of a copying machine. However, along with this, copying of a confidential document and the like has been easily performed, and the confidential content has been transmitted to the outside. Leakage and unauthorized use.

[0003]

However, no countermeasures have been taken to prevent the copying of confidential documents and the like in copying machines that are currently in widespread use. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a copy management method for preventing a confidential document from being easily copied by a copying machine.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides means for digitally reading an original image.
And write light on the photoconductor in accordance with the read image information
Image formation by electrophotography process
Means and, in double <br/> copy machine having means for each part of the control and copying control, a copy management method for managing the copying of such confidential document, the document ID number in the interior of the copying machine, the distribution
Such as user ID number, password or operator ID number
Has a non-volatile memory for storing management information, and at the time of copying operation, the password or identification number ( operator ID number) of the operator, and the identification number of the person who intends to distribute this document
(Distributor ID number) and when this is satisfied,
The copier starts reading the document and digitizes the original image.
The copier reads in the read original image
Mark indicating a confidential document registered
The presence or absence of a pattern, and
If there is no turn, permit copying and perform normal copying operation.
A mark indicating a confidential document or a specific pattern.
If so, the text from the mark or specific pattern
It reads the book ID number, and a password or operator ID number which is stored on the non-volatile memory, you find a set of document ID number and distributor ID number.

[0005] As a result of the search, if both the distributor ID number and the document ID number are already stored in the memory , the copying machine sends a signal to refuse copying and restricts the copying function. And confidential documents on the display device
Which display is displayed and the operator is informed of it ,
As a result, the same document ID number and distributor ID number
If not in memory, the document ID number and distributor
Enter the ID number and password or the operator ID number
After storing in Molly, copying is permitted (claim 1 ).

In the above-mentioned copy management method, the secret text
When copying a book, the copying machine prints both the operator of the copying machine and information (copy management information) of the person to be distributed together with the image of the document to be copied (claim 2 ). copy management information to be printed with the document of the image to be either printed as image overlap of the target document, or, characterized in that to print the copy management information in a plurality of times documents (claim 3).

[0007]

According to the copy management method of the present invention, when copying a confidential document, both the password or ID number of the person who copies the document and the ID number of the person who distributes it are requested, and the copying is not accepted unless these are entered. These ID numbers and document ID numbers are always recorded in a non-volatile recording-only memory inside the copying machine. Then, at the time of reading the confidential document, the ID number is read from a specific pattern existing in the document, and whether or not the same document ID number and the same distributor ID number have already been recorded on the memory is searched. If there is a set of the same document ID number and the same distributor ID number, the copying machine restricts copying and notifies the operator of the restriction. Thereby, easy copying of the confidential document can be prevented.

In the above-mentioned copy management method, when copying a confidential document, the copying machine prints both the operator of the copying machine and the information (copy management information) of the person to be distributed, together with the image of the document to be copied. Furthermore, if the copy management information to be printed is printed so as to overlap the image of the target document, or if the copy management information is printed in the document a plurality of times, the confidential document can be easily copied. Can be weakened, and easy copying of a confidential document can be prevented.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. A copying machine to which the present invention is applied includes a document reading device that reads a document image digitally and stores it in a memory as image information, and performs image formation by an electrophotographic process by performing optical writing on a photoconductor in accordance with the read image information. A digital copying machine that includes an image forming apparatus that performs control and copy management of each unit using a known microcomputer is suitable.
A device having a nonvolatile memory (such as an IC memory) for storing management information such as a D number and an operator ID number is suitable. Since the memory size required for managing the ID numbers and the like may be 4 to 6 bytes for one piece of information, a current IC memory chip can manage about 100,000 cases.
Further, since the copier needs to read not only whether the set document is a confidential document but also the ID number or the like printed on the document, an optical character recognition device (OCR) or an optical mark recognition device is required. The function of (OMR) is essential.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of a copy management process according to the present invention executed by the microcomputer. As shown in FIG. 1, in the copy management system of the present invention, a document image is first read, and by using the functions of OCR and OMR, it is determined whether or not there is a mark indicating a confidential document registered in the read document in advance. Is detected.
If there is no mark indicating a confidential document, copying is permitted and a normal copying operation is performed. If there is a mark indicating a confidential document, the password or ID of the operator
Number and ID number of the person who distributes (or distribution destination code, etc.)
Is input, and each time, the same document ID number and the same distributor ID number on the memory are searched to see if they have already been recorded. If a set of the same document ID number and the same distributor ID number exists in the memory, the copying machine rejects the copying, displays a confidential document on the display device, and notifies the operator of the fact. . If there is no combination of the same document ID number and the same distributor ID number in the memory, the document ID number and the distributor ID number are recorded in the memory, and then copying is permitted.

Next, a more specific example will be described.
First, an actual example considered as a manuscript of a confidential document is shown in FIG. In this example, the document is mainly composed of characters, and a “document ID” overlapping with the character information is printed on a part of the document. As an example of the document ID, there is a method using a barcode as shown in FIG. In this example, a fairly thick line is used. In this case, it is appropriate to give a black-and-white inverted pattern for a portion overlapping the character portion. Of course,
Instead of such a barcode, a two-dimensionally distributed point-like pattern may be used. The content to be recorded may be “date, reporter, document classification code, identification (ID) number”.

To copy a document on which a document ID indicating a confidential document as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is printed, first, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Enter the person's password or ID number. If the user tries to copy a confidential document without inputting this, the copier identifies the pattern of FIG. 3 and requests the password (or ID number) of the operator. Next, the user requests the ID number (or name, etc.) of the person to distribute the document to.

The entered password (or ID number) of the operator is the password (or ID number) on the storage device (memory) stored in the copying machine, the corresponding document ID number, and the distributor. Are compared. And if the same distributor ID number and document I
If there is a set of D numbers, further operations are rejected, the copying operation is stopped, and a display such as a confidential document is displayed on the display device. If there is no set with the same number, the operation is continued. After that, the password (or ID number) of the operator, the document ID number and the distributor ID number are stored in the storage device, and the copying operation is executed. At this time, at the same time, the same contents are printed as copy management information on the recording paper as needed. In this case, printing of the operator and distributor names is particularly effective as the copy management information.

Here, as an embodiment, both a person who copies the document and a person who distributes the document are printed on the copied document. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the name is printed in a form in which the image is overlaid on the document. In this example, the person copying is "Cunning" and the person distributing is "Pon."
s ". Other information that is simultaneously printed is
Dates and organization names can be considered. It is also effective to print the management information in a document a plurality of times.
Is printed twice. In this embodiment, since the person who operates and the person who is distributed overlap the normal document, it is not easy to delete this. Therefore, it is possible to at least weaken the intention to copy easily. Further, by doing so, it is possible to suppress the possibility that the copy document is intentionally leaked to the outside. In this example, the name is printed using blank characters, but it is needless to say that printing can be performed using halftone as another method. Further, if the copying machine is capable of printing two or more colors, it is possible to change the color of the copied image of the document and the color of the management information for printing.

[0015]

As described above, in the copy management method of the present invention, it is assumed that a confidential document is printed with some kind of mark if it is confidential. Normally, copying is refused. However, copying is enabled by receiving both the password (or ID number) of the person to be copied and the ID number (for example, employee code) of the person to be distributed beforehand or at the stage of reading the mark. In this way, the operator can be given psychological pressure against unauthorized use after copying. Further, the operator ID number (and password), the distributor ID number, and the document ID number are recorded in the memory inside the copier, and each time a confidential document is copied, these ID numbers are searched. If there is a combination, refusal of copying can more strictly prevent unauthorized use.

Further, in the copy management method of the present invention,
When copying a confidential document, the copying machine prints both the operator of the copying machine and information of the distribution target (copy management information) together with the image of the document to be copied, and further copies the copy management information to be printed. By printing the document so that it overlaps with the image of the target document, or by printing the copy management information multiple times in the document, the intention of copying the confidential document easily can be weakened. Easy copying of the document can be prevented, and the possibility that the copied document is intentionally leaked to the outside can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a copy management process according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a document on which a document ID indicating a confidential document is printed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document ID printed on a document.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a document copied by the copy management method of the present invention, showing an example in which copy management information is printed on a copy document.

[Explanation of symbols]

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-3264 (JP, A) JP-A-2-165290 (JP, A) JP-A-62-272049 (JP, A) JP-A-5-72049 122476 (JP, A) JP-A-63-146556 (JP, A) JP-A-5-41779 (JP, A) JP-A-6-102797 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 21/00 370-512 G03G 21/04 G03G 21/00 560-562 G06T 7/00 H04N 1/44

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A means for digitally reading an original image;
Optical writing on the photoconductor according to the read image information
For performing image formation by electrophotographic process
And a copy management method for managing copying of a confidential document or the like in a copying machine having means for controlling each part and performing copy management, wherein a document ID number, a distributor ID number,
Stores management information such as passwords or operator ID numbers
Has a non-volatile memory that operates, and performs a password or identification number ( operator ID number) of an operator during a copying operation;
Further, the identification number of the person who intends to distribute this document (distributor ID number)
Requesting No.) When this is satisfied, the copying machine starts reading the document, reading an original image digitally
The copier registers in the read original image in advance.
Are there any marks or specific patterns that indicate confidential documents
No, no mark or specific pattern
In this case, allow copying and perform normal copying
When there is a mark indicating a document or a specific pattern
Reads the document ID number from the mark or a specific pattern, searches for a set of a password or operator ID number, a document ID number, and a distributor ID number stored in the nonvolatile memory , and performs the search. As a result, distributor I
Both the D number and the document ID number are already recorded on the memory.
If so, send a signal to refuse copying,
Copy function is restricted and confidential documents are displayed on the display device.
Is displayed, the operator is informed of the display, and the above search is performed.
As a result, the same set of document ID number and distributor ID number
If not in the memory, the document ID number and distribution
User ID number and password or operator ID number
A copy management method characterized by permitting copying after being stored in a memory . 2. A copy management method according to claim 1, machine
When copying a dense document, the copier copies the image of the document to be copied.
In both cases, information on the copier operator and the distribution target (copy management information
And a copy management method characterized by printing both of the information. 3. A copy management method according to claim 2, wherein
The replication management information to be printed with the document image to be copy target
Print it so that it overlaps the original image, or
Alternatively, a copy management method characterized by printing copy management information in a document a plurality of times .