JP2007174395A - Image processing apparatus and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent information leakage due to image data generated based on an original etc. and to prevent information leakage in printing the protected image data. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing apparatus generates image data, sets its usage conditions, generates a content key of the image data, and transmits the usage conditions and the content key to a license server to receive an issued license. The issued license is added to the image data encrypted using the content key, and is transmitted to an image output apparatus. An image output apparatus inputs the image data, extracts the issued license from the image data, acquires a user certificate corresponding to user information, and transmits the issued license and the user certificate to a license server to receive a usage license. The propriety of usage of the image data is detected; and if the data can be used, the content key included in the license information is decrypted, and the image data are decrypted using the decrypted content key and image the data are output. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to image processing for preventing information leakage of image data.

  Companies and the like employ a digital document management method using a license in order to prevent leakage of confidential documents. This management method protects the digital document on the personal computer (PC) that created the digital document so that it cannot be viewed, edited, printed, etc. After obtaining a license for the digital document, it can be viewed, edited, Enable printing. By using such a license server that issues a license and installing the license server in the company, it is possible to prevent information leakage even if the digital document is taken out of the company.

  On the other hand, recent digital copying machines are not limited to copying paper originals, but can also generate digital documents by scanning paper originals and distribute the generated digital documents via a network. By using such a digital copying machine, it becomes possible to use a paper manuscript as a digital document, which makes office work more efficient, but leakage of information in which a paper manuscript is digitally documented is also a problem. Become.

  In order to prevent information leakage due to a digital document generated by a digital copying machine, the management method described above can be applied to the generated digital document. However, whether or not to apply is left to the user's operation, and is not necessarily applied to all confidential documents. Of course, an appropriate management method may not be applied due to the intention or mistake of the user.

  In addition, it is difficult to prevent information leakage on a communication path distributed from a digital copying machine to a PC. Furthermore, when printing a digital document to which the above-described management method is applied, it is necessary to acquire a license on the PC, cancel the protection of the digital document, and then transmit the print data of the digital document from the PC to the printer. At that time, it is difficult to prevent information leakage during transmission from the PC to the printer.

  In other words, prevention of information leakage of a digital document generated from a paper manuscript and prevention of information leakage when printing a protected digital document are not sufficient at present.

  Patent Document 1 discloses that a scanned document is transmitted to a server and the server performs DRM (Digital Rights Management) processing. However, the data size of the scanned document is large, and it is inefficient to send the scanned document to the server every time for DRM processing. Patent Document 2 describes that RMS (Rights Manamgement Service) is executed on a PC, but the printer is only connected to the PC.

JP 2005-123979 JP 2004-38974 JP

  An object of the present invention is to prevent information leakage due to image data generated from a document or the like. Another object is to prevent information leakage when printing protected image data.

  The present invention has the following configuration as one means for achieving the above object.

  The image processing according to the present invention generates image data, sets usage conditions for the image data, generates a content key for the image data, transmits the usage conditions and the content key to a license server, and issues an issued license. And encrypting the image data using the content key to obtain encrypted image data, adding the issue license to the encrypted image data, and outputting the specified encrypted image data with the issue license added thereto It is characterized by outputting first.

  Also, image data is input, an issuance license is extracted from the image data, user information is input, a user certificate corresponding to the user information is obtained, and the issuance license and the user certificate are obtained. Is sent to the license server to receive the use license, and based on the use license, the availability of the image data is determined. If the determination is available, the content key included in the license information is decrypted and decrypted The image data is decrypted using a content key, and the decrypted image data is output.

  According to the present invention, information leakage due to image data generated from a document or the like can be prevented. Also, information leakage when printing protected image data can be prevented.

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

[System configuration]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system that executes information processing according to the embodiment.

  The image processing apparatus 11 is an apparatus capable of generating image data by scanning a paper document, such as a digital copying machine, a scanner, or a digital camera. The image processing apparatus 11 generates image data and transmits an issuance license request to the license issuance server 13 and receives the issuance license in order to acquire an issuance license that can control the use of the image data. In addition, the image data is transmitted to the image output device 12. Note that the image data generated by the image processing apparatus 11 may be electronic data or an image printed on paper.

  The image output device 12 is a device capable of outputting an image, such as a digital copying machine, a display, or a printer. When image data is input from the image processing apparatus 11, the image output apparatus 12 transmits a use license request to the license issuing server 13 and receives a use license in order to obtain a use license for using the image data. . The use of image data indicates various processes for image data such as printing, editing, and display of image data.

  The license issuance server 13 is a server device capable of issuing license generation processing that generates an issuance license in response to an issuance license request received from the image processing apparatus 11 and transmits the issuance license to the image processing apparatus 11. In addition, the server device can perform a use license generation process that generates a use license in response to a use license request received from the image output device 12 and transmits the use license to the device 12.

  Here, the issue license and the use license will be described. The use license is data necessary for using the image data. If the use license is acquired, the image data can be used. In other words, even if the image data is owned, the image data cannot be used at all without a use license. The use license is data that can be generated only by the license issuing server 13.

  The issuance license is data necessary for issuing a use license. Although the details will be described later, the issuance license describes use conditions of the image data. The license issuance server 13 determines whether or not the issuer of the use license request conforms to the use conditions, and issues the use license if it conforms.

  The image processing device 11, the image output device 12, and the license issuing server 13 are connected to each other via a network such as the Internet, and can exchange various data. When an image printed on paper is transmitted from the image processing device 11 to the image output device 12, the image output device 12 scans the image printed on the paper into image data.

[Image processing device]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image processing apparatus 11.

  The image input unit 21 inputs image data by scanning or shooting. For example, when the image processing apparatus 11 is a digital copying machine, the image input unit 21 has an auto document feeder (ADF) and conveys a document by the ADF. Then, the original is irradiated with light, the reflected light of the original is imaged on a solid-state image sensor by a lens, and image data is generated from a video signal output from the solid-state image sensor. When the image forming apparatus 11 is a digital camera, the image input unit 21 includes an optical sensor such as a CCD (charge coupled device) and a microprocessor that controls the optical system, and a video generated by the optical system and the optical sensor. Image data is generated from the signal.

  The use condition input unit 22 inputs a use condition of image data generated by the image input unit 21 using an input interface (not shown).

  The issuance license generation unit 23 generates an issuance license using the use conditions input by the use condition input unit 22.

  The communication unit 24 is a communication interface between the image forming apparatus 11 and the license issuing server 13. For example, it is used for communication between the issued license generating unit 23 and an issued license unit 41 described later.

  The combining unit 23 combines the issued license generated by the issued license generating unit 23 and the encrypted image data, and outputs image data combined with the issued license.

  The image output unit 26 outputs the image data combined with the issued license output from the combining unit 25. In other words, the image output unit 26 executes appropriate image processing on the image data combined with the issued license to print an image on paper, or the image data combined with the issued license as electronic data to the image output device 12. Send. An image to be printed on paper is printed based on the encrypted image data. Therefore, even if the image is observed, the contents cannot be grasped, and in order to grasp the contents, it is necessary to decode the image data read from the image.

Usage conditions Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining usage conditions. One unit is a right 101 that can be exercised for image data, a condition 102 for exercising the right 101, and a user 103 that can exercise the right 101 under the condition 102. Describe as Of course, it is possible to set a more complicated use condition by describing a plurality of use conditions for one unit. The usage conditions may be described in a language such as XML or as binary data.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of usage conditions. The usage conditions shown in FIG. 4 are that “print” 111 of image data is “in-house” 112 and “user A” 113 and “user B” 114 can exercise, and “transfer” 115 is “in-house” 116 and “user” A "117 indicates that you can exercise.

  Of course, the description method of the use condition is not limited to FIGS. 3 and 4, and various description methods can be applied. Further, the use conditions are not necessarily set for each image data. For example, some usage conditions are stored in advance in the image forming apparatus 11 or the license issuing server 13. Then, the use condition input unit 22 may select a desired use condition from the held use conditions. In this way, it is possible to save the trouble of inputting the use condition for each read image data, and the convenience for the user is improved.

  Alternatively, instead of inputting the usage conditions desired by the user, only the preset usage conditions may be applied. For example, if usage conditions corresponding to the handling rules for confidential documents in a company are set in advance, it is possible to further prevent information leakage due to read image data.

Issuing License Generation FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing of the issuing license generation unit 23.

  First, a content key is generated (S51). The content key is key information generated for each image data generated by the image input unit 21. The method for generating the content key is not particularly limited. For example, a pseudo random number generated by a pseudo random number generation unit (not shown) may be used.

  Next, the public key of the license issuance server 13 is acquired from the license issuance server 13 (S52). The public key is requested to the license issuing server 13 using the communication unit 24, or is acquired in advance and stored in a memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) not shown.

  Next, the content key is encrypted using the public key of the license issuing server 13 (S53). The encryption algorithm is not particularly limited, but various public key cryptosystems such as RSA and DSA are applicable. Note that the encryption of the content key is not always necessary. For example, if the image forming apparatus 11 and the license issuing server 13 can communicate using a secure communication path, the encryption of the content key can be skipped.

  Next, the input usage conditions and the encrypted content key are transmitted to the license issuing server 13 using the communication unit 24 (S54). Upon receiving the usage conditions and the encrypted content key, the license issuance server 13 executes an issuance license generation process described later, and transmits the generated issuance license to the image forming apparatus 11. Then, the issuance license is received from the license issuance server 13 using the communication unit 24 (S55). Details of the issued license will be described later.

  Next, the image data generated by the image input unit 21 is encrypted using the content key (S56). The encryption algorithm is not particularly limited, but various common key encryption methods such as AES and RC4 can be applied.

Issue License Combination FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing of the combining unit 25.

  First, output destination information of image data is acquired (S161), and it is determined whether or not the output destination is paper (that is, image printing) (S162). If the output destination is paper, an issuance license is added to the image data (S163). If the output destination is other than paper (that is, electronic data is transmitted to the image output device 12 or the like), the issued license is combined with the image data (S164).

  For example, in a digital copying machine, the output destination is determined to be paper when “copy” is instructed, and the output destination is determined to be other than paper when “transmission” or “scan” is instructed. .

  Various methods such as a digital watermark and a two-dimensional code can be applied as a method for adding an issue license. Instead of adding the issued license itself, an issued license identifier or storage location information may be added, and the issued license itself may be stored in a server (not shown). In any case, the issue license may be added to the image data so that the image data issue license can be acquired from the image printed on the paper.

  The issuance license combining method may be incorporated in the header or footer of the image data or described as metadata of the image data. Further, it may be added as a digital watermark or a two-dimensional code.

[Image output device]
FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the image output device 12.

  The image input unit 31 inputs image data. The image input unit 31 may input image data as electronic data from the image processing device 11, or may input image data by reading an image printed on paper.

  The issuance license detection unit 32 detects an issuance license in the image data input by the image input unit 31.

  The user information input unit 33 inputs user information that can identify the user of the image output device 12 using an input interface (not shown). The user information is not particularly limited as long as it can identify the user. For example, the user information is read from a password input by the user, biometric information input from the biometric authentication device, or an IC card inserted into the user information input unit 33. Information is available.

  The user certificate acquisition unit 34 acquires a user certificate corresponding to the user information input by the user information input unit 33. The user certificate includes a public key unique to the user, an authentication server signature for the public key, and the like. A known certificate such as X.509 can be used as the user certificate. The user certificate may be a user certificate registered in advance in the HDD (not shown) of the image output device 12, or may be obtained from an external authentication server or an IC card connected to the image output device 12. Also good.

  The use license generation unit 35 generates a use license for image data based on the issued license detected by the issued license detection unit 32 and the user certificate acquired by the user certificate acquisition unit 34.

  The communication unit 39 is a communication interface between the image output device 12 and the license issuance server 13. For example, the communication unit 39 is used for communication between the use license generation unit 35 and a use license unit 43 described later.

  The environment information / usage method acquisition unit 36 acquires environment information of the image output apparatus 12 and a user instruction regarding use of image data.

  The environment information is information related to the environment of the image output device 12 at the time when the image data is input, and includes the input time of the image data, the installation location of the image output device 12, a network address, an identifier (serial number), and the like. The environment information acquired by the environment information acquisition unit 36 is used in a determination unit 37 described later to determine whether image data can be output. For example, when the use time of the image data is described in the use condition of the issued license combined with the image data, it is determined whether or not the time when the image data is used matches the time described in the condition. To do. The method for acquiring the environmental information is not particularly limited. For example, in order to obtain reliable time information, the time information is acquired from a network time server. It also queries a domain name service (DNS) server to obtain a network address. It is not always necessary to acquire environmental information.

  The determination unit 37 determines whether the image data can be output based on the use license generated by the use license generation unit 35, the environment information acquired by the environment information / use method acquisition unit 36, and the use method. If possible, the decoded image data is output.

  The image output unit 38 performs appropriate image processing on the image data output from the determination unit 37 based on a user instruction regarding the use of the image data, and prints it on paper. Alternatively, the image data output from the determination unit 37 is transmitted as electronic data or stored in a storage medium.

Issued License Detection FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing of the issued license detection unit 32.

  First, input source information of image data is acquired (S171), and it is determined whether or not the input source is paper (S172). If the input source is paper, the issuance license added to the image data is extracted (S173). If the input source is other than paper, the issued license combined with the image data is detected (S174).

  For example, in the digital copying machine, when “copy”, “scan”, and “send” are instructed, the input source is determined to be paper, and when “print” is instructed, the input source is determined to be other than paper. judge.

  In the issuance license extraction, when the issuance license is embedded as a digital watermark, a digital watermark extraction process is performed, and when the issuance license is embedded as a two-dimensional code, a two-dimensional code reading process is performed. If an issued license identifier or storage location information is added instead of the issued license itself, the issued license is acquired from a server (not shown) using the extracted identifier or storage location information.

  The issue license is detected by reading the issue license described in the header or footer of the image data or interpreting the issue license described as metadata. In addition, when it is added as a digital watermark or a two-dimensional code, a digital watermark extraction process or a two-dimensional code reading process may be executed.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the issued license has been extracted or detected (S175). If the issued license is extracted or detected, the image data is sent to the use license generating unit 85 (S176). If the issued license is neither extracted nor detected, the image data is sent to the image output unit 38 (S177). That is, when the image data includes an issuance license, the process proceeds to a use license acquisition process. When the image data does not include an issuance license, normal image output is executed.

Generation of Use License FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the process of the use license generation unit 35.

  First, the issued license detected by the issued license detecting unit 32 and the user certificate acquired by the user certificate acquiring unit 34 are transmitted to the license issuing server 13 using the communication unit 39 (S71). Upon receiving the issued license and the user certificate, the license issuance server 13 executes a use license generation process, which will be described later, and transmits the generated use license to the image output device 12. Then, the use license is received from the license issuing server 13 using the communication unit 24 (S72). Details of the use license will be described later.

Determination Process FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the process of the determination unit 37.

  First, the usage right included in the usage license generated by the usage license generation unit 35, the environmental information acquired by the environmental information / use method acquisition unit 36, and the usage method are acquired (S91). Then, it is determined whether the condition described in the usage right matches the environment information of the image output apparatus 12 and the user's usage method (S92).

  If the conditions described in the usage right do not match the environment information of the image output device 12 and the user's usage method, the process is terminated. If the conditions described in the usage right, environment information, and usage method match, the content key encrypted with the user's public key is decrypted with the user's private key (S93), and the decrypted content key is Then, the image data encrypted with the content key is decrypted (S94).

  The content key is included in the use license combined with the image data by the combining unit 25 of the image processing apparatus 11. Although the details will be described later, the content key included in the use license is encrypted with the public key of the license issuing server 13 by the license generation processing unit 43 described later.

  Similar to the user certificate acquisition unit 34, the user's private key is acquired from the authentication server based on the user information input by the user information input unit 33. Alternatively, it may be obtained by a method such as obtaining what is registered in advance in an HDD (not shown) of the image output device 12 based on the user information, or obtaining from an IC card connected to the image output device 12.

Usage rights Fig. 11 is a diagram for explaining usage rights. The usage right is a part of the usage license, which will be described later. As shown in FIG. 11, the usage rights are the user information 121 of the image output device 12 input in the user information input unit 33, the condition 122 for the user to exercise the right, and the user under the condition 122. Describe the rights that can be exercised as a unit. In other words, the usage right includes the right 123 that can be exercised by the user 121 specified by the user information input by the user information input unit 33 among the plurality of users described in the usage conditions shown in FIG. The condition 122 is extracted. A plurality of conditions 122 and exercising rights 123 for one user can be described. The usage right may be described in a language such as XML or binary data.

  FIG. 12 shows an example of usage rights. The usage rights shown in FIG. 12 are “user A” 131 “in-house” 132 and “printable” 133 image data, and “user A” 131 “image-transferable” 135 to “in-house” 134 Indicates that there is. Note that the usage rights shown in FIG. 12 are obtained by extracting only the rights related to user A from the usage conditions shown in FIG.

  Note that the usage right description method is not limited to FIGS. 11 and 12, and various description methods can be applied.

[License Issuing Server]
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the license issuing server 13.

  The issuance license generation unit 41 receives an issuance license request from the image processing apparatus 11, generates an issuance license, and transmits the generated issuance license to the image forming apparatus 11.

  The use license generation unit 43 receives a use license request from the image output device 12, generates a use license, and transmits the generated use license to the image output device 12.

  The key data holding unit 42 holds a public key and a secret key unique to the license issuing server 13. The public key and the private key are data unique to the license issuing server 13, and need to be securely held so that there is no leakage, tampering, or forgery outside the license issuing server 13.

  The communication unit 44 is a communication interface between the license server 13, the image processing device 11, and the image output device 12. For example, the communication unit 44 is used for communication between the issuance license generation unit 41 and the issuance license generation unit 23 of the image processing device 11, and communication between the use license generation unit 43 and the use license generation unit 35 of the image output device 12. .

Issued License Generation FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the processing of the issued license generation unit 41.

  First, an issuance license request including a use condition and an encrypted content key is received from the image processing apparatus 11 via the communication unit 44 (S61). Then, the content key encrypted with the public key of the license issuing server 13 is decrypted with the secret key of the license issuing server 13 (S62). The secret key of the license issuing server 13 is held in the key data holding unit 42. As described above, when the encryption of the content key by the image processing apparatus 11 is skipped, the decryption of the content key can be skipped.

  Subsequently, the decrypted content key is encrypted using the public key of the license issuing server 13 (S63). The public key of the license issuing server 13 is held in the key data holding unit 42. If the encrypted content key can be decrypted with the secret key, the decrypted content key need not be encrypted again with the public key, and the received (encrypted) content key may be used as it is. .

  Next, a signature is generated using the private key of the license issuing server 13 for the received use condition (S64). The signature generation algorithm is not particularly limited, but various signature generation algorithms such as RSA and DSA can be applied.

  Next, an issuance license is generated using the use conditions, the encrypted content key, and the generated signature (S65), and the generated issuance license is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 11 using the communication unit 44 (S66).

Issued License FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining the issued license.

  Signature data 143 for the use condition 141 is added to the issued license. Therefore, when the issued license is forged, that is, when a third party other than the license issuing server 13 generates the issued license, forgery can be detected. Similarly, when the issued license is falsified, it is possible to detect falsification.

  In addition, since the content key 142 is encrypted with the public key of the license issuance server 13, only the license issuance server 13 can decrypt the content key 142. As a result, only the license issuing server 13 can generate the use license.

Generation of Use License FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the process of the use license generation unit 43.

  First, a use license request including an issued license and a user certificate is received from the image output apparatus 12 via the communication unit 44 (S80). Then, the usage conditions and signature data are extracted from the received issued license (S81), and the usage conditions are verified using the signature data (S82). If verification fails, the process ends.

  If the verification is successful, the signature data of the authentication server included in the user certificate is extracted (S83), and the user certificate is verified using the signature data (S84). If verification fails, the process ends.

  If the verification in steps S83 and S85 is successful, the content key encrypted with the public key of the license issuing server 13 included in the issued license is decrypted using the secret key of the license issuing server 13 (S85). . Then, the decrypted content key is encrypted with the user's public key included in the user certificate (S86).

  Next, a usage right is generated using the use conditions included in the issued license (S87). That is, the right to use the user information corresponding to the user certificate and the conditions are extracted from the plurality of pieces of user information described in the usage conditions, and the usage right is generated.

  Next, a use license is generated using the encrypted content key and the generated usage right (S88). Then, the generated use license is transmitted to the image output device 12 using the communication unit 44 (S89).

Usage License FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining the usage license.

  The usage license includes a usage right 151 and a content key 152. Since the content key 152 is encrypted with the user's public key, only the user can decrypt the content key 152. As a result, only the user having the secret key corresponding to the public key can exercise the right described in the usage right 151.

  As described above, the image data transmitted from the image processing apparatus 11 to the image output apparatus 12 or the image printed on paper is encrypted, and the issued license issued by the license issuing server 13 is added or combined. The image output device 12 receives a usage right and a decodable content key from the license issuance server 13 based on the issued license and content key acquired from the received image data or image data obtained by reading a printed image. Therefore, the user of the image output device 12 can decrypt the image data and use (view, print, edit, transmit, etc.) the image data within the range described in the usage right. As described above, it is possible to prevent information included in the image data from leaking from the communication path between the image processing apparatus 11 and the image output apparatus 12 or the printed image.

[Other embodiments]
Note that the present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, and a printer), and a device (for example, a copying machine and a facsimile device) including a single device. You may apply to.

  Another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium (recording medium) that records software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and a computer (CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus executes the software. Is also achieved. In this case, the software itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the software constitutes the present invention.

  In addition, the above functions are not only realized by the execution of the software, but an operating system (OS) running on a computer performs part or all of the actual processing according to the instructions of the software, and thereby the above functions This includes the case where is realized.

  In addition, the software is written in a function expansion card or unit memory connected to the computer, and the CPU of the card or unit performs part or all of the actual processing according to instructions of the software, thereby This includes the case where is realized.

  When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores software corresponding to the flowchart described above.

A block diagram showing a configuration example of a system that executes information processing according to an embodiment; Block diagram showing a configuration example of an image processing device, A diagram explaining the conditions of use, Figure showing an example of usage conditions, A flowchart showing processing of the issued license generation unit; A flowchart showing processing of the combining unit; A block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image output device, A flowchart showing processing of the issued license detection unit; A flowchart showing processing of the use license generation unit; A flowchart showing processing of the determination unit; A diagram explaining the usage rights, Figure showing an example of usage rights, Block diagram for explaining a configuration example of a license issuing server; A flowchart showing processing of the issued license generation unit 41; A diagram explaining the issuance license, A flowchart showing processing of the use license generation unit 43; It is a figure explaining a use license.

Claims (9)

Generating means for generating image data;
Setting means for setting use conditions of the image data;
Key generation means for generating a content key of the image data;
A license generating means for transmitting the use condition and the content key to a license server and receiving an issued license;
An encryption means for encrypting the image data using the content key to obtain encrypted image data;
Adding means for adding the issued license to the encrypted image data;
An image processing apparatus comprising: output means for outputting the encrypted image data to which the issued license is added to a specified output destination.   The license generation means transmits the content key encrypted using the public key of the license server and the use condition to the license server, and the content key and signature data encrypted with the secret key of the license server 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus receives the issued license including the use condition attached. Input means for inputting image data;
Extraction means for extracting an issuance license from the image data;
An acquisition means for inputting user information and acquiring a user certificate corresponding to the user information;
License generation means for transmitting the issued license and the user certificate to a license server and receiving a use license;
A means for determining whether or not the image data can be used based on the use license;
Decryption means for decrypting the content key included in the license information and decrypting the image data using the decrypted content key if the determination is available;
An image processing apparatus comprising output means for outputting the decoded image data.   4. The image processing according to claim 3, wherein the license generation unit receives the content key encrypted with a public key of the license server and the issued license including a right to use the image data. apparatus.   Furthermore, it has a means to acquire the user's instruction regarding the use of the environment information and the image data of the device, and the determination means, when the usage right matches the environment information and the user instruction, 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein use is determined as possible. Generate image data,
Set usage conditions for the image data,
Generating a content key of the image data;
Sending the usage conditions and the content key to a license server to receive an issued license,
The image data is encrypted using the content key to obtain encrypted image data,
Adding the issuance license to the encrypted image data;
An image processing method, comprising: outputting encrypted image data to which the issued license is added to a specified output destination. Enter the image data,
An issuance license is extracted from the image data,
Enter user information, obtain a user certificate corresponding to the user information,
Sending the issued license and the user certificate to a license server to receive a use license;
Determining whether the image data can be used based on the use license,
If the determination is available, decrypt the content key included in the license information, decrypt the image data using the decrypted content key,
An image processing method for outputting the decoded image data.   8. A computer program for controlling the image processing device to realize the image processing according to claim 6 or 7.   9. A computer-readable recording medium on which the computer program according to claim 8 is recorded.

Images