JP2006166329A - Multi-function printing system and multi-function printing system group - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To confirm the originality of a delivered document without requiring a complete OCR function.
A multi-function printing system having a function for confirming the originality of a delivered document to be printed out, and confirming the originality on the basis of a character code by using an OCR function installed in an image scanner unit of the multi-function printing system. In particular, when registering original data for verifying the originality, instead of obtaining the character code directly from the delivered document data, the electronic image data after image development for print output is stored in the image scanner unit. The character code recognized according to the performance characteristics of the OCR function is obtained by applying to the OCR function.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for guaranteeing originality or supplementing the guarantee of originality for a printed matter printed out by a multifunction printing system.

  Conventionally, a printed matter requiring originality uses a special printing paper on which a background pattern or the like is preliminarily printed on a paper surface, thereby guaranteeing the originality with difficulty in obtaining the special printing paper.

  Alternatively, the originality is guaranteed with the difficulty of obtaining the seal by imprinting the seal of the mechanism to be the certificate authority and the head of the mechanism.

  Alternatively, the originality was guaranteed by combining the above two methods.

  In addition, when the originality is confirmed by searching and comparing the electronic image information read by the image scanner with the electronic image information stored by the mechanism that should be the certificate authority, the acquired electronic image electronic information itself or its The originality is guaranteed with feature information such as a hash value calculated from the electronic image information itself.

Alternatively, according to Patent Document 1, character string information and layout information of the character string are acquired directly from a delivery document to be printed out, and an authentication value calculated by a predetermined calculation from the character string information and the layout information Is added to the delivery document and printed out. At the time of authentication, the authentication information is obtained from the optically read delivery document, layout information is obtained from the authentication information, and is issued according to the layout information. Acquire character string information from the document by the OCR function and confirm the originality by comparing the authentication value calculated by a predetermined calculation with the original authentication value in the authentication information printed on the delivered document, or The original authentication value is stored in a mechanism that acts as a certificate authority when the issued document is printed out, and the originality is confirmed by inquiring at the time of authentication.
JP 2004-13287 A

  However, as computerization of various delivery documents progresses, there are many situations in which convenience is required for the delivery documents to be printed out of the control of the issuer. Guaranteeing the originality with the difficulty in obtaining the correct printing paper, and assuring the originality with the difficulty in obtaining the mechanism that should be the certification authority and the seal of the head of the mechanism impedes the above-mentioned convenience Therefore, new originality assurance technology has begun to be needed.

  When the original image is read by comparing the electronic image information itself read by the image scanner with the electronic image information stored by the mechanism that should be the certificate authority, the electronic image information read by the image scanner is Even if the same document is read as different electronic image information due to slight differences in the way the document is placed on the scanner table or slight stains on the original paper surface, the electronic image information itself can be easily read It was difficult to confirm that they were identical only by comparing and comparing them, and their practicality was poor.

  In the originality confirmation technique according to Patent Document 1, since the character string information for obtaining the original authentication value is obtained in the delivery document itself, the difference from the character string information recognized by the OCR function at the time of authentication is considered. However, its practicality is questioned until full OCR functionality emerges.

  Furthermore, since the authentication information is added to the delivery document and printed out, there remains a problem that the delivery document itself is not printed out in the original state.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention
When printing the delivery document, the character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR function is extracted from the print image data immediately before the delivery document is printed out, and the character code information is extracted. Alternatively, character code unique information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information is stored in the secondary storage device,
When the delivered document is authenticated, the printed document is read as image data by the image scanner unit, and the character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR function by using the OCR function from the read image data The character code information extracted from the character code information or the character code unique information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information, the character code information stored in the secondary storage device, or the character code unique information, By comparing and examining, the technology that guarantees the originality or the technology that complements the guarantee of the originality is provided.

  According to the technology described in the present invention, the electronic image information itself is matched without using the difficulty of obtaining special printing paper, the difficulty of obtaining a mechanism to be a certificate authority, or the signature of the mechanism head. Since it is not a comparison, there is no need to be overly cautious about the paper state of the delivered document manuscript and how to place the delivered document manuscript on the scanner table, and the character string information extracted directly from the delivered document and complete It is possible to confirm the originality of the delivered document without requiring a complete OCR function that can recognize the character string information matching the above from the delivered document image data.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of the best mode for carrying out the present invention.

  Reference numeral 101. denotes a PC or WS that accesses a DB or the like of a delivery document, and is a host device that transmits a print job to the multifunction printing system proposed by the present invention.

  102 is a schematic diagram when the delivered document is converted into print control code data.

  103. exists as one device in the multifunction printing system (A) proposed by the present invention.

  Reference numeral 104 denotes a printer unit of the multifunction printing system (A) proposed by the present invention.

  105. is a schematic diagram of image electronic data which 104 printer unit interprets 102 data and develops on the bitmap memory.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes an image scanner unit of the multifunction printing system (A) proposed by the present invention.

  107 is a schematic diagram of data of character layout information and character code information acquired from the electronic image data 105 by operating the OCR function of the image scanner unit 106.

  108. is an encoding function that calculates character code specific information such as a hash value from character code information, which is generally called a digest function.

  109 is a schematic diagram of character code unique information data calculated from the character layout information 107 and the character code information data 107 by the encoding function 108.

  Reference numeral 110 denotes a secondary storage device that stores character code unique information.

  111. is a multi-function printing system group proposed by the present invention that prints and outputs 105, which is electronic image data developed by the printer unit 104 of the multi-function printing system 103 as a hard copy on actual paper. Is a single function printing system (B).

  112. is a single function printing system (B) in the group of multifunction function printing systems proposed by the present invention 105, which is image electronic data developed by the printer unit 104 of the multifunction function printing system 103. It is a delivery document printed out on actual paper as a hard copy.

  113. is a multifunction printing system (B) proposed by the present invention, which exists as one device.

  Reference numeral 114 denotes an image scanner unit of the multifunction printing system (B) proposed by the present invention.

  115 is a schematic diagram of data of character layout information and character code information acquired from a hard copy of the delivered document 111 by operating the OCR function of the image scanner unit 113.

  116. is an encoding function that calculates character code unique information such as a hash value from character code information, which is generally called a digest function.

  117 is a schematic diagram of data of character code specific information calculated from data of 115 character layout information and character code information by the encoding function of 108. FIG.

  118. is a code search / comparison function for searching and comparing whether or not the same character code unique information of 117 is stored in the secondary storage device 110.

  119. is a network infrastructure such as a LAN, a WAN, the Internet, and an intranet that connects devices of the multifunction printing system group proposed by the present invention so that information can be exchanged between them.

  Next, a processing procedure of an example of the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in accordance with a data processing flow indicated by dotted lines with arrows 1 to 16.

  1. The delivered document document is converted into a print control code 102 in the host device 101.

  The print control code 2.102 is transmitted to the printer unit 104 of the multi-function printing system (A) 103 via the network 116 or the like, or via another interface in the case of local connection.

  3. The printer unit 1041 interprets the received print control code 102 and develops it into an image, and generates 105 image electronic data.

  The electronic image data 4.105 is sent to the image scanner unit 106.

  The image scanner unit 5.106 recognizes the character image from the received electronic image data 105 by the OCR function as a character while interpreting the layout uniquely, and the character layout information 107 and the character code information data 107 are obtained. Generate.

  Here, depending on the performance characteristics of the OCR function, it is not always possible to recognize characters as in the delivered document. In this example, “C” and “G” are set to “O”, and “0” is set to “(). "..." is recognized as "_".

  Also, it is assumed that the layout is recognized as “ABCDEFG” as one sentence block, and “0123456” and “...” as one sentence block.

  The data of 6.107 character layout information and character code information is passed to the encoding function 108.

  The encoding function of 7.108 calculates data of character code unique information such as a hash value of 109 from the received data of 107 character layout information and character code information.

  Here, when the layout information indicates that the existence of a plurality of sentence blocks has been confirmed, the plurality of sentence blocks are encoded as a plurality of independent character strings, and a plurality of character codes corresponding to the number of sentence blocks are unique. There is also a method for calculating information, and there is also a method for calculating one character code specific information by making a plurality of sentence blocks continuous in an arbitrary order and using one page of a delivery document as a series of one character string.

  The character code unique information of 8.109 is stored in the secondary storage device 110.

  With the above 1 to 8, the registration as the originality confirmation data of the character code unique information of the delivery document is completed.

  The electronic image data 105 developed by the printer unit 9.104 into an image is transmitted as print data through the network 116 and received by the single-function printing system 111 (B).

  The 10.11 single function printing system (B) prints out 112 delivery documents as hard copies from the received 105 electronic image data.

  With the above steps 1 to 3, 9, and 10, the issue of the delivery document is completed.

  The delivery document of 11.112 is read into image electronic data by the image scanner unit 114 of the multi-function printing system (B) 113 as a document.

  The electronic image data read by the image scanner unit of 12.114 is recognized as a character by the OCR function while the character image is uniquely interpreted, and the data of 115 character layout information and character code information is generated. .

  Here, depending on the performance characteristics of the OCR function, it is not always possible to recognize characters as in the delivered document manuscript, but the multi-function printing system (A) and multi-function printing system (C) proposed by the present invention. Are the same products or products of the same series, “C” and “G” are set to “O”, “0” is set to “()”, and “. .. ”is recognized as“ _ ”.

  If the multifunction printing system (A) and the multifunction printing system (C) proposed by the present invention are the same product or the same series of products, as in the example of the above processing 5, “ABCDEFG” is recognized as one sentence block, and “0123456” and “...” are recognized as one sentence block.

  The data of 13.115 character layout information and character code information is passed to the 116 encoding function.

  The encoding function of 14.116 calculates data of character code unique information such as a hash value of 117 from the received data of 115 character layout information and character code information.

  If the layout information indicates that the existence of a plurality of sentence blocks has been confirmed, the plurality of sentence blocks are encoded as a plurality of independent character strings, and the number of sentence blocks is the same. There is also a method of calculating a plurality of character code unique information, and a method of calculating one character code unique information by making a plurality of sentence blocks continuous in an arbitrary order and making one page of a delivered document a series of one character string However, if the multi-function printing system (A) and multi-function printing system (C) proposed by the present invention are the same product or the same series of products, the character code specific information is calculated in the same procedure. Will be.

  The multi-function printing system (C) 15.113 inquires of the code search comparison function 118 of the multi-function printing system (A) 118 whether or not the character code unique information 117 is registered.

  16. The code search / comparison function of 118 is used to search and compare whether the character code unique information of 117 inquired from 115 of the multi-function printing system (C) is registered in the secondary storage device of 110. If the same result is found, it is notified to the 115 multi-function printing system (C) as being original. If the same result is not found as a result of the search and comparison, 115 multifunctional printing systems (C) are notified as having no originality.

  With the above 11 to 16, the originality confirmation of the delivered document is completed.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the component configuration of the multifunction printing system proposed by the present invention.

  Hereinafter, the above 1. To 16. 2 will be described in relation to the processing procedure of FIG.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a network interface unit, which serves to receive the print control code data 102 from the host device 101 as the reception procedure 2.

  Further, as the transmission procedure 9, 105 electronic image data is transmitted to the 111 single function printing system.

  Also, the character code specific information is received as the 15 inquiry procedures, and the introduction result is transmitted as the 16 response procedures.

  Reference numeral 202 denotes a secondary storage unit, which serves to save 109 character code unique information as a save procedure of 8.

  203. An image scanner CPU executes a program stored in 204, and as an image reading procedure of 11, an image of 206 is transferred from an image scanner engine unit of 208 through an image scanner Video interface unit of 207. The scanner image memory unit performs arithmetic processing for obtaining image electronic data.

  Since the OCR function is also provided as a part of the function of the image scanner, a program for the OCR function is also stored in 204. By executing the program, the character recognition procedure of 5 and 12 is An arithmetic process for recognizing a character image and generating a character code from image electronic data in the image scanner image memory unit is performed.

  204. is an image scanner program part executed by the image scanner CPU 203, and since the OCR function is also provided as a part of the image scanner function, it is also a program part for the OCR function, which is stored in the ROM or HDD. If it is stored and stored in the HDD, it is once loaded into the image scanner program WORK memory unit 205 and executed.

  Reference numeral 205 denotes an image scanner program WORK memory unit. When the image scanner program 204 is stored in the HDD, it is an area in which the program is loaded, or is generally used for other image scanner programs.

  In addition, since the OCR function is also provided as part of the image scanner function, it is also the area where the program for the OCR function is loaded, and the character layout information recognized by the OCR function as the character recognition procedure of 5 and 12 It is also an area for storing character code information data.

  206. An image scanner image memory unit stores image electronic data acquired from the image scanner video interface unit 207 as the image reading procedure 11 in the multi-function printing system (C) 113.

  In the multi-function printing system (A) 103, the electronic image data developed in the printer image memory unit 212 is duplicated and stored as a four-image electronic data duplication procedure.

  Reference numeral 207 denotes an image scanner video interface unit that acquires image electronic data from the image scanner engine unit 208.

  Reference numeral 208 denotes an image scanner engine unit which optically reads a hard copy original and transmits image electronic data to the image scanner video interface unit 207 as an image reading procedure 11.

  209. A printer CPU executes a program stored in 210, thereby interpreting the print control code received from the Network interface unit 201 as the reception procedure 2 and the image electronic procedure as the image development procedure 3 Arithmetic processing for expanding the data in the printer image memory unit 212 is performed.

  In the 111 single function printing system (B), the image electronic data in the 212 printer image memory unit is transferred to the printer engine unit 214 via the printer video interface unit 213 as a print procedure 10. , Perform calculation processing for printing.

  Alternatively, in the multi-function printing system (A) 103, the electronic image data in the printer image memory unit 212 is sent as the transmission procedure 9, via the network interface unit 201, via an external multi-function printing system or single unit. Performs arithmetic processing for transmission to the functional printing system.

  210. A printer program unit executed by the printer CPU 209 is stored in the ROM or the HDD. If the printer program unit is stored in the HDD, the printer program unit 210 is once loaded into the WORK memory unit 211 and executed. .

  Reference numeral 211 denotes a printer program WORK memory unit. When the printer program 210 is stored in the HDD, it is an area in which the program is loaded, or is generally used for other printer programs.

  A printer image memory unit 212 stores image electronic data.

  This image electronic data is obtained by interpreting and expanding the print control code received from the network interface unit 201 in the multi-function printing system (A) 103. It is transmitted to the function printing system or the single function printing system.

  Alternatively, in the single-function printing system (B) 111, the developed electronic image data received from the Network interface unit 201 as the reception procedure 9 is sent via the printer video interface unit 213 as the 10 printing procedure. The printer engine unit 214 prints out the output.

  Reference numeral 213 denotes a printer video interface unit that transmits image electronic data to the printer engine unit 214.

  A printer engine unit 214 prints and outputs image electronic data received from the printer video interface unit 213 as a hard copy document as a printing procedure 10.

  Reference numeral 215 is a code search / comparison function CPU. By executing the program stored in 216, the same character code specific information received from the network interface unit 201 is stored in 202 as the 15 inquiry procedures. An arithmetic process for searching and comparing from the character code specific information is performed.

  Further, in 16 response procedures, calculation processing for transmitting the search comparison result to the external multifunction printing system or single function printing system is performed via the network interface unit 201.

  216. is a code search / comparison function program unit executed by the code search / comparison function CPU 215. If it is stored in the ROM or HDD and is stored in the HDD, the code search / comparison function program WORK 217 is temporarily stored. It is loaded into the memory section and executed.

  217. is a code search / comparison function program WORK memory unit. When the code search / comparison function program 216 is stored in the HDD, it is an area in which the program is loaded, or other code search / comparison function program. Is used.

  Reference numeral 218 denotes an encoding function CPU. By executing the program stored in 219, the character layout information and the character code stored in the image scanner program WORK memory unit 205 are encoded as the encoding procedures 7 and 14. An arithmetic process for calculating character code specific information such as a hash value is performed from information data by a procedure known as a digest function.

  Alternatively, in the multi-function printing system (A) 103, a calculation process for storing the calculated character code unique information in the secondary storage unit 202 is performed as a storage procedure 8.

  Alternatively, in the multi-function printing system (C) 113, registration confirmation of character code specific information is performed with respect to the multi-function printing system 103 (103) via the network interface 201 as the inquiry procedure 15. As an answering procedure, a calculation process is performed to receive the registration confirmation result of the character code specific information, which is answered from the multi-function printing system (A) 103 via the network interface 201.

  219. is an encoding function program unit executed by the encoding function CPU 218. If it is stored in the ROM or the HDD and stored in the HDD, it is temporarily stored in the encoding function program WORK memory unit 220. It is loaded and executed.

  220. is an encoding function program WORK memory unit. When the encoding function program 219 is stored in the HDD, it is an area in which the program is loaded, or is used for other encoding function programs for general purposes. Is done.

  221. System BUS, data between each part is exchanged.

  Of the components 201 to 221, the image scanner CPU 203, the printer CPU 209, the code search comparison function CPU 215, and the coding function CPU 218 are all or part of the same CPU. Also good.

  Of the components 201 to 221, the image scanner program unit 204, the printer program unit 210, the code search / comparison function program unit 216, and the encoding function program unit 219 are all or part of The same program may be used.

  Among the components 201 to 221, 205 is an image scanner program WORK memory unit, 211 is a printer program WORK memory unit, 217 is a code search comparison function program WORK memory unit, 220 is an encoding function program WORK memory unit, 206 The image scanner image memory unit and the printer image memory unit 212 may be all or part of a RAM memory having the same area.

(Other Example 1)
As shown in FIG. 3, the electronic image data of the delivery document developed by the printer unit 104 of the multifunction function printing system (A) 103 is directly used as the 112 delivery document as a hard copy by the printer unit 104. In this case, 9 transmission procedures are absorbed by 10 printing procedures, and 111 single function printing system (B) can be omitted.

(Other Example 2)
As shown in FIG. 4, the performance characteristics of the image development function in the printer unit 104 of the multi-function printing system (A) 103 are somewhat the same as the performance characteristics of the image development function of the single-function printing system 111. In this case, the print data sent in the transmission procedure 9 does not necessarily need to be the developed image electronic data 105, and the print control code data 102 may be transferred as it is.

(Other Example 3)
As shown in FIG. 5, it is also possible to have one single function printing system (A) 103 as a single function printing system (B) 111 and one function printing system (C) 113. In this case, , 103 of the multi-function printing system (A) 104 printer unit prints and outputs 112 delivery documents as hard copies, and issuance of the delivery document is completed. It is read into the image electronic data by the image scanner unit, converted into data of 115 character layout information and character code information by the OCR function of the image scanner unit 106, and further passed to the encoding function 108, and the hash of 117 Character code specific information data such as value is calculated, and it is a thing in which 118 code search comparison function is registered in 110 secondary storage device Original confirmation of the delivery document by verification is completed.

The block diagram which shows the example of the best form in order to implement this invention. FIG. 3 is a component configuration diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a multifunction printing system proposed by the present invention. The block diagram which shows this invention other Example 1. FIG. The block diagram which shows this invention other Example 2. FIG. The block diagram which shows this invention other Example 3. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1. 1. Print control code transmission procedure Transmission procedure 3. Interpretation of print control code and image expansion procedure 4. Data transfer procedure for electronic image data from the printer unit to the image scanner unit OCR procedure (Data generation procedure for character layout information and character code information)
6). 6. Data transfer procedure to data encoding function of character layout information and character code information Encoding procedure (data calculation procedure for character code specific information such as hash values)
8). 8. Saving procedure to secondary storage device 10. Print data transmission / reception procedure 10. Document output procedure for printout Read the delivered document with an image scanner and continue 12. OCR procedure (Data generation procedure for character layout information and character code information)
13. Data transfer procedure to data encoding function of character layout information and character code information 14. Encoding procedure (procedure for calculating data of character code specific information such as hash value)
15. Code search comparison inquiry procedure 16. Answer procedure for code search comparison
101. Host devices such as PCs and WSs that access the database of delivered documents
102. Schematic diagram of print control code data
103. Multifunction printing system (A) in the group of multifunction printing systems proposed by the present invention
104. Printer section
105. Schematic diagram of electronic image data
106. Image scanner
107. Schematic diagram of data of character layout information and character code information
108. Encoding function
109. Schematic diagram of character code specific information data
110. Secondary storage
111. Single function printing system (B) in the group of multifunction printing systems proposed by the present invention
112. Delivery documents printed out on actual paper as hard copy
113. Multifunction printing system (B) in the group of multifunction printing systems proposed by the present invention
114. Image scanner
115. Schematic diagram of character layout information and character code information data
116. Encoding function
117. Schematic diagram of character code specific information data
118. Sign search comparison function
119. Network infrastructure such as LAN, WAN, Internet and Intranet
201. Network interface
202. Secondary Storage Unit
203. Image Scanner CPU
204. Image scanner program part (ROM / HDD)
205. Image Scanner Program WORK Memory (RAM)
206. Image Scanner Image Memory (RAM)
207. Image Scanner Video Interface
208. Image Scanner Engine
209. Printer CPU
210. Printer program section (ROM / HDD)
211. Printer program WORK memory section (RAM)
212. Printer image memory (RAM)
213. Printer Video interface
214. Printer Engine
215. Sign search comparison CPU
216. Code search comparison function program part (ROM / HDD)
217. Code search comparison function program WORK memory part (RAM)
218. Encoding function CPU
219. Encoding function program part (ROM / HDD)
220. Encoding function program WORK memory part (RAM)
221. System BUS

Claims (7)

A multi-function printing system having at least an image scanner unit and a printer unit;
In particular, it is a multi-function printing system equipped with one or more functions that optically recognize characters from image data read by the image scanner (hereinafter referred to as OCR function)
In particular, image data given from a host device such as a personal computer (PC) or workstation (WS) or image data developed by interpreting data such as page description language (PDL) given from the host device. A multi-function printing system having a printer unit for printing out,
In addition, as the first feature to be noted, character code information optically recognized according to the feature of the OCR function is extracted from the image data before printing out by using the above-mentioned OCR function. A multi-function printing system having a function of storing code information or character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information in a secondary storage device inside or outside the system;
Furthermore, as the second feature to be noted, the character code information optically recognized according to the feature of the OCR function is extracted from the image data read from the image scanner unit by using the above-mentioned OCR function. Character code information or character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information is calculated from the character code information or character code information already stored in a secondary storage device inside or outside the system. By searching and comparing with the character code specific information such as hash value, etc.
A multi-function printing system having a function of discriminating that character code information on a document read from an image scanner unit is equivalent to that previously printed out from the multi-function printing system. The multifunction printing system according to claim 1,
If there are multiple OCR functions / performances, one or more sets of character code information optically recognized according to all or part of the characteristics of those OCR functions / performances are extracted, and the one or more sets of character code information Or one or more character code unique information such as a hash value calculated from one or more sets of character code information, or a multi-function printing system having a function of storing in an internal or external secondary storage device,
Furthermore, by using all or part of the plurality of OCR functions / performances described above from the image data read from the image scanner unit, one or more sets of character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR functions / performances And extract one or more sets of character code information, or one or more character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from one or more sets of character code information, to a secondary storage device inside or outside the system. Search and compare with any one of one or more sets of character code information that has already been stored, or one or more pieces of character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from one or more sets of character code information. Using the logical operation solution of one or more examination results obtained by
A multi-function printing system having a function of discriminating that character code information on a document read from an image scanner unit is equivalent to that previously printed out from the multi-function printing system. In the multi-function printing system according to claim 1 and claim 2,
When the installed OCR function has different resolutions between the image scanner unit and the printer unit, for example, the character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR function is displayed from the printer unit of the image data before printing out. If it can be extracted in a plurality of different patterns depending on how it is delivered to the scanner unit, the plurality of character code information or a plurality of character code specific information such as hash values calculated from the plurality of character code information Or a multi-function printing system having a function of storing in an external secondary storage device,
Further, by using the above-described OCR function from the image data read from the image scanner unit, character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR function is extracted, and the character code information is extracted from the character code information. Character code unique information such as a calculated hash value is stored in a secondary storage device inside or outside the system, either one of a plurality of character code information, or a hash value calculated from a plurality of character code information Using the solution of the logical operation of multiple examination results obtained by searching and comparing with any of the multiple character code specific information such as
A multi-function printing system having a function of discriminating that character code information on a document read from an image scanner unit is equivalent to that previously printed out from the multi-function printing system. In the multifunction printing system according to claim 1, claim 2, and claim 3,
Information exchange is possible by connecting multiple multifunction printing systems via a communication system such as a network.
A document to be printed out by the printer unit of any of the multifunction printing systems is printed out by another multifunction printing system or a single function printing system.
In the original multi-function printing system, an image of a document that should have been printed out is developed, transferred to an image scanner unit, and further installed using an OCR function, so that it can be optically matched according to the characteristics of the OCR function. Combined function and single function to extract recognized character code information and store the character code information or character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information in the internal or external secondary storage device Printing system group. In the composite function printing system according to claim 1, claim 2, claim 3 and claim 4, or composite function and single function printing system group,
Information exchange is possible by connecting multiple multifunction printing systems via a communication system such as a network.
By reading an original printed by a printer unit or a single-function printing system of any of the multi-function printing systems, using an image scanner unit of another multi-function printing system, and further using the installed OCR function, Character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR function is extracted, and the character code information or character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information is transmitted via a communication system such as a network. The character code information already stored in the multi-function printing system or in the secondary storage device by inquiring to the multi-function printing system that has printed out the document is calculated from the character code information or the character code information. By searching and comparing with character code specific information such as hash values,
A multi-function and single-function printing system group having a function of determining that the character code information on the document is equivalent to that printed out from any multi-function printing system in the past. In the combined function and single function printing system group according to claim 5,
Printed and output by the printer unit of any multifunction printing system on or separately from the document printed by the printer unit of any multifunction printing system connected to each other by a communication system such as a network. Multi-function printing system specific information indicating whether
When inquiring the character code information obtained from the manuscript or the character code specific information such as the hash value calculated from the character code information to any one of the multifunction printing systems via a communication system such as a network,
Specify which multi-function printing system to inquire about using the multi-function printing system specific information,
Search and compare with character code information already stored in the specified secondary storage system or external storage device, or character code specific information such as a hash value calculated from the character code information. so,
A multi-function printing system group having a function of determining that the character code information on the document is equivalent to that printed in the past from a designated multi-function printing system. In the multi-function printing system and the multi-function and single-function printing system group according to claim 1, claim 2, claim 3, claim 4, claim 5, and claim 6,
If the paper used for printing is not blank or plain,
The paper is read in advance by the image scanner unit and synthesized with the image data before printing out, and the character code information optically recognized according to the characteristics of the OCR function is extracted, and the character code information or character code is extracted. A multi-function printing system, a multi-function printing system, and a single-function printing system group having a function of storing character code unique information such as a hash value calculated from information in a secondary storage device inside or outside the system.

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