DD299094A5 - COPY MEDIUM FOR A FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM - Google Patents

Abstract

There is described a copy medium for copying pictorial representations to produce a document by the copier of a standard facsimile machine in a manner that makes the document illegible to a casual viewer. It is a band of flexible printing medium provided, which is received by the facsimile machine for the passage and in front of the printhead. The copy medium has a surface for receiving a pictorial representation from the copier. In addition, a band of unclear medium is provided which is removably attached to the copy medium along its periphery in a manner that allows the unclear medium to pass through the facsimile machine along with the copy medium. The unclear medium has an indistinct part covering a copy surface of the print medium onto which the copier prints pictorial representations for making a copy on the copy medium that are illegible to a random viewer. Four embodiments are disclosed for use in each of the heat and plain paper facsimile machines. An address scheme is shown to allow the receiver to be recognized without opening the "wrapper". One embodiment may be used to provide a plain paper output in a standard facsimile machine with thermal print head by simply replacing the thermal paper used. {Facsimile; Rendering illegible documents; thermally activated copy medium; Print media; unclear medium; indistinct part; Kopierflaeche; Addressing scheme}

Description

Field of application of the invention

The invention relates to a copying medium for a facsimile transmission system for transmitting a document between a transmitter and a receiver by image transmission; this is done in a manner which prevents unauthorized random reading of the document, and which relates more particularly to a copy medium for copying the pictorial representations to produce by the copier of a standard facsimile machine a document in a manner which the document for a random observer insoluble. As an additional advantage, one embodiment provides a plain paper exit in a standard facsimile machine with thermal print head.

The sending of documents by facsimile is an increasing phenomenon in his interest. It is positive that the facsimile transmission is fast, accurate and inexpensive. As a negative it turns out that facsimile is something like sending a postcard; that is, anyone in the delivery chain can read the broadcast content. The SI. Particularly troubling where the document transmitted contains personal or privileged information.

The ordinary mail comes in an envelope to its destination, which may be marked "Confidential" or the like, a sign that it may only be opened by the recipient.) On the other hand facsimile transmissions come without an envelope The cover "Confidential" on the cover sheet acts only to assist the recipient (and any other intermediaries between the sender and the designated recipient) in that the document contains information that might be interesting to read. The only way to avoid unwanted reading of the materials is for transmitters to notify the particular recipient by telephone and announce that a confidential facsimile transcription is being transmitted and that the particular recipient must go to the facsimile machine to receive the document Recover page by page as it is received and transmitted.

An additional problem of the presently large number of existing facsimile machines is the use of heat paper to minimize equipment costs. In order to provide a so-called "plain paper" output, the facsimile machine must incorporate the coplex and the expensive xerographic copier or the like, which has increased the cost of the facsimile machine beyond that which most users are willing to pay ,

Furthermore, a security facsimile transmission system is required in which the security features of the transmission may be under the control of the recipient.

Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a copying medium for a facsimile transmission system on which a received facsimile descriptor can be copied from a standard facsimile machine in a manner that actually makes the finished copy unreadable to the viewer who is due ,

Another object of this invention is to provide a security facsimile transmission system with the copy medium, the security features of the transmission being under the control of the recipient.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a copy medium for facsimile transmission on which a received facsimile can be thermally copied in a manner that in fact makes the finished copy in the copy quality equal.

Description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a simplified drawing of a document received and printed by known methods and materials, the copy produced being readily read by a casual observer. Figure 2 is a simplified drawing depicting the copying process and the materials of the known thermal paper facsimile machines.

Figure 3 is a simplified drawing depicting the copying process and the materials of the known plain paper facsimile machine

Figure 4 is a simplified drawing depicting the copying process and the materials of a plain paper facsimile machine using the copying medium of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a simplified drawing showing the copying process and the materials of a thermally operated facsimile machine using the copying medium according to the invention in a first embodiment. depicting.

Figure 6 is a simplified drawing depicting the copying process and the materials of a thermally operated facsimile machine using the copying medium of the present invention in a second embodiment.

Figure 7 is a simplified drawing depicting the copying process and the materials of a thermally operated facsimile machine using the copying medium of the invention in a third embodiment.

Figure 8 is a simplified plan view of a transparent copy medium having an interference pattern on the backside according to a feature of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows the copy medium of FIG. 8 with a message printed on the transparent part, depicting how the interference pattern to be seen by the transparent part makes the message illegible to the casual observer.

Figure 10 is an enlarged (not to scale) simplified cross section of an addressable thermal copy security paper as the copy medium of this invention.

Figure 11 is a simplified drawing of a document that appears on the addressable security paper when copied.

Figure 12 is a simplified block diagram of a computerized system for locating address identity along a document edge for transmission to the addressable security paper.

Figure 13 is an enlarged (not to scale) simplified cross section of the addressable thermal copy security paper of the invention according to another embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

First, Figure 1 is considered. A document 10 received and copied by the known methods and materials is depicted, with the resulting copy 12 being easily read by the random viewer. As previously mentioned, in a typical known standard facsimile machine available on the market today, the copy 12 of Figure 1 is made in either of the two ways.

As depicted in Figure 2, the use of a 9S printhead 14 is the most common approach. According to the last figures, this representation accounts for approximately 75% of the facsimile machines currently in use. The copy medium is a paper roll 16 having a thermally activated layer 18 thereon. The print head 14 extends transversely across the width of the paper 16 which moves under the print head during the copying process. The printhead 14 includes a plurality of thermal resistors (not shown) that may be individually heated upon application of a current. When a resistor of the printhead 14 is activated at a particular pixel location and heated to a threshold temperature, the underlying coating 18 turns black, as indicated at 20 in the drawing of FIG. 2; in this way a visible spot is formed. In a plain paper type printing machine (such as a photocopying machine using a xerographic process or a so-called "laser printer"), the process of Fig. 3 takes place (shown in a greatly simplified form) is caused by depositing the toner 22 from a toner head 24 (or the like) on the paper 16. It is then "baked" by a heat process in the surface of the paper 16. How these processes are performed using the copying medium of the present invention to produce unreadable images will be described below. First, Figure 4 is considered. A security medium, generally designated 26, is shown in Figure 3 using a plain paper facsimile copying system. The copy medium 26 includes a transparency 28 of the type that is usable in a transmitter-initiated security facsimile system. The transparency 28 has an upper surface 30 which is adapted to receive and thermally burn a toner image therein. At the bottom of the transparency 28, a lower layer 32 is attached. The bottom layer 32 is preferably made of paper and contains the "tab" which covers the adhesive material (mentioned above), which temporarily removes the bottom layer 32 from the transparency 28 in a manner to be described in more detail The medium 26 may also be used as a "FaxOver" in the transmitter-initiating security facsimile system and thus serves a dual purpose .The upper surface 34 of the lower layer 32 has an interference pattern thereon (not shown in this drawing) having a It prevents random observers from reading an image on the top surface 30 of the transparency 28, since the interference pattern is also visible at the same time as the image The interference pattern is preferably a pattern of the lines that creates a confusion factor, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art it could also be a rectangular pattern of any kind or a solid dark color, ie e is substantially the same as that of the toner 22. To view the image, the back layer is replaced by a white layer that makes the image visible against the white background.

Subsequently, Figure 5 is considered. A security medium, generally designated 26 ', is illustrated using a thermally operated facsimile copying system, such as the system of FIG. The copy medium 26 'again contains a transparency 28'. In this embodiment, however, the transparency 28 'has a heat-activated coating 18' on the top surface 30 which is suitable for thermal activation in the manner of coating on the paper 16 of FIG. The result of the copying operation by the print head 14 is therefore substantially identical to that of the known embodiment; d. H. black images (ie, activated "black" parts 20 ') formed on the surface 30 of a transparent sheet (ie, the transparency 28') are applied to the bottom of the transparency 28 'again a bottom layer 32 of the paper, and In addition, the lower layer 32 preferably again contains the tab which covers the adhesive material so that the medium 26 'can also be used as a "FaxOver" in the transmitter-initiated process and serves a dual purpose The surface 34 of the lower layer 32 again has an interference pattern so that a random observer is disturbed when reading an image on the surface 30 of the transparency 28 'The lower layer 32 is replaced by a white sheet to be able to view the image so that the black diamond can be made visible against a normal white background In Fk Irish 6 and 7, two other methods and material are used 2 for use with the thermally-driven copying process of FIG. In the gum 26 "of Figure 6, the paper 16 with the known heat activated coating 18 thereon has a releasable, thin, opaque heat transfer medium 36. The heat transfer medium 36 may alternatively be transparent or have a printed interference pattern. The goal is that it is impossible to see through the medium 36, and that images formed in the coating 18 on the paper 16 are easily readable. The preferred medium 36 is a thin plastic impregnated with powdered or finely granulated metal having a high thermal conductivity index, for example aluminum. It will be appreciated that the plastic of the medium must be a frangible material that can be cut by a slitter, or it will block the cutting tool, since the heat-facsimile machines are typically set up to use a roll copier medium which is of a built-in type Slitting tool is cut in lengths. Thus, as the printhead 14 heats a particular pixel location, the generated heat is rapidly transmitted in a vertical direction through the adjacent image element position activating medium 36 of the coating 18, thereby forming a visible location (i.e., an activated and black area)

Area 20) is generated at this position. In order for the document to be viewed in this embodiment, the heat transfer medium 36 must be removed to expose the underlying paper 16 with the copy thereon. The medium 26 "of Figure 7 uses plain white paper for the paper 16. A transport medium 38 having a heat-transferred black 40 thereon is placed on the paper 16. Such fabrics are known in the art and are typically referred to as the ribbon ("Ribbon") used a plain paper heat copier. The "black" 40 is actually a colored, wax-based material that is non-transferable at standard temperature, but which snaps and then transfers to and solidifies in the surface of the paper 16, as at 38, when exposed to a temperature. which is essentially the same as that used to activate the coating 18 as previously described herein While in copy tapes the medium 36 is typically made of a thin solid plastic, such as Mylar or the like, it will be referred to in this application It is preferable that the temperature medium 38 be made of a cheap (and fragile) material, for example, a light weight paper, In order to view the document after copying in this embodiment, the transport medium 38 must be removed to expose the copy on the underlying paper 16 It is preferred (but not required) for the transport medium 38 to be a additional masking agent is added, in addition to that provided by the blackness 40. This may be done by copying an interference pattern (which as before may include a solid color) on the surface of the transport medium 38 opposite to the black 40. This embodiment offers the additional advantage of providing a plain paper exit in a standard facsimile machine with a thermal print head. In this way, a thermal copying facsimile machine can be converted to a plain paper output device by simply exchanging its thermal paper with the medium 26 '' 'of Fig. 7. Next, Figs.

The operation of dual purpose transparency 28, 28 'having a lower layer 32 as described with reference to the embodiments of Figs. 4 and 5 will now be discussed in greater detail. The transparency 28, 28 'has a strip of adhesive material 44 which adjoins at least one edge. The adhesive material 44 is preferably located at the uppermost edge (which is the leading edge through the printing path of a facsimile machine). If desired, the adhesive material 44 may be used along the top and bottom edges, or even all four edges, to create a true "envelope" for each side of a received facsimile document the entire surface of the transparency 28,28 ', for example, by using one of the easy-to-dissolve adhesives, which are immediately available for use in provisional and releasable attachment of a paper part to a surface (including another paper part) without the The lower layer 32 is attached to the other side of the adhesive material 42. In this way, the lower layer 32 forms an expanded tab (tab) as already mentioned in the above-referenced copending application 32 has a line of perforations 46 which are transversely un d adjacent extend over the adhesive material 44, so that the lower layer 32 can be easily separated. The perforations 46 divide the lower layer 32 in a mounting strip 48 and an indistinct part 50. There we i also preferred that additional transverse perforations are provided 46 ', which are arranged vertically spaced from each other along the length of the lower layer 32 so that a part on the first layers (s'ieets) can be removed to see and read the identity of the particular recipient. Where an adhesive fastener is used along the side edges, vertical perforations adjacent thereto are also used. If, of course, a facsimile cover sheet is used (as is done with a good raksimile etiquette), the entire lower layer 32 can be removed from the first (ie, cover) layer to identify the recipient. It should be noted incidentally that in the embodiments of Figs. 6 and 7, the paper 16 is preferably attached to the overlying heat transfer medium 36 and transport medium 38, respectively, by adhesive attachment along the side edges with adjacent perforations for easy separation. In all cases, it is preferred that the perforations 46, 46 ', etc., be formed by a laser cutting process which will readily separate and not produce pieces of paper which are conveyed into working parts of the adjacent electromechanical device. As can be seen from the drawings, the interference pattern 52 is included in the portion 50 over the area, which may include a pictorial representation on the overlying transparency 28, 28 '. The effect of the interference pattern 52 can be seen in Figure 9, where the phrase "Now is the time for all good people to help their party"). generally designated 54, has been printed on the transparency 28, 28 '. It can be seen that the interference pattern 52 makes reading the expression difficult to impossible, at least for the casual observer belonging to the particular party to be excluded from reading the documents by the present invention,

In the preferred embodiment, the mounting tab 48 is white in color so as to activate any copying machine with which it is used in its dual type of use requiring it. The back of the indistinct portion j 50 is also white in the preferred embodiment, in addition to provide the need for a white background as a prerequisite for reading a pictorial representation on the transparency 28, 28 '. To use the preferred embodiment for viewing the pictorial, the fuzzy portion 50 is removed at the perforations 46 and vice versa to use the white back. The fastener is then peeled off the adhesive material 44, and the adhesive 44 is used to secure the white back of the fuzzy portion 50 to the transparency 28, 28 ', thereby visualizing the image. A preferred feature of the invention in all embodiments for safety purposes is to initially attach the print medium to the unclear medium in such a manner as to become apparent when the unclear medium has been removed from the print medium sufficient for a document to be printed is copied to the printing medium to be read. It can be appreciated that where only one person (or a group of people with similar security interests) receives documents on the paper described above, the recognition of the recipient is not the problem. The documents are delivered to the recipients and then the cover sheet is removed. However, where the recipient is not known, the paper is more of a disadvantage. If the standard facsimile label follows, each document (consisting of one or more pages) is initiated through a cover page identifying the recipient.

In such a case, the cover layer of the top side is simply removed to make the receiver visible. Where no top side is used, the receiving station personnel must take care to remove only as much of the first side topcoat as required to detect the receiver.

In many cases, it would be preferable in the receiving station to know the identity of the recipient without having to open anything at all, in whole or in part. For example, livestock hotels are already equipped with both incoming and outgoing facsimile services for their guests. In order to gain confidence, they would like to use the paper described above. As a convenience to them and as a manifestation of complete preservation of security, however, they would prefer to have the identified recipient on the outside of the "wrapper" as in a standard mail delivery An apparatus for carrying out the object of the present invention will be described below ,

FIG. 10 shows in cross-section an edge of a heat-resistant paper of the type described above and according to the addressability features of this device in a modified form, which is generally designated 110 '. It must be explicitly stated that the drawing is not to scale. The coatings used herein are sometimes greatly enlarged to make the structure of the paper 110 'generally clearer and clearer.

Paper 110 'includes a cover layer 114 disposed over a paper base 112. The cover layer 114 is preferably secured to the paper base 112 along its edges with an adhesive 130. The cover layer 114 is perforated at 124 near the edge of the adhesive 130 to allow rapid, easy, and clean removal of the central portion of the cover layer 114 disposed over the text 128 of a document 126. The cover layer 114 is coated on the side opposite the paper base 112 with a heat transferable blackening 116, as described in the original description hereinbefore. However, in the preferred paper 110 ', the blackening coating 116 only exists between the perforations 124. The other side (ie, the top) of the topcoat 114 has a thermally activated material coating strip 132, for example, for coating over the "heat" facsimile paper Of course, a separate strip of material could be used, but the manufacturing process could be accomplished by explicitly coating the opposite sides of the cover layer 114 with the blackening 116 and the thermally activated material 132 at their respective positions and then attaching the coated cover layer 114 to the paper bottom 112 with the adhesive 130 at its edges, to ensure even roll of the paper 110 'into a supply roll, it is preferred that strips of thermally activated material 132 be present along both edges and that the thickness of the coating of the thermally activated material 132 is substantially identical to that of the coating of the blackening 116.

In Figure 11, as the receiver is marked along the edges of the original document, the receiver portion of the original document is printed on a receiver mark formed on the edges of the paper 110 'by the strip of thermally activated material 132 along the edges ,

While the receiver could be added to the edge of the document by hand or typewriter (by laterally inserting the document into the machine), as depicted in Figure 12, a computer method could be used to insert the receiver part into the computer generated documents intended for transfer to the paper 110 'of this embodiment. Within the computer 134, the generating program 136 (eg, a word processor) receives its inputs from a keyboard 138 and generates a document 126 in the memory 140 that is printed by the printer 142. The security software 144 also receives its address information from the keyboard 138 and uses the information to modify the document 126 and locate the recipient information along the edges, as depicted in FIG. The modified document is subsequently printed by the copier 142 and transmitted by the facsimile machine. It is understood that security software 144 prefers to place recipient information 146 sideways along the two edges of document 126 where preferred paper 110 'has streaks of thermal coating 132. If desired, the security software 144 could not only print the recipient information 146 on the first sheet of a multi-page document, but additionally count the number of pages of the document 126 within the memory 140 and include appropriate page information along with the recipient on each page. For example, a page could contain the message "PAGE 2 OF4" (page 2 of 4) as part of the recipient information 143. In this way, a security document interspersed with one or more other documents could be quickly and easily sorted into its various pages ,

Finally, as illustrated in Figure 13, in the case of the above-described heat-resistant facsimile paper in which the cover layer is made of thermally conductive material which conducts the heat to a standard heat paper which acts as a paper base and has a coating of thermally activated material thereon , the cover layer are made transparent and have no interference layer along the edges, so that the receiver information can be viewed through it.

Where this is not possible, the preferred method is the same as described above, with strips of thermally activated material disposed on the upper surface of the thermally conductive material of the cover layer along its edges

 The invention described in this way is claimed as follows.

Claims (8)

-1- 29a 094 Claims: A copying medium for a facsimile transmission system, whereby a document is sent between a sender and a receiver via facsimile and copied by means of a thermal print head of a facsimile machine in the receiver, characterized by a) a ribbon of flexible copy media receivable for passage through the facsimile machine and past its print head, the copy media having a copy surface for receiving a pictorial representation from the printhead, and b) a tape of a cover medium disposed over a surface of the copy medium so as to pass through the facsimile machine together with the copy medium, the cover medium having an indistinct portion covering a copy surface of the recording medium onto which the copier prints the pictorial representations Wherein the indistinct part has means for effecting the heat generated by the print head at the positions of the pictorial representations to effect copying of those representations at respective positions of the copy surface. 2. Copy medium according to claim 1, characterized in that a) the copy medium is a thermal paper having an upper surface and a layer thereon, which changes according to the heat in a dark and visible color, and in that b) the cover medium is a cover layer overlying the surface of the thermal paper, the cover layer having a high thermal conductivity index and being capable of rapid heat transfer from the print head perpendicular through the cover film to said coating on the thermal paper, the cover layer is made of a fragile material, whereby the cover layer can be cut by a cross cutting device of a facsimile machine, which cuts roll-like media into blade lengths. 3. Copy medium according to claim 1, characterized in that a) Has copy medium is a plain paper with a top surface, and that b) said cover medium is a cover layer overlying the top surface of the plain paper, the cover layer having a heat transferable blackening layer on the lower surface thereof facing the obverse surface of the plain paper, whereby when the copier applies heat to the cover medium in that the overlying black is transferred from the cover medium to the top surface of the plain paper, the cover layer being made of a frangible material, whereby the cover layer can be cut by a cross cutter of a facsimile machine which cuts reel-like media into sheet lengths. The copying medium of claim 1, characterized by a coating of a heat-activated material located along a band near a side edge of a surface of the cover medium opposite to the copying surface, the material being such material after heat application changed a pixel position by the thermal print head of the facsimile machine in a dark and visible color, whereby the receiver information can be copied onto the copy medium and without the fact that the cover medium is removed from the copy medium, can be considered. 5. A copy medium according to claim 4, characterized in that the coating of heat-activated material along the bands in the vicinity of the two side edges of the cover medium is arranged, whereby the copy medium itself rolls in a supply roll. The copying medium of claim 3, characterized by, a coating of heat-activated material disposed along a belt near a side edge of a surface of the cover medium which is opposite the copy surface, the material being such a material that follows changing the application of heat to a pixel position by the thermal head of the facsimile device into a dark and visible color, whereby the receptor information can be copied onto the cover medium and recognized without removing the cover medium from the print medium, wherein the coating of a heat activated material along the bands in is arranged near the two side edges of the cover medium and the coating of heat-transferable blackness has substantially the same thickness, whereby the copy medium itself rolls in a supply roll. A copy medium according to claim 1, characterized in that the indistinct part further comprises means for generating an interference pattern over the copy surface which reproduce pictorial representations on the copy surface which, when viewed in concert with the interference pattern, are illegible at least to the random viewer. The copying medium according to claim 7, characterized in that the interference pattern includes a pattern printed on a surface of the ointment medium. For this 3 pages drawings