JP2006166334A - Copying system for literary work, image forming apparatus, image forming method, and control program and storage medium for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a copying system for a literary work, an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a control program and storage medium for the image forming apparatus capable of certifying that a user copies a literary work after paying a proper copyright fee while surely collecting the copyright fee from the user. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes: an identification information extract means for extracting identification information to identify the literary work from copyright protection information when discriminating that the literary work includes the copyright information; a request means for transmitting the identification information extracted by the identification information extract means to a copyright management server to request the server to transmit the copyright information; a requisition means for displaying the copyright information received from the server responding to the request to send a bill of the copyright fee to the user; and an attaching means for attaching paid-up information for certifying that the copyright fee is paid by the user to stored image data when the image forming apparatus discriminates the user agrees with the requisition of the copyright fee. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a copyrighted material copying system, an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, a control program for an image forming apparatus, and a storage medium for printing a document including copyright protection information on the image forming apparatus.

  In recent years, digital contents such as music data are transmitted and received between users via a network using file exchange software, and illegal copying of copyrighted works has been regarded as a problem. For this reason, there is a technique for preventing illegal copying of a copyrighted work even for a copying machine that generates a copy of a manuscript (for example, Patent Document 1). On the other hand, copyright holders desire a system that can distribute copyrighted works to more people and reliably collect copyright fees from users.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a copying system that prevents illegal copying of a copyrighted work and collects a royalty fee from a user, identification information indicating that the copyrighted work is embedded in the manuscript as watermark information, and copying is performed by a copying machine. When this identification information is detected in the process, a method such as inquiring charge information to the server has been adopted.

For example, as a technique for collecting copyright fees from users, based on the copyright fees included in the watermark information embedded in the scanned image data, the copyright fees are displayed on the liquid crystal display unit together with normal copying fees. To collect a fee.
JP 2000-165575 A

  However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, the copyright holder can surely collect the copyright fee from the user, but there is a problem that the user cannot prove to others the fact that the appropriate copyright fee has been paid. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and a copyrighted work that can be proved that the user has paid a proper copyright fee and has made a copy while reliably collecting the copyright fee from the user. An image forming apparatus, an image forming method, an image forming apparatus control program, and a storage medium are provided.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a copyrighted material copying system comprising an image forming apparatus and a copyright management server connected to a network, wherein the image forming apparatus comprises: Image reading means for reading image data from a document, storage means for storing image data read by the image reading means, and first determination means for determining whether copyright protection information is included in the image data An identification information extracting means for extracting identification information for identifying a copyrighted work from the copyright protection information when the first determination means determines that the copyright protection information is included; The identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means is transmitted to the management server, and the request means for requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information, and the copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request are displayed. Then, the billing means for charging the copyright fee to the user, the second determining means for determining whether or not the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, and the second determining means allows the user to When it is determined that the request has been accepted, an adding means for adding paid information to prove that the copyright fee has been paid in the image data stored in the storage means; And printing means for printing the added image data on a recording sheet.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus connected to a copyright management server via a network, the image reading unit reading image data from a document, and the image data read by the image reading unit. It is determined that the copyright protection information is included in the storage means for storing, the first determination means for determining whether the image data includes copyright protection information, and the first determination means. The identification information extracting means for extracting the identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the copyright protection information, and transmitting the identification information extracted by the identification information extracting means to the copyright management server, Request means for requesting the server to transmit information, billing means for displaying copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, and charging the user for the copyright fee; According A second fee determining means for determining whether or not the user has requested a copyright fee by the second determining means, and the copyright fee is included in the image data stored in the memory means. An adding means for adding paid information for certifying that the payment has been made; and a printing means for printing the image data to which the paid information is added by the adding means on a recording sheet.

  The invention according to claim 3 is a step of reading image data from a document, a step of storing the read image data, a step of determining whether copyright protection information is included in the image data, When it is determined that the copyright protection information is included, a step of extracting identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the copyright protection information, and transmitting the extracted identification information to the copyright management server, Requesting the server to send copyright fee information; displaying copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request; and charging the user with the copyright fee; and requesting the copyright fee from the user And payment information that proves that the copyright fee has been paid in the stored image data when it is determined that the user has requested the copyright fee. Process and paid information A step of printing an additional image data to the recording paper, and has a.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable control program for controlling an image forming apparatus connected to a copyright management server via a network, the step of reading image data from a document, Copyright protection information when it is determined that the image data is stored, the image data includes copyright protection information, and the copyright protection information is included. Extracting identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the server, transmitting the extracted identification information to the copyright management server, requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information, and a server in response to the request Displaying the copyright fee information received from the user, requesting the user a copyright fee, determining whether the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, and the user requesting the copyright fee. If it is determined that the payment has been made, a process of adding paid information to prove that the copyright fee has been paid to the stored image data, and printing the image data with the paid information added to the recording paper And a program code for causing a computer to execute the process.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the fourth aspect, the control program is stored in a storage medium.

  As described above, according to the copyrighted material copying system according to the first aspect, the image forming apparatus reads the image data from the document, stores the read image data, and the copyright protection information is included in the image data. If it is determined that the copyright protection information is included, the identification information for identifying the copyrighted work is extracted from the copyright protection information and extracted to the copyright management server. Send information, request the server to send copyright fee information, display the copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, charge the user for the copyright fee, It is determined whether or not the request has been accepted, and when it is determined that the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, payment information for certifying that the copyright fee has been paid is added to the stored image data. , Images with paid information Since the data is printed on the recording paper, the copyright holder can reliably collect the copyright fee from the user, and the user pays an appropriate copyright fee for copying. You can prove to others.

  The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 reads image data from a document, stores the read image data, determines whether the image data includes copyright protection information, and protects the copyright. When it is determined that the information is included, the identification information for identifying the copyrighted work is extracted from the copyright protection information, and the extracted identification information is transmitted to the copyright management server. Requests the server for transmission, displays the copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, charges the user for the copyright fee, determines whether the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, If it is determined that the request for the copyright fee has been received, the paid image information indicating that the copyright fee has been paid is added to the stored image data, and the image data with the paid information added is added. Because we decided to print on recording paper Copyright owner, the copyright fee can be reliably collected from the user, also, the user, it is possible to prove that paying the appropriate copyright fees, was copying.

  According to the image forming method of the third aspect, the image data is read from the document, the read image data is stored, it is determined whether the image data includes copyright protection information, and the copyright protection is performed. When it is determined that the information is included, the identification information for identifying the copyrighted work is extracted from the copyright protection information, and the extracted identification information is transmitted to the copyright management server. Requests the server for transmission, displays the copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, charges the user for the copyright fee, determines whether the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, If it is determined that the request for the copyright fee has been received, the paid image information indicating that the copyright fee has been paid is added to the stored image data, and the image data with the paid information added is added. Because we decided to print on recording paper Copyright owner, the copyright fee can be reliably collected from the user, also, the user, it is possible to prove that paying the appropriate copyright fees, was copying.

  According to the computer-readable control program of the fourth aspect, the step of reading the image data from the document, the step of storing the read image data, and whether the image data includes copyright protection information. And a step of extracting identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the copyright protection information when it is determined that the copyright protection information is included, and extracted to the copyright management server Transmitting identification information and requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information; displaying copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request; and charging the user with a copyright fee; A step of determining whether or not the user has responded to a request for a copyright fee; and if it is determined that the user has responded to a request for a copyright fee, that the copyright fee has been paid in the stored image data Testimony Since the copyright holder comprises a program code for causing a computer to execute the process of adding paid information and the process of printing image data to which paid information is added on a recording paper, The right fee can be reliably collected from the user, and the user can prove that the copying has been performed by paying an appropriate copyright fee.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a copyrighted material copying system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this system includes an image forming apparatus 100, a copyright management server 101, and a fee collection apparatus 102.

  In the figure, reference numeral 200 denotes a reader unit (reader device or image input device) which optically reads a document image and converts it into image data. The reader unit 200 includes a scanner unit 210 having a function for reading a document and a document feeding unit 250 having a function for transporting a document sheet.

  Reference numeral 300 denotes a printer unit (printer apparatus or image output apparatus) that conveys recording paper, prints image data as a visible image thereon, and discharges the recording paper outside the apparatus. The printer unit 300 includes a paper feed unit 360 having a plurality of types of recording paper cassettes, a marking unit 310 having a function of transferring and fixing image data onto the recording paper, and a machine that sorts and staples the printed recording paper. And a paper discharge unit 370 having a function of outputting to the outside.

  A control unit 110 is electrically connected to the reader unit 200, the printer unit 300, and the fee collection device 102, and is further connected to the copyright management server 101 via the network 400.

  The control unit 110 controls the reader unit 200 to read image data of a document, and controls the printer unit 300 to output the image data to a recording sheet to provide a copying function. Further, the control unit 110 transmits / receives copyright information to / from the copyright management server 101 via the network 400. Furthermore, the control part 110 controls the fee collection apparatus 102, and transmits / receives money amount information.

  An operation unit 150 is connected to the control unit 110 and includes a liquid crystal touch panel, and provides a user I / F for operating the image forming apparatus 100.

  A copyright management server 101 stores information for identifying a copyrighted work (hereinafter referred to as a copyrighted work ID) and a copyright fee for the copyrighted work. Upon receiving the copyrighted work ID from the image forming apparatus 100, the copyright management server 101 reads a copyright fee corresponding to the received copyrighted work ID and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 100.

  102 is a fee collection device, a coin insertion slot (not shown) for inserting coins, a return button (not shown) for requesting the return of coins inserted by the operator, and the total amount of coins inserted When there is a change or when the return button is pressed, a coin return port (not shown) for returning coins and a display unit (not shown) for displaying the total amount of coins inserted are provided to form an image. A fee is collected from the user for the print instruction received by the apparatus 100.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating configurations of the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300 illustrated in FIG. 1.

  In the reader unit 200, a document feeding unit 250 feeds documents one by one onto the platen glass 211 in order from the top, and discharges the documents on the platen glass 211 after the document reading operation is completed. When the document is conveyed onto the platen glass 211, the lamp 212 is turned on, and the movement of the optical units 213 and 221 by the motor 219 is started, and the document is exposed and scanned. Reflected light from the original at this time is guided to a CCD image sensor (hereinafter referred to as a CCD) 218 by mirrors 214, 215 and 216 and a lens 217. Thus, the scanned image of the original is read by the CCD 218. Image data output from the CCD 218 is transferred to the control unit 110 after being subjected to predetermined processing. An image processing circuit unit 222 processes the read image information as an electrical signal and outputs it as a print signal.

  In the printer unit 300, reference numeral 317 denotes a laser driver that drives the laser light emitting units 313, 314, 315, and 316. Laser light corresponding to the image data output from the control unit 110 is emitted from the laser light emitting units 313, 314, 315 and 316 are caused to emit light and output. This laser beam is applied to the photosensitive drums 325, 326, 327, 328 by mirrors 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, and the photosensitive drums 325, 326, 327 are irradiated. A latent image corresponding to the laser beam is formed at 328. Reference numerals 321, 322, 323, and 324 are developing units for developing a latent image with black (Bk), yellow (Y), cyan (C), and magenta (M) toners, respectively. Is transferred to paper and printed out in full color. A sheet fed from one of the sheet cassettes 360 and 361 and the manual feed tray 362 passes through a registration roller 333 and is sucked onto a transfer belt 334 and conveyed. Then, at the timing synchronized with the start of laser light irradiation, the recording paper is fed from either the cassette 360 or the cassette 361 and conveyed to the transfer belt 334, and the development adhered to the photosensitive drums 325, 326, 327, and 328. The agent is transferred to the recording paper. The recording paper on which the developer is placed is conveyed to the fixing unit 335, and the developer is fixed to the recording paper by the heat and pressure of the fixing unit 335. The recording paper that has passed through the fixing unit 335 is discharged by a discharge roller 336, and the paper discharge unit 370 sorts the recording paper by bundling the discharged recording paper, and further staples the sorted recording paper for discharge. It is discharged to the tray 371.

  If double-sided recording is set, the recording paper is conveyed to the discharge roller 336 and then the rotation direction of the discharge roller 336 is reversed and guided to the refeed conveyance path 338 by the flapper 337. The recording sheet guided to the refeed conveyance path 338 is fed to the transfer belt 334 at the timing described above.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control unit 110 shown in FIG.

  In the figure, reference numeral 111 denotes a main controller, which is mainly composed of a CPU 112, a bus controller 113, and various I / F controller circuits.

  The CPU 112 and the bus controller 113 control the overall operation of the control unit 110, and the CPU 112 operates based on a program read from the ROM 114 via the ROM I / F 115. The bus controller 113 controls data transfer input / output from each I / F, and performs arbitration at the time of bus contention and control of DMA data transfer.

  The ROM 114 has a boot ROM and stores a system boot program.

  The DRAM 116 is connected to the main controller 111 by a DRAM I / F 117, and includes a work area for the CPU 112 to operate, an area for storing image data, an amount to be charged to the fee collection device 102 shown in FIG. It is used as an area for accumulating information relating to the copyrighted work ID transmitted from the copyright management server 101 shown in FIG. 1 and the copyright fee received from the copyright management server 101.

  The Codec 118 compresses the raster image data stored in the DRAM 116 by a method such as MH7MR / MMR / JBIG / JPEG, and conversely decompresses the code data compressed and stored into raster image data. The SRAM 119 is used as a temporary work area of the Codec 118. The Codec 118 is connected to the main controller 111 via the I / F 120, and data transfer to and from the DRAM 116 is controlled by the bus controller 113 and DMA-transferred.

  The image analysis unit 138 detects copyright protection information from the image data stored in the DRAM 116 and analyzes it.

  In this embodiment, the copyright protection information may be a visible image such as an image or a symbol, or the copyright protection information may be added to the image data using a digital watermark technique. The work ID is always included so that the work can be specified. For example, the copyright protection information described when the original image of FIG. 4 is read is described by a barcode as shown in FIG. 5, and the work ID is included as the data.

  In FIG. 3, when the copyright analysis information cannot be detected from the image data by the image analysis unit 138, the CPU 112 executes the normal copy mode. On the other hand, when the copyright protection information is detected, the CPU 112 performs the copyright protection information. The work ID is extracted from and stored in the DRAM.

  The SRAM 151 is used as a temporary work area for the image analysis unit 138. The image analysis unit 138 is connected to the main controller 111 via the I / F 139, and data transfer to and from the DRAM 116 is controlled by the bus controller 113 and is DMA-transferred.

  The image processing unit 135 performs image rotation, image scaling, color space conversion, and binarization on the raster image data stored in the DRAM 116.

  In the present embodiment, payment information that proves that the user has paid an appropriate copyright fee is added to the recording paper. Therefore, the image processing unit 135 performs a combining process for combining the image data stored in the DRAM 116 and the paid information according to an instruction from the CPU 112. The paid information is preferably an image that others can recognize at a glance. Although it may be added to the image portion of the recording paper, it is preferably added to the edge (end portion) of the recording paper, particularly the non-image portion. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, an image such as “Paid copyright fee paid” is added to the end of the print image.

  The SRAM 136 is used as a temporary work area of the image processing unit 135. The image processing unit 135 is connected to the main controller 111 via the I / F 137, and data transfer to and from the DRAM 116 is controlled by the bus controller 113 and is DMA-transferred.

  A network controller 121 is connected to the main controller 111 through an I / F 123 and is connected to an external network through a connector 122. The network is generally Ethernet (registered trademark), but other networks such as a token ring may be used.

  An expansion connector 124 for connecting an expansion board and an I / O control unit 126 are connected to the general-purpose high-speed bus 125. A general-purpose high-speed bus is generally a PCI bus.

  The I / O control unit 126 is equipped with two channels of an asynchronous serial communication controller 127 for transmitting and receiving control commands to and from the CPUs of the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300. F circuits 140 and 145 are connected.

  The panel I / F 132 is connected to the LCD controller 131 and includes an I / F for displaying on the liquid crystal screen on the operation unit 150 and a key input I / F 130 for inputting hard keys and touch panel keys. Is done.

  The operation unit 150 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a liquid crystal display unit, a touch panel input device attached to the liquid crystal display unit, and a plurality of hard keys. A signal input from the touch panel or hard key is transmitted to the CPU 112 via the panel I / F 132 described above, and the liquid crystal display unit displays image data sent from the panel I / F 132. The liquid crystal display unit displays function display, image data, and the like in the operation of the image forming apparatus 100.

  The real-time clock module 133 is for updating / saving the date and time managed in the device, and is backed up by a backup battery 134.

  The E-IDE interface 161 is for connecting an external storage device. In this embodiment, the hard disk drive 160 is connected via this I / F, and image data is stored in the hard disk 162 or image data is read from the hard disk 162.

  The connectors 142 and 147 are connected to the reader unit 200 and the printer unit 300 shown in FIG. 1, respectively, and have a synchronized step synchronization serial I / F (143, 148) and a video I / F (144, 149). The connector 261 is connected to the fee collection device 102 shown in FIG.

  The scanner I / F 140 is connected to the reader unit 200 illustrated in FIG. 1 via the connector 142 and is connected to the main controller 111 via the scanner bus 141, and a predetermined amount of an image received from the reader unit 200 is determined. And a function of outputting a control signal generated based on a video control signal sent from the reader unit 200 to the scanner bus 141. Data transfer from the scanner bus 141 to the DRAM 116 is controlled by the bus controller 113.

  The printer I / F 145 is connected to the printer unit 300 shown in FIG. 1 via the connector 147, and is connected to the main controller 111 via the printer bus 146, and the image data output from the main controller 111 is transferred to the printer unit. And a function of outputting a control signal generated based on a video control signal sent from the printer unit 300 to the printer bus 146.

  Transfer of raster image data developed on the DRAM 116 to the printer unit is controlled by the bus controller 113 and DMA-transferred to the printer unit 300 via the printer bus 146 and the video I / F 149.

  FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the key arrangement of the operation unit 150 shown in FIG.

  Reference numeral 507 denotes a start key which is used to instruct the start of copying or the restart of an interrupted copying operation. Reference numeral 508 denotes a stop key, which is used when copying is interrupted or stopped. Reference numeral 513 denotes a numeric keypad which is used when inputting numerical values. A clear key 514 is used to clear a numerical value. An ID key 515 is used when shifting to an ID input mode when the image forming apparatus 100 is used. Reference numeral 516 denotes an LCD touch panel composed of a combination of a liquid crystal screen and a touch sensor, and various detailed settings can be made by touching the drawn keys. It also displays the operation status of each job. Reference numeral 517 denotes a tally lamp that indicates a communication state of the network. The tally lamp is usually green. An ACS (auto color select) key 518 is used to automatically determine whether the original is color or black and white, and is used to set a mode for scanning in color if it is color, or in black if it is black and white. A full color mode key 519 is used when setting a full color scan mode regardless of the original. A black mode key 520 is used to set a mode for scanning with a black color regardless of the original. Each of these keys 518 to 520 performs a toggle operation, and one of them is always selected, and the selected key is lit.

  FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a copyright fee request screen, which is displayed on the LCD touch panel 516 shown in FIG. 7 when copyright fee information is received from the copyright management server 101.

  In FIG. 8, on the copyright fee request screen 601, a message “A document to be printed is a subject of copyright protection. A copyright fee of 50 yen will be charged for printing”, and an OK key 602 and cancel. A key 603 is displayed. The user presses either the OK key 602 or the cancel key 603 to select a later operation.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 9, an operation when the image forming apparatus 100 prints a copyrighted work will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the copyrighted material copying system shown in FIG.

  A user of this system first places a document on the document feeding unit 250 shown in FIG. 2 and charges the fee collection apparatus 102 shown in FIG. A start key 507 of 150 is pressed to start a copying operation.

  First, in FIG. 9, in the image forming apparatus 100, image data of a document is read by the scanner unit 210 shown in FIG. 1 (S901), and the read image data is stored in the DRAM 116 shown in FIG. 3 (S902). Next, the control unit 110 analyzes the image data by the image analysis unit 138 shown in FIG. 3, and determines whether or not copyright protection information such as a barcode shown in FIG. 5 is included (S903). . If it is determined that the copyright protection information is not included in the image data, the process proceeds to step S915, and printing is performed on the recording paper fed from the paper feed unit 360 by the marking unit 310 shown in FIG. The copy mode processing is terminated. On the other hand, when it is determined that the copyright protection information is included in the image data, the control unit 110 extracts the copyrighted work ID from the copyright protection information by the image analysis unit 138 (S904). The copyrighted work ID is transmitted to the copyright management server 101 shown via the network 400 (S905).

  When the copyright management server 101 receives the copyrighted material ID from the image forming apparatus 100 (S906), the copyright management server 101 starts searching for a copyright fee corresponding to the copyrighted material ID (S907). When the search for the copyright fee is completed, the copyright management server 101 transmits the copyright fee information to the image forming apparatus 100 via the network 400 (S908).

  Upon receiving copyright fee information from the copyright management server 101 (S909), the image forming apparatus 100 displays the copyright fee request screen 601 shown in FIG. 8 on the LCD touch panel 516 shown in FIG. 7 (S910). , Charge the user a copyright fee. Here, when the user presses the NG key 603 on the copyright fee request screen 601, the user determines that he / she does not respond to the request for the copyright fee and ends the processing. On the other hand, when the OK key 602 on the copyright fee request screen 601 is pressed, it is determined that the user has responded to the request, and the currently charged fee information is acquired from the fee collection device 102 (S912). Next, the control unit 110 determines whether or not the fee is insufficient (S911). If it is determined that the fee is insufficient, the control unit 110 returns to the process of step S912. On the other hand, if it is determined that the fee is not insufficient, the image processing unit 135 shown in FIG. 3 combines the image data stored in the DRAM 116 with the paid information (S914), and the combined image data is displayed. Store in the DRAM 116. Then, printing is performed on the recording paper fed from the paper feed unit 360 by the marking unit 310, and the processing of the copy mode of the copyrighted work is finished.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image forming apparatus reads image data from a document, stores the read image data, and determines whether or not copyright protection information is included in the image data. When it is determined that the copyright protection information is included, the work ID is extracted from the copyright protection information, the work ID is transmitted to the copyright management server, and the copyright fee information is transmitted to the server. Request, and display the copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, charge the user for the copyright fee, determine whether the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, and Image data with payment information added to the stored image data with payment information proving that the copyright fee has been paid. Is printed on recording paper. Who, copyright fee can be reliably collected from the user, also, the user, can be paid an appropriate copyright fees, to prove to others that you have done a copy.

1 is a block diagram showing a copyrighted material copying system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the reader part and printer part which were shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control part shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the original document handled by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the barcode of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the print image handled by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the keyboard layout of the operation part shown in FIG. It is the schematic diagram which showed an example of the copyright fee request screen. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the copy system of the copyrighted work which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Claims (5)

  A copyrighted material copying system comprising an image forming apparatus and a copyright management server connected to a network, wherein the image forming apparatus reads image data from a document, and the image reading means reads the image data. Storage means for storing the image data, first determination means for determining whether or not copyright protection information is included in the image data, and copyright protection information being included in the first determination means. The identification information extracting means for extracting identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the copyright protection information, and transmitting the identification information extracted by the identification information extracting means to the copyright management server. Requesting means for requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information, billing means for displaying copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, and charging the user with the copyright fee; A second discriminating unit that discriminates whether or not the user has requested a copyright fee; and when the second discriminating unit determines that the user has requested a copyright fee, the information is stored in the storage unit. Adding means for adding paid information to prove that the copyright fee has been paid in the image data; and printing means for printing the image data to which the paid information is added by the adding means on a recording paper; A copy system for copyrighted works.   An image forming apparatus connected to a copyright management server via a network, comprising: an image reading unit that reads image data from a document; a storage unit that stores image data read by the image reading unit; and the image data A first discriminating unit that discriminates whether or not copyright protection information is included; and when the first discriminating unit determines that the copyright protection information is included, the copyright protection information Identification information extraction means for extracting identification information for identifying an object, and request means for transmitting the identification information extracted by the identification information extraction means to a copyright management server and requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information And a billing means for displaying copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request and charging the copyright fee to the user, and a second for determining whether or not the user has requested the copyright fee. Discrimination If the second determining means determines that the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee, the paid means proves that the copyright fee has been paid in the image data stored in the storage means. An image forming apparatus comprising: an adding unit that adds information; and a printing unit that prints image data to which paid information is added by the adding unit on a recording sheet.   A step of reading image data from a document, a step of storing the read image data, a step of determining whether or not copyright protection information is included in the image data, and copyright protection information being included If it is determined, a step of extracting identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the copyright protection information, and transmitting the extracted identification information to the copyright management server, requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information. Displaying copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request, charging the user for the copyright fee, and determining whether the user has responded to the request for the copyright fee. A step of adding paid information for certifying that the copyright fee has been paid to the stored image data when the user is determined to have responded to the request for the copyright fee; and payment information is added. Recorded image data Image forming method characterized by having the steps of printing.   A computer-readable control program for controlling an image forming apparatus connected to a copyright management server via a network, the step of reading image data from a document, the step of storing the read image data, A step of determining whether or not copyright protection information is included in the image data, and identification information for identifying the copyrighted work from the copyright protection information when it is determined that the copyright protection information is included. Extracting the extracted identification information to the copyright management server, requesting the server to transmit copyright fee information, and displaying the copyright fee information received from the server in response to the request. A step of charging the user with a copyright fee, a step of determining whether or not the user has responded to a request for a copyright fee, and a case in which it is determined that the user has responded to a request for a copyright fee. Causing the computer to execute a step of adding paid information for certifying that the copyright fee has been paid to the stored image data, and a step of printing the image data to which the paid information is added on a recording paper. A control program for an image forming apparatus, comprising:   A storage medium storing the control program according to claim 4.

Images