JP2001218044A - Picture input/output processor and picture input/output processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To speedily judge an original including a specified picture for preventing the forgery of paper money or the like. SOLUTION: The picture which is read is stored in a storage device 108 and it is read at every divided band. A pixel in the picture in a band unit, which is read, is thinned by a resolution conversion circuit 110 and it is inputted to a judgment circuit 111 after resolution is reduced. The judgment circuit 111 judges whether the specified picture is included in the input picture or not by the detection of an electronic watermark and the collation of the picture. When it cannot be judged here, judgment is conducted again by using the picture whose resolution is not converted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image input / output processing apparatus and an image input / output processing method for determining whether an input image is a specific image and controlling input / output of image data according to the determination result. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, for example, with the high image quality and colorization of copiers, there has been a risk of forgery of originals that should not be copied, such as securities and bills.

On the other hand, in image processing of a copying machine or the like, when digital watermark information is inserted in advance into a specific document and digital watermark information is extracted in order to prevent such counterfeiting, in general, an output image is processed. Measures were taken. Alternatively, a method of determining whether or not a specific document is present by holding characteristic data of the specific document in advance and comparing it with the characteristics of an input image signal has been proposed.If it is determined that the document is a specific document, Generally, countermeasures such as processing the output image have been taken.

In recent years, there are a wide variety of originals that should not be copied, such as securities and bills. In order to prevent counterfeiting of specific manuscripts,
It is necessary to make an accurate determination without erroneous determination.

[0005]

However, in order to determine these various specific documents, complicated processing is repeatedly performed, and much time is required for the determination processing. For this reason, for example, when a plurality of originals are copied in a plurality of copies, there is a disadvantage that the copying performance is significantly reduced.

Further, if the determination processing time is shortened in order to improve the performance, the types of specific documents that can be determined are limited, and the number of erroneous determinations increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an image input / output processing apparatus and an image input / output processing apparatus capable of reducing the load caused by the determination processing of a specific document in preventing forgery and reliably preventing counterfeiting. It is an object to provide an input / output processing method.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement.

Input means for inputting image data, dividing means for dividing the image data input by the input means into small areas, determining means for determining whether a predetermined image is included in each of the small areas, And control means for controlling output of the image data when the determination means determines that the predetermined image is included.

[0010] More preferably, the image processing apparatus further comprises conversion means for converting the resolution of the image data, wherein the determination means makes a first determination using the image data whose resolution has been reduced by the conversion means, and performs the first determination. Accordingly, when it is not possible to determine whether or not the image data includes the predetermined image, the second determination is performed using image data having a higher resolution than the image data used for the first determination.

[0011] More preferably, the conversion means performs resolution conversion by thinning out pixels from image data.

[0012] More preferably, the dividing means divides the image data into bands each of which is divided in parallel with a raster line, as a small area.

More preferably, the apparatus further comprises compression / expansion means for performing compression / expansion processing of the image data and storage means for storing the image data, wherein the image data and the image data divided into the small areas are stored in the compression / expansion means. Is stored in the storage means, read out from the storage means and decompressed by the compression / decompression means.

[0014] More preferably, the control means does not output the image data determined to include the predetermined image by the determination means.

[0015] More preferably, the control means deletes, from the storage means, image data determined by the determination means to include a predetermined image.

[0016] More preferably, the determination means determines whether a predetermined image is included by detecting specific digital watermark information superimposed on the image data.

[0017] More preferably, the determination means determines whether or not the image includes a predetermined image based on the similarity between the characteristic obtained from the image data and the characteristic of the predetermined image.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

An image input / output processing method according to the present invention is carried out, for example, by an image input / output processing apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. Is also applied.

<Configuration of Image Input / Output Device> First, a series of operations of the image input / output processing device 100 described above will be described.

The image input / output processing device 100 includes image data captured by the scanner circuit 101, image data received by the facsimile circuit 103, or
Image data obtained by the PDL circuit 104 is input.

The scanner circuit 101 supplies the image data read by scanning the original to the input / output control circuit 107. The facsimile circuit 103 can transmit and receive image data, and supplies the received image data to the input / output control circuit 107. PDL circuit 1
Reference numeral 04 expands PDL data generated by the host 106 and transmitted via the interface circuit 105 into a bitmap image. Here, the interface circuit 1
Numeral 05 supplies PDL data to the PDL circuit 104, exchanges data with the input / output control circuit 107, and also performs bidirectional communication of image data with the host 106.

The input / output control circuit 107 controls the operation of writing and reading image data to and from the storage device 108, and controls the transmission and reception of image data to and from the compression / expansion circuit 109. Facsimile circuit 10
3 or the image data supplied from the PDL circuit 104 is stored in the storage device 108. Also, the input / output control circuit 1
07 supplies the image data supplied via the resolution conversion circuit 110 to the determination circuit 111.

The judgment circuit 111 includes an input / output control circuit 107
It is determined whether or not the image data from is a specific image, and the determination result is supplied to the system control circuit 112.

The system control circuit 112 includes a CPU and the like, and various settings regarding the image input / output processing device 100 performed by the MMI circuit 114 such as an operation unit, and the ROM 1
13 controls the operation of the entire image input / output processing apparatus 100 in accordance with a processing program stored in advance in the image input / output processing apparatus 13.
In particular, the system control circuit 112 controls the operation of the input / output control circuit 107 according to the determination result of the determination circuit 111.

Therefore, under the control of the system control circuit 112, the input / output control circuit 107 prints out the image data stored in the storage device 108 via the compression / decompression circuit 109 as described above. Supply to the device 102. The printer 102 prints out the image data from the input / output control circuit 107.

<Configuration of System Control Circuit 112> Next, the above-described system control circuit 112 will be specifically described.

For example, a control program according to a flowchart shown in FIG. 2 is stored in the ROM 113 in advance, and this control program is read and executed by the system control circuit 112. As a result, the image input / output processing device 100 operates as follows. Note that the control program in FIG. 2 is for realizing a copy function, and this copy function is a part of the functions of the image input / output device 100.

The ROM 1 is controlled by the system control circuit 112.
2 is read out and executed, the system control circuit 112 issues an image reading instruction to the scanner circuit 101 via the input / output control circuit 107, for example. Thereby, the scanner circuit 10
1 reads an image on a document (not shown) as digital image data (hereinafter, referred to as image data) (step S201).

The image data read by the scanner circuit 101 in step S201 is transmitted to the input / output control circuit 1
Under the control of 07, the data is compressed in the compression / decompression circuit 109 by a predetermined compression method (step S202) and stored in the storage device 108 (step S203).

The image data stored in the storage device 108 is divided into a plurality of band areas under the control of the input / output control circuit 107 and read out for each band area (step S204). ,
The data is decompressed by a predetermined decompression method (step S205) and stored in the storage device 108 (step S206). In addition,
Division into bands may be performed at the time of accumulation in step S203.

Next, the image data read for each band area is passed through the resolution conversion circuit 110 to the determination circuit 1.
11 (step S207). Judgment circuit 11
1 judges whether or not the given image data is a specific image by the presence or absence of a digital watermark or by collation (step S208).

When determining based on the presence or absence of a digital watermark,
The determination circuit 111 determines whether or not there is specific electronic watermark information inserted in the image data provided by the input / output control circuit 107 in advance. If the given image data has digital watermark information, it is determined that the image data is a specific image.

When the determination is made by comparing the characteristics, the determination circuit 111 extracts the characteristics of the given image data, and extracts the characteristic data and a specific image stored in advance, for example, a security or the like that should not be copied. The similarity is determined by comparing the characteristic data of a specific image such as a bill.
If the similarity between the given image data and the specific image is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is determined that the image data is the specific image.

The details of this determination processing will be described later. The determination result of the determination circuit 111 is supplied to the system control circuit 112.

The image data supplied to the determination circuit 111 is image data in which the number of pixels has been reduced by performing processing such as pixel thinning out by the resolution conversion circuit 110, and the number of pixels has been reduced. A first determination process as to whether or not the image is a specific image is performed based on the image data.

If it is not possible to determine whether or not the image is a specific image as a result of the first determination processing, the resolution of the supplied image data is changed, and a second determination processing for determining whether or not the image is a specific image is performed. When the second determination processing is performed, the image data supplied to the determination circuit 111 is supplied from the storage device 108 without passing through the resolution conversion circuit 110. If it is determined that the image is not a specific image as a result of the first determination processing, the second determination processing is not performed. In the second determination process, it is always determined whether or not the image is a specific image.

FIG. 11 shows the flow of the process in step S208. In step S1101, it is determined whether it is the first determination processing (first determination processing) or the second determination processing (second determination processing). If it is the first determination processing, the resolution of the image is thinned out in step S1102. Lower by etc. If it is not the first time, that is, if it is the second time, the resolution is not changed. In step S1103, an actual determination process is performed. This result is stored in step S1104.
The flow branches to "Y" if the image is a specific image, and to "N" if it is not a specific image. If it is unclear which one is used, the determination process is performed again using the image data whose resolution is not converted.

Since the image supplied for the first determination process is a rough image, the accuracy of the first determination result, which is the result of the first determination process, is expected to deteriorate, but
If the image data is clearly different from the specific image, it can be sufficiently determined.

Although the image data supplied for the second determination processing is not passed through the resolution conversion circuit 110, if the resolution of the input image data is sufficiently high, the resolution conversion circuit 110 Accordingly, processing such as pixel thinning may be performed so that the resolution does not become lower than the first resolution.

If it is determined that the image data is not a specific image as a result of the first and second determination processes, the system control circuit 112 ends the determination process, reads out the image data from the storage device 108, and Printer device 1
02 is input to the input / output control circuit 107. As a result, the input / output control circuit 107 executes step S
At 206, the image data of the band area stored in the storage device 108 is read and supplied to the printer device 102.
As a result, the printer device 102
In step S209, the image data supplied in step S07 is printed out.

The system control circuit 112 determines, via the input / output control circuit 107, whether or not the processing of all the band areas of the image data stored in the storage device 108 has been completed.
It is determined based on whether or not the band is the last band (step S
210).

If the result of determination in step S210 is that printing of all band areas has not been completed, the system control circuit 112 performs operation control so as to repeat the processing of step S204 and subsequent steps.

As a result, all band areas of the image data stored in the storage device 108 are read out and printed out by the printer device 102.

If the image data is a specific image according to the determination result of the determination circuit 111, the system control circuit 112 executes the above-described steps S209 and S209.
I / O control circuit 107 so as not to perform each process of 210
Give instructions. Accordingly, in this case, the image data stored in the storage device 108
02 is not printed out. That is, bands subsequent to the band including the specific image are not printed. In this case, the sheet whose printing has been interrupted is discharged before the printing of the next image is started.

After the determination processing of step S208 as described above is performed and the processing according to the determination result is performed, next, the system control circuit 112
Through the scanner circuit 101 to determine whether the next image has been read and input (step S21).
1). For example, when an automatic document feeder (not shown) is connected to the scanner circuit 101 and a plurality of documents are conveyed by the automatic document feeder and an image on the document is read, the document loading of the automatic document feeder is performed. Based on the output of the position sensor or the like, the system control circuit 112 recognizes whether or not there is a next original, and when there is the next original, performs an operation control to repeat the processing from step S201 described above. Do.

When a plurality of image data are printed out, the system control circuit 112, for example,
The I-circuit 114 recognizes the set number of prints, and determines whether or not print output by the printer device for the set number of prints has been completed. The image data is repeatedly read out from the storage device 108 and printed out from the printer device 102 by repeatedly performing the set number of copies.

In the present embodiment, since the specific image is determined in band units, the entire specific image is not always included in one band. In order to cope with such a situation, the following two methods are conceivable.

The first method is to determine how to divide a band so that a specific image is not divided. In this case, for example, a white raster or a raster consisting only of color components not included in the specific image is selected as a band dividing line, and the band is divided along the raster line. By dividing the band in this way, it is possible to prevent the specific image from being divided into a plurality of bands.

The second is a method of determining whether or not a specific image is a part of an image included in each band. As described above, the method of determining a specific image includes a method based on a digital watermark and a method based on feature matching. In the second method, when a specific image is determined by comparing features,
The image included in each band and a part of the feature image are collated and determined. If part of a specific image is included,
The image is determined to be a specific image. Also, when a specific image is determined by a digital watermark, extraction of a digital watermark is performed in band units.

In this way, it is determined whether or not a specific image is included in an image from a band that is a part of the image.

Next, the determination process (step S208) performed by the above-described determination circuit 111 will be specifically described.

<Determining Specific Image Using Digital Watermark>
First, an example in which a digital watermark is applied as the specific image used in this embodiment will be described. For example, image data (hereinafter, also referred to as an input image) read by the scanner circuit 101 is input to the determination circuit 111.

The determination circuit 111 divides the input image into blocks, and performs a Fourier transform on each block to extract frequency components.

The input image in the frequency domain obtained as a result is separated into an amplitude spectrum and a phase spectrum, and a registration signal contained in the amplitude spectrum is detected.

The low frequency component signal embedded in the image is
Compared to the embedding of high-frequency components, it has the disadvantage that it is more likely to be recognized as noise from human visual characteristics, and the high-frequency components embedded in the image are irreversibly compressed, such as JPEG compression, as a low-pass filter. Therefore, there is a drawback that they are removed by the compression / decompression processing. In view of these drawbacks, the registration signal has an intermediate level frequency that is higher than the first frequency level that is hardly recognized by human perception and lower than the second frequency level that is not removed by irreversible compression / decompression. It is embedded by an impulse signal.

In the registration detection, an impulse signal in the above-mentioned intermediate level frequency domain included in the amplitude spectrum is extracted.

The scaling ratio of the input image is calculated from the coordinates of the extracted impulse signal. The determination circuit 111 for detecting a digital watermark recognizes in advance in which frequency component of the unscaled determination target image the impulse signal is embedded.

The scaling ratio can be calculated from the ratio between the previously recognized frequency component 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 property of the well-known Fourier transform.

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

The digital watermark may be added to any frequency component of the input image. In this embodiment, the digital watermark is added to the blue component which is most insensitive to human vision. Pattern detection is performed on the blue component.

In addition, when a digital watermark that produces information in a specific frequency component is embedded in an input image instead of adding a digital watermark to a visible color component that constitutes the input image, a Fourier transform is added to the input image. A process of detecting a digital watermark may be performed on the converted specific frequency.

<Specific Image Judgment Processing by Image Collation>
Next, a determination process (step S203) different from the above-described determination process will be described. For example, when the image data read by the scanner circuit 101 is color image data, the determination circuit 111 converts the input image and the specific image into a common color space, and in the common color space, on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Compare the input image with the specific image.

Therefore, the judgment circuit 111 operates, for example, in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, a determination ROM 151 to which image data is supplied from the input / output control circuit 107 (FIG. 1),
An integrator 152 to which the output of the OM 151 is supplied, a discriminating circuit 153 to which the output of the integrator 152 is supplied, and a memory 154 accessed by the discriminating circuit 153 are provided. 112
(FIG. 1).

In the determination circuit 111 described above, the determination ROM 151 supplies the image data from the input / output control circuit 107 to the integrator 152 as an address input. At this time, a numerical value of “1” is assigned to the determination ROM 151 when the color space data of the input image is included in the color space data of the specific image, and a numerical value of “0” is assigned to the determination ROM 151 when the color space data is not included. , These values are used as the input X (i) of the integrator 152.

The integrator 152 has X (i) from the determination ROM 151, and Y (i) = AY (i-1) +255 (1-A) X (i) where i = 1, 2, 3,. .. 0 <A <1 The calculation represented by the following equation is performed, and the integrated value Y (i) is supplied to the determination circuit 153.

The discriminating circuit 153 obtains the number of pixels whose integral value Y (i), which is the output of the integrator 152, is equal to or larger than a preset numerical value (set value A). As a result, the number of pixels in a region considered to be a specific image in the input image is calculated.

The reason why the integral value Y (i) is used is as follows.
This is because when the input image is included in the color space data of the specific image, pixels are continuously included to some extent, and thus the pixels sporadically included are sieved by integration.

When the number of pixels calculated as described above is equal to or greater than a preset value (set value B), the discriminating circuit 153 determines that the input image contains an image including a certain area of the color space of the specific image. It is recognized that there is a high possibility that the image is a specific image, and the similarity determination processing is performed.

That is, in this case, the discriminating circuit 153 sets, for example, an arbitrary color in the color space to an address of the memory 154, and outputs a pixel whose integral value Y (i) output from the integrator 152 is equal to or larger than the set value A. "1" is stored in the address on the memory 154 corresponding to the color of "1", and this is performed for all the pixels of the input image.

Then, the discrimination circuit 153 includes a memory 154
The number of pixels stored as “1” above is counted, and if the counted value is equal to or greater than a preset value (set value C),
It is determined that the input image is similar to the specific image, and the determination result is supplied to the system control circuit 112.

As described above, the similarity is determined by the determination circuit 153, so that the count value of the integrated value Y (i) output from the integrator 152 is not duplicated when a plurality of the same colors are counted, and the identification value is specified. It is possible to determine whether the color space of the image is included over a wide range.

The determination process in the determination circuit 111 determines whether or not the input image is a specific image by the configuration shown in FIG. 3. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The determination may be performed. In short, in this embodiment, it suffices if at least it can be determined whether or not the input image is a specific image.

As described above, in the first embodiment, when it is determined whether or not the image data input from the input means is a specific image, the image data is divided into band areas, and furthermore, pixel thinning is performed. And so on. Since the determination of the specific image is performed for each band, the amount of image data to be determined is reduced, and the data amount is further reduced by performing pixel thinning. For this,
It is possible to quickly determine whether or not the input image includes a specific image. In the case of a document such as a general document image that is clearly different from the specific image, it is possible to sufficiently determine the specific image even with image data on which pixel thinning has been performed.
For this reason, it is possible to reduce the load of the determination processing in preventing forgery, and to reduce the time required for the determination, thereby improving the performance for copying.

Then, a specific image determination process is performed without converting the resolution of only the image data whose resolution is lowered and cannot be determined to be the specific image. With such a configuration, a highly accurate determination can be made, and forgery can be reliably prevented.

[Modification of First Embodiment] In the first embodiment, the control program shown in FIG.
If the input image data is a specific image as a result of the determination process in step S208, the above-described processes in steps S209 and S210 are not performed.
Although the process of step S211 has been performed, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the process of step S211 may be performed after erasing each image data stored in the storage device 108 in steps S203 and S206. (Step S301).

That is, if the input image data is a specific image in the determination processing in step S208,
For example, even when the storage device 108 is a removable non-volatile storage medium, the image data as the specific image does not remain in the storage device 108, so that forgery can be reliably prevented.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the image data read by the scanner circuit 101 is printed out by the printer device 102. Here, the PDL data transferred from the host 106 is expanded and printed by the printer device 102. Output (communication function).

For this reason, for example, the control program of FIG. 2 is changed to a control program according to a flowchart shown in FIG. The control program of FIG.
13 is read in advance by the system control circuit 112 and executed.

In the control program of FIG.
Steps that are processed in the same manner as in the control program are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. An apparatus that operates by executing the control program of FIG.
Since the configuration is the same as that of the image input / output processing device 100, detailed description thereof is omitted.

Hereinafter, only the differences from the first embodiment will be specifically described.

First, the system control circuit 112
When the control program of FIG. 5 stored in the OM 113 is read out and executed, the image data generated by the host 106 is, for example, SCSI (Small Compute).
r System Interface) and TCP (Transmission Control P
rotocol) / IP (Internet Protocol) and the like via the interface circuit 105
The data is transferred to the DL circuit 104. System control circuit 112
Sends a PDL expansion instruction to P via the input / output control circuit 107.
Issue to the DL circuit 104. Thereby, the PDL circuit 1
In step S401, the image data (PDL data: data described in PDL) transferred from the host 106 is developed into a bitmap.

The image data (decompressed image) decompressed into a bitmap by the PDL circuit 104 in step S401 is controlled by the input / output control circuit 107 under the control of the input / output control circuit 107 to generate a predetermined data in the compression / decompression circuit 109. Compressed by a compression method (step S402),
The data is stored in the storage device 108 (step S403).

The image data stored in the storage device 108 is divided into a plurality of band areas under the control of the input / output control circuit 107 and read out for each band area (step S404). ,
The data is decompressed by a predetermined decompression method (step S405) and stored in the storage device 108 (step S406).

The expanded and accumulated image data for each band area is read (step S 407) and supplied to the determination circuit 111 via the resolution conversion circuit 110.

Thereafter, as described above, the same processing as in steps S208 to S213 in FIG. 2 is executed.
As a result, when it is determined that the image data is not a specific image, the image data stored in the storage device 108 is read out and printed out by the printer device 102.

When the image data is a specific image, the image data stored in the storage device 108 is
No print output is made to the printer device 102.

After the determination processing of step S208 as described above is performed and the processing according to the determination result is performed, next, the system control circuit 112
, It is recognized whether or not the next image data has been transferred from the host 106 to the PDL circuit 104 (step S).
408) When the next image data is transferred, the operation control is performed such that the above-described processing after step S401 is repeated.

Thereafter, steps S208 to S2
By executing the respective processes of the printer device 10, the image data stored in the storage device 108 is read out, and the printer device 10 is read.
2 to print out.

When printing out a plurality of image data, the system control circuit 112, for example,
The I-circuit 114 recognizes the set number of prints, and determines whether or not print output by the printer device for the set number of prints has been completed. The image data is repeatedly read out from the storage device 108 and printed out from the printer device 102 by repeatedly performing the set number of copies.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the image data (PDL) transferred from the host 106 is
When it is determined whether or not the data is a specific image, the image data is divided into band regions, and resolution conversion processing such as pixel thinning is performed. Since the determination of the specific image is performed for each band, the amount of image data to be determined is reduced, and the data amount is further reduced by performing pixel thinning. Therefore, it is possible to quickly determine whether or not the input image includes the specific image. In the case of a document such as a general document image that is clearly different from the specific image, it is possible to sufficiently determine the specific image even with image data on which pixel thinning has been performed. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the load of the determination processing in preventing forgery, and to reduce the time required for the determination, thereby improving the performance for copying.

Then, a specific image determination process is performed without converting the resolution of only the image data whose resolution is lowered and cannot be determined to be the specific image. With such a configuration, a highly accurate determination can be made, and forgery can be reliably prevented.

[Modification of Second Embodiment] In the above-described second embodiment, the image data transferred from the host 106 is printed out by the printer 102. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the image data (facsimile image data) received by the facsimile circuit 103 may be printed out by the printer device 102 (facsimile function). In this case, the image data expanded into the bit map by the PDL circuit 104 is replaced with the facsimile image data received by the facsimile circuit 103, and the operation is performed as described above.

Further, in the above-described second embodiment, the PDL data transferred from the host 106 is printed out by the printer device 102. However, the present invention is not limited to this. May be developed into a bitmap in the host 106, and the image data for each band area divided into a plurality of areas may be transferred from the host 106. Alternatively, the host 106 may perform a predetermined resolution conversion process and a process of determining whether or not the image is a specific image, based on image data for each band region divided into a plurality of regions. In this case, the storage device 1 does not pass through the PDL circuit 104 and the compression / expansion circuit 109 but passes through the interface circuit 105 and the input / output control circuit.
The image data is read out from the storage device 108 and is printed out to the printer device 102.

In the above-described second embodiment, if the input image data is a specific image in the control program of FIG. S
The processing of step S408 was performed without performing the processing of step 210. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, after the image data stored in the storage device 108 was deleted in steps S403 and S406, step S408 was performed. S40
8 may be performed. (Step S301).

That is, if the input image data is a specific image by the determination processing in step S408,
For example, even when the storage device 108 is a removable non-volatile storage medium, the image data as the specific image does not remain in the storage device 108, so that forgery can be reliably prevented.

[Third Embodiment] Next, a third embodiment will be described.

The image input / output method according to the third embodiment comprises:
For example, it is implemented by a color copying machine 700 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the color copying machine 700 is provided so as to irradiate a document table glass 701 on which a document 702 to be read is set and a document 702 set on the document table glass 701. Illumination 703, optical system 707, mirrors 704 to 706 for guiding light from document 702 to optical system 707, imaging element 708 on which light from optical system 707 is imaged, mirror 704 and illumination 703
First mirror unit 710 including mirror and mirror 705
A motor 709 for driving each of the second mirror units 711 including 706 to 706, an image processing circuit 712 to which the output of the image sensor 708 is supplied, semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 to which the output of the image processing circuit 712 is supplied, Polygon mirrors 717 to 720 to which respective outputs of the semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 are supplied correspondingly, and polygon mirrors 717 to 7
20 photosensitive drums 725 to 7 to which respective outputs are supplied correspondingly
28, developing units 721 to 724 for supplying toner onto the photosensitive drums 725 to 728, and sheet cassettes 729 to 73
1, a manual feed tray 732, a transfer belt 734, registration rollers 733 for guiding the paper fed from the paper cassettes 729 to 731 or the manual feed tray 732 onto the transfer belt 734, and a photosensitive drum 725 on the paper on the transfer belt 734. A fixing unit 735 for fixing the toner transferred by the fixing unit 728, and a sheet discharge tray 736 for discharging the sheet on which the toner is fixed by the fixing unit 735.

The color copying machine 700 has the functions of the image input / output processing device 100 shown in FIG. 1, and includes a platen glass 701, an illumination 703, an optical system 707, an image pickup device 708, a first mirror unit 710. , The second mirror unit 711, the motor 709, and the like are parts for reading an image, and correspond to the scanner circuit 101 in FIG. The image processing circuit 712 outputs an image signal for printing, and the input / output control circuit 10 shown in FIG.
7, storage device 108, compression / decompression circuit 109, resolution conversion circuit 110, determination circuit 111, and system control circuit 1
12 mag. Further, semiconductor lasers 713 to 71
6, polygon mirrors 717 to 720, photosensitive drum 725
To 728, paper cassettes 729 to 731, a manual feed tray 732, a transfer belt 734, a registration roller 733, a fixing device 735, and a paper discharge tray 736 are portions for printing out an image, and correspond to the printer device 102 in FIG. .

Therefore, first, the original 702 to be read is set on the original glass 701. The original 702 is illuminated by the illumination 703, and the reflected light of the original 702 is imaged on the imaging surface of the imaging element 708 by the optical system 707 via mirrors 704, 705, and 706 in this order.

At this time, the motor 709 is connected to the mirror 704
And a first mirror unit 710 including the illumination 703 and the mirror 705 and 70
6 is mechanically driven at a speed V / 2. Thus, the entire surface of the document 702 is scanned.

The image sensor 708 is a solid-state image sensor (CC
D: Charge Coupled Device), etc., and the optical system 70
The image formed by 7 is converted into an electric image signal by photoelectric conversion and supplied to an image processing circuit 712.

The image processing circuit 712 performs a predetermined process on the image signal from the image sensor 708 and outputs it as a print signal. As described above, it is determined whether or not the original 702 is a specific image. It is determined, and processing is performed according to the result of the determination. As a result, when the original 702 is a specific image, no print signal is output, or
The processed print signal is output.

The semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 are driven by a print signal output from the image processing circuit 712, and the laser light emitted by each of the semiconductor lasers 713 to 716 is converted by the polygon mirrors 717 to 720 into the photosensitive drums 725 to 728. A latent image is formed thereon.

The developing devices 721 to 724 are composed of K, Y, C, M
The latent images formed on the photosensitive drums 725 to 728 are developed by using the toners.

At this time, the paper cassettes 729 to 731,
The paper fed from any one of the manual feed tray 732 is adsorbed onto the transfer belt 734 via the registration roller 733 and is conveyed.

In synchronization with the sheet feeding timing at this time,
The toner of each color is developed on the photosensitive drums 725 to 728 in advance, and the toner of each color is transferred to the paper as the paper is transported.

The paper on which the toner of each color has been transferred is separated and conveyed from a transfer belt 734, and is fixed by a fixing device 735.
The toner is fixed on the paper, and the paper is discharged from the paper discharge tray 736.

As described above, the present invention is applied to the color copier 70.
By applying to 0, when determining whether or not the placed document 702 is a specific image, the input image data is divided into band areas, and resolution conversion processing such as pixel thinning is performed. Since the determination of the specific image is performed for each band, the amount of image data to be determined is reduced,
Further, by thinning out the pixels, the data amount is further reduced. Therefore, it is possible to quickly determine whether or not the input image includes the specific image. For documents that are clearly different from specific images, such as general document images,
It is possible to sufficiently determine a specific image even with image data on which pixel thinning or the like has been performed. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the load of the determination processing in preventing forgery, and to reduce the time required for the determination, thereby improving the performance for copying.

Then, the specific image is determined without converting the resolution of only the image data whose resolution is lowered and cannot be determined to be the specific image. With such a configuration, a highly accurate determination can be made, and forgery can be reliably prevented. Thus, the forgery is reliably prevented, and the color copier 700 with good performance is provided.
Can be provided.

The image input / output method according to the present embodiment is as follows.
Although the color copier 700 as shown in FIG. 5 has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and as described below, the printer 102 of FIG. 1 can be applied to an ink jet printer or the like. .

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA to which the present invention can be applied. In the figure, the carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5011 and 5009 in conjunction with the forward and reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013 has a pin (not shown). Then, it is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. An ink jet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. Reference numeral 5002 denotes a paper pressing plate, which presses the paper against the platen 5000 in the moving direction of the carriage. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. 501
6 is a cap member 50 for capping the front surface of the recording head.
Reference numeral 5015 denotes a suction unit for sucking the inside of the cap, and performs suction recovery of the recording head via the opening 5023 in the cap. Reference numeral 5017 denotes a cleaning blade. Reference numeral 5019 denotes a member which allows the blade to move in the front-rear direction. It goes without saying that the blade is not limited to this form and a known cleaning blade can be applied to this example. Reference numeral 5021 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery. The lever 5021 moves with the movement of the cam 5020 that engages with the carriage, and the driving force from the driving motor is controlled by known transmission means such as clutch switching. Is done.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that desired processing can be performed at the corresponding position by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage comes to the area on the home position side. If a desired operation is performed at a timing, any of the examples can be applied.

Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-described apparatus will be described with reference to a block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing the control circuit, 1700
Is an interface for inputting a recording signal, and 1701 is M
A PU 1702 is a program ROM for storing a control program executed by the MPU 1701, and 1703 is various data (the above-described recording signal and recording data supplied to the head).
Is a dynamic ROM for storing the data. 170
A gate array 4 controls supply of print data to the print head 1708.
0, data transfer control between the MPU 1701 and the RAM 1703. Reference numeral 1710 denotes a carrier motor for transporting the recording head 1708, and reference numeral 1709 denotes a transport motor for transporting the recording paper. Reference numeral 1705 denotes a head driver for driving the head, and 1706 and 1707 denote transport motors 17 respectively.
09, a motor driver for driving the carrier motor 1710.

The operation of the above control configuration will be described. When a recording signal enters the interface 1700, the gate array 1
The recording signal is converted into recording data for printing between the 704 and the MPU 1701. And the motor driver 1
The printheads 706 and 1707 are driven, and the printhead is driven according to the print data sent to the head driver 1705 to perform printing.

The present invention can be applied to the above-described control structure of an ink-jet printer. By doing so, not only a laser beam printer but also an ink-jet printer can prevent forgery of a specific image. Therefore, it is possible to quickly and accurately determine a specific image included in a document.

[Fourth Embodiment] Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.

The image input / output processing device according to the present embodiment
For example, it is implemented by an information processing device 800 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 8, the information processing apparatus 800 includes a CPU 801, a ROM 802, a RAM 803, an image scanner 807, a storage device 808, a disk drive 809, a VRAM 810, a display 811, a keyboard 812, a pointing device 813, a printer 8
14 and an interface circuit 815 are connected by a bus 816 so as to exchange data with each other.

The information processing apparatus 800 as described above has the function of the image input / output processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG.
Performs overall operation control. The CPU 801 corresponds to the input / output control circuit 107, the determination circuit 111, the system control circuit 112, and the like in FIG.

The ROM 802 stores a boot program and B
An IOS (Basic Input / Output System) and the like are stored in advance.

A RAM 803 is used as a work area of the CPU 801. A control program 804 corresponding to a series of processing procedures, and a buffer area 8 corresponding to the storage device 108 shown in FIG.
05 and an operating system (OS) 806 for controlling the operation of the entire information processing apparatus 800, including the control program 804. The control program 804 developed in the RAM 803, for example, the control program shown in FIGS. 2, 4, 9, and 10 is executed by the CPU 801 to control the overall operation of the information processing apparatus 800. Will be performed.

The image scanner 807 corresponds to the scanner circuit 101 in FIG. 1, and reads an image.

The storage device 808 is a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk device or a magneto-optical disk device, and the above-mentioned OS 806 and the like are stored in the storage device 808 in advance. The storage device 808 is replaced with the storage device 10 of FIG.
8 may be used.

The disk drive 809 reads data from a portable storage medium, for example, a floppy disk. The above-described control program 804 is stored in advance in either the floppy disk set in the disk drive 809 or the storage device 808, and is read out by the CPU 801 and read out from the RAM 803.
Will be deployed above.

The VRAM 810 is for developing a bitmap image to be displayed on the screen.
1 displays a bitmap image developed on the VRAM 810.

A keyboard 812 is for inputting various information, and a pointing device 813 is
This is for designating a desired position on the display screen of the display unit 811 and selecting a desired menu from various menus such as a menu screen. The CPU 801 controls the operation of the entire information processing apparatus 800 according to the respective inputs of the keyboard 812 and the pointing device 813.

The printer 814 is the printer 1 shown in FIG.
02, which prints out an image or the like read by the image scanner 807.

The interface circuit 815 corresponds to the interface circuit 205 in FIG. 1, and is connected to another host via a network or the like by the interface circuit 815. For example, PDL data transferred from another host is developed by the CPU 801 into a bitmap by software processing, or the developed bitmap data can be subjected to resolution conversion processing such as pixel thinning. is there.

As described above, by applying the present invention to the general-purpose information processing apparatus 800, for example, image data read by the image scanner 807 or image data transferred through the interface circuit 815 can be specified. When determining whether an image is an image, the image data is divided into band areas, and resolution conversion processing such as pixel thinning is performed. Since the determination of the specific image is performed for each band, the amount of image data to be determined is reduced, and the data amount is further reduced by performing pixel thinning. Therefore, it is possible to quickly determine whether or not the input image includes the specific image. In the case of a document such as a general document image that is clearly different from the specific image, it is possible to sufficiently determine the specific image even with image data on which pixel thinning has been performed. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the load of the determination processing in preventing forgery, and to reduce the time required for the determination, thereby improving the performance for copying.

Then, only the image data which cannot be determined to be the specific image with the reduced image is subjected to the process of determining the specific image without converting the resolution. With such a configuration, a highly accurate determination can be made, and forgery can be reliably prevented. By doing so, it is possible to reliably prevent counterfeiting and provide the information processing apparatus 800 with good performance.

The present invention can be applied to a data processing method in an apparatus composed of a single device as shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 8, or to a system composed of a plurality of devices. You may.

Further, an object of the present invention is to realize the functions of the host and the terminal of each of the above-described embodiments, as shown in FIG.
A storage medium storing the program code of the software including the procedures of FIGS. 4, 9, 10, and 11 is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus stores the storage medium in the storage medium. It is also achieved by reading and executing the program code that has been executed.

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

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

By executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also an OS or the like running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. Performs some or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in an extension board or an extension unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, The CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing,
The case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by the processing is also included.

[0139]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When determining whether or not a specific image is included in the input image,
By dividing the input image into band regions and performing the determination for each band, the amount of image data to be determined can be reduced, and the processing load for the determination process can be reduced to perform quick determination. It becomes possible.

Further, by performing the determination process after lowering the resolution of the image divided into the band areas, the data amount of the image to be determined can be further reduced, and the determination process can be further speeded up. . Moreover, if it is not possible to determine whether or not a specific image is included in an image with a reduced resolution, the same determination is performed on an image with a higher resolution.
Accurate determination can also be realized. This makes it possible to achieve both quick determination and high accuracy.

Further, when the input image includes the specific image, the image is not stored and remains, so that forgery can be surely prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image input / output processing device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a processing program executed by the image input / output processing device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a determination circuit of the image input / output processing device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing program executed by an image input / output processing device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a color copying machine according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram for executing device control of an inkjet recording device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an information processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing program executed by an image input / output processing device according to a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing program executed by an image input / output processing device according to a modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a step S executed by the image input / output processing device;
4 is a flowchart for explaining a determination process of step 208.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 image input / output processing device 101 scanner circuit 102 printer device 103 facsimile circuit 104 PDL circuit 105 interface circuit 106 host 107 input / output control circuit 108 storage device 109 compression / decompression circuit 110 resolution conversion circuit 111 determination circuit 112 system control circuit 113 ROM 114 MMI circuit

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 2C061 AP03 AP04 AQ06 AR01 BB17 CL10 2C087 AA03 AA09 AB05 AC07 AC08 BA03 BA07 BA14 BC01 BD01 BD24 BD40 DA13 5B021 CC08 LL01 QQ04 5C077 LL14 PP01 PP20 PP48 PP55 PQ23 TT21 BB21 TT21 001

Claims (27)

[Claims] An input unit that inputs image data; a dividing unit that divides the image data input by the input unit into small areas; and a determining unit that determines whether a predetermined image is included in each of the small areas. An image input / output processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls output of the image data when the determination unit determines that a predetermined image is included. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a conversion unit configured to convert a resolution of the image data, wherein the determination unit performs a first determination using the image data whose resolution has been reduced by the conversion unit. When it is not possible to determine whether or not the image data includes the predetermined image, a second determination is performed using image data having a higher resolution than the image data used for the first determination. The image input / output processing device according to claim 1. 3. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said conversion means performs resolution conversion by thinning out pixels from image data. 4. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dividing means divides the image data into bands each of which is divided in parallel to a raster line, as a small area. 5. The image processing apparatus further comprises a compression / expansion means for performing compression / expansion processing of image data and a storage means for storing image data.
The image data and the image data divided into the small areas are compressed by the compression / expansion means, stored in the storage means, read from the storage means, and decompressed by the compression / expansion means. The image input / output processing device according to claim 1. 6. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit does not output the image data determined to include the predetermined image by the determination unit. 7. The image input / output processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said control means deletes, from said storage means, image data determined to include a predetermined image by said determination means. 8. The image input / output device according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether a predetermined image is included by detecting specific electronic watermark information superimposed on the image data. Processing equipment. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit calculates a similarity between a feature obtained from the image data and a feature of the predetermined image.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether the image includes a predetermined image.
2. The image input / output processing device according to 1. 10. A dividing step of dividing image data input by an input unit into small areas; a determining step of determining whether a predetermined image is included in each of the small areas; Controlling the output of the image data when it is determined that the image data has been output. 11. The image processing apparatus further comprising a conversion step of converting the resolution of the image data, wherein the determination step performs a first determination using the image data whose resolution has been reduced by the conversion step, and the first determination When it is not possible to determine whether or not the image data includes the predetermined image, a second determination is performed using image data having a higher resolution than the image data used for the first determination. The image input / output processing method according to claim 10, wherein 12. The image input / output processing method according to claim 11, wherein in the conversion step, resolution conversion is performed by thinning out pixels from image data. 13. The image input / output processing method according to claim 10, wherein, in the dividing step, the image data is divided into small regions using bands divided in parallel with raster lines. 14. A compression / decompression step of performing compression / decompression processing of image data, wherein the image data and the image data divided into the small areas are subjected to compression processing in the compression / decompression step and stored in storage means, 11. The image input / output processing method according to claim 10, wherein the image is read from the storage means and decompressed in the compression / decompression step. 15. The image input / output processing method according to claim 10, wherein the control step does not output the image data determined to include the predetermined image in the determination step. 16. The image input / output processing method according to claim 14, wherein said control step deletes, from said storage means, image data determined to include a predetermined image in said determination step. 17. The image input / output according to claim 10, wherein the determination step determines whether the image includes a predetermined image by detecting specific electronic watermark information superimposed on the image data. Processing method. 18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the determination step determines whether or not the image includes a predetermined image based on a similarity between a characteristic obtained from the image data and a characteristic of the predetermined image. Image input / output processing method. 19. A computer, which divides image data input by an input unit into small regions, a determining unit that determines whether a predetermined image is included in each of the small regions, A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for realizing, when it is determined that an image is included, control means for controlling output of the image data. 20. The computer program,
Further realizing a conversion means for converting the resolution of the image data,
The determination unit performs a first determination using the image data whose resolution has been reduced by the conversion unit, and the first determination cannot determine whether the predetermined image is included in the image data. 20. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein, in the case, the second determination is performed using image data having a higher resolution than the image data used for the first determination. 21. The storage medium according to claim 20, wherein said conversion means performs resolution conversion by thinning out pixels from image data. 22. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein said dividing means divides the image data into bands each of which is divided in parallel with a raster line, as a small area. 23. The computer program, comprising:
A compression / expansion unit for performing compression / expansion processing of image data is further realized, and the image data and the image data divided into the small areas are compressed by the compression / expansion unit and stored in a storage unit. 2. The data is read out and decompressed by the compression / decompression means.
10. The storage medium according to 9. 24. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein said control means does not output image data determined to include a predetermined image by said determination means. 25. The storage medium according to claim 23, wherein said control means deletes, from said storage means, image data determined to include a predetermined image by said determination means. 26. The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein said determination means determines whether a predetermined image is included by detecting specific electronic watermark information superimposed on said image data. 27. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not the image includes a predetermined image based on a similarity between a characteristic obtained from the image data and a characteristic of the predetermined image. Storage media.