JP2001218014A - Information processor and its processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor extracting information buried in a picture, working extracted information into the picture and outputting it and to provide the processing method. SOLUTION: The information processor has an operating system 202 and a scanner driver 211, is connected to a scanner 120 reading an original and converting it into a picture signal and accumulates picture data which is read by operating the scanner 120. An electronic watermark extraction module 213 extracts information buried in picture data which is read by a scanner control module 212 and a picture work control module 215 works picture data based on the extracted result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a processing method thereof, and a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a so-called digital watermarking technique for embedding information in an image in a form that cannot be recognized by the naked eye has been put to practical use.

[0003]

However, there is no device which outputs embedded information in a form that can be easily viewed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an information processing apparatus and an information processing apparatus capable of extracting information embedded in an image, processing the extracted information into an image, and outputting the image. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus connected to an image input device for inputting an image and converting the image data into image data, and for storing the image data. An information extracting unit that extracts information embedded in the image data; and an image processing unit that processes the input image data based on a result of the extraction by the information extracting unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus which is connected to a printer and outputs rasterized image data to the printer, wherein the information embedded in the rasterized image data is stored. It is characterized by having information extracting means for extracting, and image processing means for processing the image data based on the extraction result by the information extracting means.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment First, as a first embodiment of the present invention, in an information processing apparatus, a document is read from a scanner, and information (digital watermark) that cannot be recognized by the naked eye is embedded in the read document. Then, a case where a predetermined image processing process is executed will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an image processing system to which the information processing device according to the first embodiment can be applied. The system includes 130 printers and 120 scanners, including 100 host computers.
And the scanner 120. The scanner 120 and the printer 130
The present invention is applicable regardless of whether the number of devices and the connection form are network or local.

An operating system (OS) shown in FIG. 2 is running on the host computer 100, and an operation such as an image reading operation by the scanner 120 is performed by a scanner operating application (application) running on the OS. The environment is provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, a host computer 100 as an information processing apparatus includes a monitor 101 for displaying a GUI of an application and an image reading result from a scanner 120 shown in FIG. Mouse 102, keyboard 103, host computer 1 for transmitting to application and OS
CPU 104, a RAM 105 for storing a work area and images used by the CPU 104, a ROM 106 for storing basic programs of the host computer 100, a scanner I / F 107 for controlling the scanner 120, various programs And a printer I / F 109 for controlling the printer 130, which are interconnected by an internal bus 110 and controlled by the CPU 104.

On the host computer 100 thus configured, an operating system (OS) and an application are realized by the CPU 104 executing a program read from the HDD 108 onto the RAM 105.

Next, the internal structure of the operating system (OS) will be described to the extent necessary for the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system according to the first embodiment. In particular, the operating system (O
5 shows the internal structure of S) in detail. Note that many OSs include a device driver that interfaces with hardware such as a scanner, such as UNIX,
In addition, various modules for managing user applications, memory management, and the like are separately mounted.
Here, an OS having such a separation structure will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 2, the OS 202 has a scanner driver 211 as a module for controlling the scanner 120 in addition to controlling user input and other hardware devices. A scanner control module 212 for directly controlling the scanner 120 and a digital watermark extracting module 2 for extracting information (digital watermark) embedded in the image data read from the scanner 120
13.

The OS 202 also executes an image processing control module 215 for executing image processing control processing, which will be described in detail later, based on the extraction result from the digital watermark extraction module 213.
And a display driver 216 for displaying image data read from the scanner 120, a user interface screen, and the like on the monitor 101.

Further, the OS 202 includes an image memory (RAM)
And a memory management module 214 for managing the image data area as a part of (105).

A scanner operation application (application) 201 is a GUI routine for interfacing with a user, a routine for interpreting a user input received via the OS 202 and issuing an instruction for operating the scanner 120, and reading from the scanner 120. The routine comprises a routine for displaying image data, a routine for storing read image data on the HDD 108, and the like.

On the other hand, the scanner 120 scans a CCD line sensor (not shown) according to a scanner operation command (signal) output from the scanner driver 211 to optically read a document placed on a document table and converts it into an electric signal. The (photoelectrically converted) image data is transmitted to the host computer 100 according to a predetermined interface rule.

Here, the image data is a luminance signal of a plurality of color components, for example, R, G, and B, and is 8 to 12 respectively.
It is bit multi-valued data.

Next, an operation of reading a document from the scanner 120 and executing a predetermined image processing process when information (digital watermark) which cannot be recognized by the naked eye is embedded in the read document will be described.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the system according to the first embodiment. This processing is performed by the application 201, OS 202,
This corresponds to data processing between modules of the scanner driver 211. Also, S301 shown in FIG.
To S303 are steps of the application 201,
Steps 311 to S315 correspond to steps of the operating system 202, and steps S321 to S324 correspond to steps of the scanner driver 211, respectively.

When the user instructs a scan start operation from the mouse 102 or the keyboard 103 through the application 201, image reading by the scanner 120 is started. Thus, when the reading operation is started by the application 201, the application 201 secures a designated image area to be read on the RAM 105 in step S301. Then, in step S302, the scanner 1
20 and issues a system call, which is an image reading command. Thereafter, in step S303, the application 101 receives an end notification of the image reading process.
Enters the wait state.

On the other hand, the OS 20 receiving the scan start command
In step S311, the scanner control module 212 of the scanner driver 211 corresponding to the specified scanner (in the first embodiment, the scanner 120) is called, and an image reading command from the scanner 120 is issued. The wait state is entered until the processing of the driver 211 ends. At this time, the OS 202 prepares variables for information extracted from the digital watermark in the image data output by the digital watermark extraction module 213.

In step S321, the scanner control module 212 in the scanner driver 211 that has received the scan start command from the OS 202 issues a scan start command specific to the scanner to the scanner 120 to read an image. . And step S
At 322, after reading the image data of the document, the image data received from the scanner 120 is stored in the RAM 105 in the image data area secured by the application 201, and the processing is shifted to the digital watermark extraction module 213.

Here, the digital watermark extraction module 213
Will be described.

First, the image data input to the digital watermark extraction module is divided into blocks, and a Fourier transform is performed for each block to extract a frequency component. The image data in the frequency domain obtained as a result is separated into an amplitude spectrum and a phase spectrum, and a registration signal included in the amplitude spectrum is detected.

The embedding of a signal in a low-frequency component of this registration signal is more easily recognized as noise from human visual characteristics than embedding of a signal in a high-frequency component, and irreversible compression such as JPEG compression. Since the method has the effect of a low-pass filter, the high-frequency component is removed by the compression / expansion processing. And embedded by an impulse signal to a frequency of an intermediate level higher than the second frequency level which is not removed by irreversible compression and expansion.

In the registration detection, an impulse signal in the above-mentioned intermediate level frequency domain included in the amplitude spectrum is extracted. Then, the scaling ratio of the digital image data is calculated from the coordinates of the extracted impulse signal. The digital watermark extraction module 213 recognizes in advance which frequency component of the unscaled detection target image has the embedded impulse signal.

The scaling ratio can be calculated from the ratio between the previously recognized frequency and the frequency at which the impulse is detected. For example, if the frequency recognized in advance is a and the frequency of the signal of the detected impulse is b, it can be seen that a / b scaling is performed. This is a known property of the Fourier transform.

The size of a pattern for detecting a digital watermark included in digital image data is determined based on the scaling ratio, and convolution using this pattern is performed to detect a digital watermark included in digital image data.

The digital watermark may be added to any component of the digital image data, but is generally added to the blue component which is most insensitive to human vision. Pattern detection is performed on the blue component.

In addition, instead of adding a digital watermark to visible color components constituting digital image data, if a digital watermark that produces information in a specific frequency component is embedded in the digital image data, the digital image Processing may be performed so as to detect a digital watermark at a specific frequency after Fourier transform into data.

The digital watermark may be a digital watermark embedded in a specific frequency in the image that cannot be determined by the naked eye, or may be a visible watermark embedded in the image with a size and color that are inconspicuous. It is preferable that the image is embedded in the pattern itself of the image in advance, since the image cannot be visually recognized at all.

The digital watermark includes the type of image,
Information such as the country of issue, issue number, and value may be included as code information, and this information may also be determined by the digital watermark extraction module and stored as a log as shown in FIG. If this log information is encrypted and stored in a folder of the HDD 108 so that it cannot be decrypted unless a dedicated application is used, a history of processing an image with an embedded digital watermark is stored with high security. be able to.

When an image in which a digital watermark is embedded is processed by the above-described digital watermark extraction module,
The log information shown in FIG. 5 may be added as a digital watermark to the processed image. With this configuration, even when an image is formed using a printer driver that does not include a digital watermark extraction module, the digital watermark added by the scanner driver can be detected from the printed matter.

Here, the digital watermark extraction module 21
Although 3 has been described as a software module, it is also possible to increase the speed by performing processing using hardware constituted by, for example, high-speed RISC and ASIC.

After reading the image data and completing the digital watermark extracting process in this way, in step S324, the scanner driver 211 notifies the OS 202 of the completion of the reading process and, at the same time, determines whether or not the extraction was successful. , And returns the extracted information.

Thus, in step S312, the OS 20
2 receives the processing end notification of the scanner driver 211, and determines in step S313 whether or not it has been extracted. If it has been extracted, the process proceeds to the image processing in step S314.

After this processing is completed, a processing end notification is issued to the application 201 in step S315, whereby the application 20 is notified in step S303.
1 receives the processing end notification, ends the image reading operation of the scanner system.

Here, the image processing control processing performed by the image processing control module 215 will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a user interface screen displayed on the monitor 101. This example shows a screen displayed to the user when it is recognized that digital watermark information is included in image data read from the scanner 120.

In the figure, reference numeral 401 denotes a button, which is selected and instructed by the user when the contents are approved according to the display and the extracted information is overlaid and output. FIG. 5 shows an example of an image output at this time.
5A shows an original image read by the scanner 120, and FIG. 5B shows a result obtained by overlaying information extracted from FIG.

A button 402 shown in FIG. 4 is also selected by the user when the contents are approved according to the display and the extracted information is not overlaid on the image output.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of log information stored in the hard disk 108. In this example, information extracted from the digital watermark is shown.

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment described above, the case where the digital watermark is extracted from the input image and the image processing is executed in the scanner system has been described. Similar processing can be performed. Hereinafter, a system according to the second embodiment will be described.

The configuration of the system according to the second embodiment is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 1 described above, and a description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image processing system according to the second embodiment. In this example, an image processing system including a host computer 100 and a printer 130 includes a printer driver 711 and an OS 7
02, the image processing is performed, and as in the first embodiment, O
S <b> 702 is operating, and an application environment 701 that operates thereon provides an operation environment such as an image output operation to the printer 130.

Similarly to the scanner system shown in FIG. 2, the printer system shown in FIG. 7 is also realized on the hardware configuration shown in FIG. The system includes a host computer 100 and a printer 130. On the host computer 100, the OS 702 and the application 701 are both stored in the HDD 108 from the RAM 1
The CPU 104 operates the program read by the CPU 05 to implement image processing in the information processing apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 7, the OS 702 has a printer driver 711 as a module for controlling the printer 130 in addition to controlling user input and other hardware devices. A rasterizer 712 for generating image data suitable for the printer 704, a memory management module 713 for managing the image memory 105 for storing the generated image data, and a digital watermark embedded in the rasterized image data. And a digital watermark extracting module 714 for extracting and processing the extracted information.

The OS 702 also executes an image processing control module 715 for executing image processing control processing, which will be described in detail later, based on the extraction result from the digital watermark extraction module 714.
And a display driver 71 for displaying an output document, a user interface screen, and the like on the monitor 101.
6. Here, the digital watermark extraction processing module 7
The extraction result, which is the output of 14, is output to the image processing control module 7
The image processing control module 715 performs processing for image processing according to the extraction result.

Further, the OS 702 has a print spooler (spooler) 717 for controlling output of the rasterized image to the printer 130.

The rasterizer 712 and the image memory 10
5. Although the digital watermark extraction module 714 is provided as the printer driver 711 and is performed by software processing, these may be configured to be performed on the printer 130 side. In this case, the result of the digital watermark extraction performed on the printer 130 side is stored in the image processing control module 715.
What is necessary is just to make it the structure which returns to.

Next, an operation of extracting information embedded with a digital watermark in image data output from the host computer 100 to the printer 130 and executing image processing control processing will be described.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the system according to the second embodiment. This processing is performed by the application 701, OS 702,
This corresponds to data processing between modules of the printer driver 711. Also, S801 shown in FIG.
Steps S802 to S802 correspond to steps of the application 701.
Steps 811 to S815 correspond to steps of the operating system 702, and steps S821 to S824 correspond to steps of the printer driver 711, respectively.

First, in step S801, when the application 701 designates a desired document and printer to instruct the start of print processing, a print instruction command is sent to the OS 702, and in step S802, a print processing end notification is received. Until the application 701 enters the wait state.

On the other hand, the OS receiving the print instruction command
In step S811, the application 702 transmits to the printer driver 711 corresponding to the designated printer (the printer 130 in the second embodiment).
1 to request printing processing of the received document, and enters a wait state until the processing of the printer driver 711 ends. At this time, on the OS 202 side, the digital watermark extraction module 2
A variable for information extracted from a digital watermark in the image data output by the device 13 is prepared.

A rasterizer 712 in the printer driver 711 receiving a print processing request from the OS 702.
However, in step S821, the print document is developed as image data and stored in the image memory 105. And
In step S822, the digital watermark extraction module 714 performs a process of extracting information embedded with a digital watermark from the image data stored in the image memory 105.

The above-described image data is transferred to the electronic watermark extraction module 714 and, at the same time, to the spooler 717. In step S823, the printer 130
Starts the printing process.

After the extraction and printing of the information embedded in the image data with the digital watermark in this manner, the printer driver 711 in step S824
02 at the same time as notifying the end of the printing process, the digital watermark extraction result and the extracted information are returned.

Thus, in step S812, the OS 70
2 receives the processing end notification of the printer driver 711, and determines in step S813 whether or not it has been extracted. If it has been extracted, the process proceeds to the image processing in step S814, and the same processing as in the first embodiment is executed.

After this processing is completed, a processing end notification is issued to the application 701 in step S815, and the application 70 is notified in step S802.
When 1 receives the processing end notification, the printing processing of this system ends.

Next, the configuration of a data processing program readable by the information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to a memory map shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a memory map to a storage medium storing various data processing programs readable by the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Although not shown, information for managing a module group stored in the storage medium, for example, version information and a creator are also stored, and the program reading side O
Information dependent on S or the like, for example, an icon for identifying and displaying a program may also be stored.

Further, data dependent on various programs may be managed in the above-mentioned directory. Further, a program for installing various programs on a computer or a program for decompressing a program to be installed when the program to be installed is compressed may be stored.

The processing procedures shown in FIGS. 3 and 8 may be executed by a host computer by a program installed from the outside. In this case, the present invention is applicable even when a group of information including a program is supplied to the output device from a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flash memory, or an FD, or from an external storage medium via a network. Things.

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (CPU or MP) of the system or apparatus.
It goes without saying that U) can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

[0073]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By extracting information embedded in an image, processing the extracted information into an image, and outputting the image, the embedded information can be output in a visible form.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an image processing system to which an information processing device according to a first embodiment can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of the system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface screen displayed on a monitor 101.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image processing according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of log information stored in a hard disk 108.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a system according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a memory map of a storage medium that stores various data processing programs that can be read by the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An information processing device connected to an image input device that inputs an image and converts the image data into image data, and stores the image data. An information extraction unit that extracts information embedded in the image data. An information processing device for processing the input image data based on a result of the extraction by the information extracting device. 2. An information processing apparatus connected to a printer for outputting rasterized image data to the printer, comprising: an information extracting unit for extracting information embedded in the rasterized image data; An image processing means for processing the image data based on an extraction result. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit for allowing a user to select whether or not the image processing unit processes the image data. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the selection unit displays on the display unit whether or not the image data is to be processed, thereby allowing a user to make a selection. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit overlays the information extracted by the information extracting unit on the image data. 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information is a digital watermark or a pattern. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information extraction is performed by a driver of the image input device or the printer. 8. A processing method for an information processing device connected to an image input device for inputting an image and converting the image data into image data, the information processing device being configured to store the image data, wherein information extraction for extracting information embedded in the image data is performed. And an image processing step of processing the input image data based on a result of the extraction in the information extracting step. 9. A processing method of an information processing apparatus connected to a printer and outputting rasterized image data to the printer, comprising: an information extracting step of extracting information embedded in the rasterized image data; An image processing step of processing the image data based on an extraction result of the extraction step. 10. A computer-readable storage medium connected to an image input device for inputting an image and converting the image data into image data and storing a program code of a processing method in an information processing device for storing the image data. A storage medium comprising: a code of an information extraction step of extracting information embedded in the image data; and a code of an image processing step of processing the input image data based on the extraction result. 11. A computer-readable storage medium that is connected to a printer and stores a program code of a processing method in an information processing apparatus that outputs rasterized image data to the printer. A storage medium comprising: a code for an information extraction step for extracting information to be embedded; and a code for an image processing step for processing the image data based on the extraction result.