JP2008134818A - Print system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print system which is adapted to record, for identifying a user who takes out a printed document, biological information of the user concerned in the printed document. <P>SOLUTION: The printing system 100 collates a face image of a user 70 taken by a camera 40 with a face image registered in a face authentication processor 20 to determine whether the user 70 has print right or not. When the user 70 has the print right, the printing system 100 allocates the facial image of the user 70 to an empty space of a page image to be generated by print data accumulated in a print data accumulation part 321, and prints a document 60 having the page image to which the user's face image is allocated while embedding information for identifying image data of the face image of the user 70 in the page image by electronic watermark processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system, and more particularly, to a technique for recording and remaining biometric information of a taken-out user on a printed material in order to specify a user who has taken out a document printed by a printing apparatus.

  Patent Document 1 describes a technique related to a method and apparatus for creating personal information in which a third party cannot easily know personal information and creating a watermark image by embedding personal information in an original image. Information creating method and apparatus "is disclosed.

  In the invention of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the important information of an individual can be stored even if it is lost or lost in the event of submitting, storing or transferring a document containing important information such as a resume. It is an object to provide a method and apparatus for creating personal information that is not easily known to three parties.

  As a technique relating to a secret information printing / reading system that inserts information in a still image content inconspicuously by digital watermark technology, a “secret information printing / reading system” disclosed in Patent Document 2 is disclosed.

The invention of Patent Document 2 has an object of providing a system capable of creating a printed matter while concealing information different from print contents, a printing apparatus including a message input unit and an image input unit, and watermark embedding The watermark embedding device having the means and the watermark detecting device having the watermark detecting means are connected to the network, and the printing device accepts the image to be printed and the information to be kept secret from the message sender. , Send the information and image to the watermark embedding device, the watermark embedding device creates a watermarked image in which the information is embedded in the image, sends the created watermarked image to the printing device, the printing device prints the watermarked image, Reply to the message recipient.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-295383. JP-A-2005-159502.

  Conventionally, by adding an electronic book name to an electronic document, it is possible to confirm that the electronic document has been created by the principal.

  Also, when printing a document on paper, the information of the user who created the document can be specified by embedding the identification information of the user by performing an electronic watermark on the image to be printed.

  Further, as a method for specifying a user who has taken out a printed document, for example, a technique has been proposed in which a printing operation involving an IC card reading operation is performed and the contents of the printing process are recorded in log information.

  However, considering the case where IC card lending and borrowing is performed, it is not sufficient because the person who has taken out the printed document does not necessarily match the user recorded on the IC card.

  According to the present invention, the biometric information of a user who has taken out a printed document is recorded on the printed matter and remains, whereby the user who has taken out the printed matter from the printing apparatus is specified by the image printed on the printed matter and the image reading of the printed matter. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing system capable of printing.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the printing system of the invention of claim 1 includes an acquisition unit that acquires biometric information of a user who performs an operation for taking out a document printed by a printing apparatus, and biometric information acquired by the acquisition unit. Output means for outputting the given print document.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the biological information is a face image of the user, and the acquisition means is provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus and images the face of the user. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the printing system is a camera, and the output unit synthesizes an image captured by the camera with an image of the printed document and prints it out.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing system of the first aspect, the biometric information is a fingerprint image of the user, and the acquisition means is provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus, and the predetermined finger of the user is provided. Reading means for reading a fingerprint image of the finger by a pressing operation. The output means combines the fingerprint image read by the reading means with the image of the printed document and prints it out.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the biometric information is a fingerprint image of the user, and the acquisition means is a user who prints on the printing paper accumulated in the paper feed tray of the printing apparatus. A transfer unit that transfers the fingerprint image of the finger onto the printing paper by pressing the predetermined finger, and the output unit prints a printed document printed using the paper on which the fingerprint image of the user is transferred by the transfer unit. Output.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing system, an acquisition unit that acquires biometric information of a user who performs an operation for taking out a document printed by a printing device, and a job storage unit that stores a print job to be printed by the printing device. Registration means for registering biometric information of a user who is permitted to print a print job stored in the job storage means, and biometric information acquired by the acquisition means matches the biometric information registered in the registration means A print permission unit that permits printing of the print job stored in the job storage unit, a biometric information provision unit that imparts corresponding biometric information to a print image of the print job permitted by the print permission unit, and a biometric information provision unit Print output means for printing out a print image to which biometric information is attached.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the biometric information is a user's face image, and the acquisition means is provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus and images the user's face. The biometric information adding unit is a camera, and synthesizes the image information of the user's face captured by the camera with the print image of the print job.

  Further, the invention of claim 7 is the printing system of the invention of claim 5, wherein the biometric information is a fingerprint image of the user, and the acquisition means is provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus, and the predetermined finger of the user is provided. Reading means for reading the fingerprint image of the finger by a pressing operation, and the biometric information adding means combines the fingerprint image information of the user read by the reading means with the print image of the print job.

  According to the printing system of the present invention, it is possible to easily identify the user who has taken out the printed document from the biological information recorded on the printed matter.

  Embodiments of a printing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first example of a printing system according to the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a printing system 100 is configured by connecting a PC 10, a face authentication processing device 20, a printing device 30, and a camera 40 via a network 50 so that data communication is possible.

  The printing system 100 collates the user's face image captured by the camera 40 with the face image registered in the face authentication database 21 of the face authentication processing device 20, and determines whether the user 70 has print authority.

  When the user 70 has the print authority, the printing system 100 assigns the user's 70 face photo to the empty space of the page image generated by the print data stored in the print data storage unit 321 and also displays the user's face image. The document 60 in which information specifying the image data of the face image of the user 70 is embedded in the page image of the allocated document 60 by electronic watermark processing is printed.

  The camera 40 is a network camera that can be controlled via the network 50, and instructs the printing apparatus 30 to print the document 60 at a position where the face image of the user 70 that takes out the printed document 60 can be taken. The face image of the user 70 is captured based on an instruction from the printing device 30, and the captured face image is transmitted to the face authentication processing device 20.

  The face authentication processing device 20 registers and manages the face image of each user who has been given the operation authority to permit the print operation of the document 60 by the printing device 30 in the face authentication database 21, and print operation of the user 70 by face authentication. Is received from the printing apparatus 30, the camera 40 is controlled via the network 50, and the face image of the user 70 received from the camera 40 is compared with the face image of each user registered in the face authentication database 21. It is determined whether or not the user 70 has print authority. When the user 70 has the print authority, the data obtained by converting the received face image of the user 70 into image data having a predetermined size and resolution is transmitted to the printing apparatus 30 together with the determination result.

  When the PC 10 detects the print instruction operation of the document 60 by software for creating and editing the document 60, the PC 10 generates print data of the document 60 by the printer driver of the printing device 30 and transmits it to the printing device 30.

  The printing apparatus 30 includes a printing control unit 31 that performs overall control of the entire printing apparatus, a printing apparatus storage unit 32 that includes a print data storage unit 321 that stores and manages print data received via the network 50, and An operation panel including an image forming unit 33 and a print activation switch 34 is provided.

  When the print control unit 31 detects a print instruction operation by the user 70 with the print start switch 34, the face authentication process of the user 70 who is performing a print operation in the vicinity of the printing device 30 with respect to the face authentication processing device 20. Instruct.

  When the print operation of the user 70 is permitted by the face authentication processing device 20, the print control unit 31 converts the face image of the user 70 received from the face authentication processing device 20 into the print data read from the print data storage unit 321. Received from the face authentication processing device 20 to the face photo composition unit 311 that performs image processing for allocating and synthesizing the empty page image page area of the document 60 that is generated in this manner, and the composite image created by the face photo composition unit 311 An electronic watermark process for embedding face image data is performed, and the image forming unit 33 finally prints the print image of the document 60 having the face image printing unit 61 and the biometric information embedded image 62 on a sheet. In the case where the electronic watermark processing unit 312 that generates page print data and outputs it to the image forming unit 33 and the document 60 are printed, the face image data of the user 70 printed on the face image printing unit 61 Having a log recording unit 313 for recording the content of the print processing, including information for identifying the log information 323.

  The image forming unit 33 includes a face image printing unit 61 in which a face photo of the user 70 is printed based on the page print data output from the electronic watermark processing unit 312 of the print control unit 31, and page image image data of the face photo. The print image having the biometric information embedded image 62 embedded in the image is transferred to a sheet to create and discharge the document 60.

  Next, the flow of the entire printing process in the printing system 100 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.

  The PC 10 creates print data based on the print instruction operation of the document 60 by the user 70 and transmits it to the printing apparatus 30 (S101). The printing apparatus 30 accumulates the print data received from the PC 10 in the print data accumulation unit 321. (S102).

  When a print data selection operation stored in the print data storage unit 321 and a print start operation by the print start switch 34 are detected, the printing apparatus 30 transmits the face authentication of the user 70 who operates the print start switch 34 to the face authentication processing apparatus 20. Control data to be instructed is created and transmitted to the face authentication processing device 20 (S103).

  When face authentication of the user 70 is instructed from the printing apparatus 30, the face authentication processing apparatus 20 controls the camera 40 via the network 50, and captures the face image of the user 70 and transmits the captured image to the own apparatus. (S104).

  The camera 40 captures the face image of the user 70 based on the control of the face authentication processing device 20 (S105), and transmits the captured image to the face authentication processing device 20 (S106).

  The face authentication processing device 20 compares the captured image of the face image of the user 70 received from the camera 40 with the registered data of each face image registered in the face authentication database 21 to determine whether there is matching data. Face authentication is performed (S107), and if there is registered data that matches the face image of the user 70 captured by the camera 40, the authentication result permitting the printing operation by the user 70 and the face image data of the user 70 are printed on the printing device 30. (S108).

  When the printing operation by the user 70 is permitted by the face authentication processing device 20, the printing device 30 identifies and reads out the print data selected by the user 70 by the print data storage unit 321 and receives it from the face authentication processing device 20. Based on the image data of the face image and the read print data, a compositing process is performed for assigning the face photo to an empty area of the page (S110). A digital watermark process for embedding the image data of the face image is performed by the digital watermark processing unit 312 (S111), and the image forming unit 33 prints the document 60 having the face image printing unit 61 and the biometric information embedded image 62. (S112).

  Furthermore, the printing apparatus 30 records the contents of the printing process including the log information including the face image of the user 70 printed on the face image printing unit 61 in the log information 322 (S109).

  Next, a configuration example of a printing system when using a fingerprint of a user who has taken out a printed material as biometric information will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a second example of the printing system of the present invention.

  In FIG. 3, a printing system 100 includes a fingerprint authentication processing device 90, a PC 10, and a printing device 30 connected to each other via a network 50 so that data communication is possible. The printing process of the document 60 in which the fingerprint of the user 70 to be taken out is recorded is performed.

  The fingerprint authentication processing device 90 registers and manages the fingerprint image of the user who has permitted the printing operation on the printing device 30 in the fingerprint image database 91, and registers the fingerprint image of the user 70 received from the printing device 30 in the fingerprint image database 91. If the two fingerprint images match, the printing operation for the user 70 is permitted, and an authentication result for prohibiting the printing operation is transmitted to the printing apparatus 30 for other users.

  The PC 10 uses the printer driver corresponding to the printing apparatus 30 to create print data based on a print instruction operation from a program that creates and edits the document 60, and the print data created in the printing apparatus 30 via the network 50. Send.

  The printing apparatus 30 includes a print control unit 31 that performs overall control of the printing apparatus 30 to control printing of the document 60, a print data storage unit 321 for recording and managing print data received from the PC 10, and log information 323. The printing apparatus storage unit 32, the image forming unit 33, and the paper feed tray unit 35 are provided.

  In the print control unit 31, the fingerprint image synthesis unit 314 is provided in the selection operation by the operation display unit (not shown) provided in the printing apparatus 30 for the print data stored in the print data storage unit 321 and the paper feed tray unit 35. The print start operation of the user 70 by the operation of the fingerprint attachment print start operation unit 80 is detected, and the fingerprint image read by the fingerprint image reading unit 351 is transmitted to the fingerprint authentication processing device 90 to perform the fingerprint authentication of the user 70. The fingerprint authentication processing device 90 is inquired of whether or not the original print processing can be performed. When the print operation of the user 70 is permitted by the fingerprint authentication processing device 90, the print data selected by the user 70 is read from the print data storage unit 321. The fingerprint image read by the fingerprint image reading unit 351 is assigned to the empty space of the page image of the document 60 and synthesized. Performing data processing to generate the composite image.

  Further, in the print control unit 31, the electronic watermark processing unit 312 performs electronic watermark processing for embedding the fingerprint image of the user 70 in the composite image processed by the fingerprint image composition unit 314, and the fingerprint image printing unit 63, A final page print data for printing a print image of the document 60 having the biometric information embedded image 62 on a sheet by the image forming unit 33 is generated and output to the image forming unit 33.

  The image forming unit 33 transfers the print image created based on the page print data received from the electronic watermark processing unit 312 to the print paper 81 to which the fingerprint of the user 70 is attached by the fingerprint attachment print start operation unit 80. The document 60 is created and discharged.

  Details of the fingerprint adhesion print start operation unit 80 shown in FIG. 3 will be further described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 4, a fingerprint pad print start operation unit 80 of the paper feed tray unit 35 includes a stamp pad 85 in which a finger 71 of a user 70 who takes out a printed document document 60 is moistened with special ink containing an ultraviolet-ray issuing substance. An opening 86 that can touch the printing paper 81 after touching is provided.

  When the print start switch 84 detects an operation of attaching the fingerprint of the finger 71 of the user 70 to the printing paper 81, the conveyance of the paper with the fingerprint attached is started and the ultraviolet light source 82 is turned on.

  The fingerprint image reading camera 83 reads a fingerprint image of an ultraviolet light-emitting substance emitted by turning on the ultraviolet light source 82 from the printing paper 81, and controls printing of the fingerprint image reading data via the fingerprint image reading unit 351 of the paper feed tray unit 35. To the unit 31.

Next, the flow of printing processing in the printing system 100 shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG.

  The PC 10 detects a printing operation in the document creation / editing program (S201), and the printer driver creates print data of the document 60 and outputs it to the printing apparatus 30 (S202).

  The printing apparatus 30 accumulates print data received from the PC 10 via the network 50 in the print data accumulation unit 321 (S203).

The printing apparatus 30 causes the user 70 to select the print data stored in the print data storage unit 321 and, following the print data selection operation, performs the print start operation by the fingerprint pressing operation by the fingerprint adhesion print start operation unit 80. An operation screen prompting the user to output is output to the operation display unit (S204).

  When the print start switch 84 detects a fingerprint pressing operation by the user 70, the fingerprint image reading unit 351 reads the fingerprint image of the user 70 (S205).

  The printing apparatus 30 transmits the fingerprint image of the user 70 to the fingerprint authentication processing apparatus 90, and inquires whether the user 70 has the authority for the printing operation (S206).

  The fingerprint authentication processing device 90 compares the received fingerprint image of the user 70 with the fingerprint image of each user registered in the fingerprint image database 91 to determine whether or not the user 70 has the authority to perform the printing operation. (S207) The determination result is transmitted to the printing apparatus 30 (S209).

Further, the fingerprint authentication processing device 90 records the result of user authentication based on the fingerprint image received from the printing device 30 in the log information 322 (S208).

  Upon receiving a print authority inquiry response to the user from the fingerprint authentication processing device 90, the printing device 30 performs image processing to synthesize the fingerprint image of the user 70 by allocating the fingerprint image to the empty space of the page image of the document 60 and combining the fingerprint image. In step S 314, the fingerprint image of the user 70 is embedded in the synthesized image by digital watermark processing to generate page print data of the document 60 (S 210). The document 60 having the embedded image 62 is printed (S211).

  The printing system of the present invention can be used in a printing system that is used by being connected to a document management system or the like that handles confidential documents, and is effective in identifying a person who takes out a document printed by a printing apparatus.

The block diagram which shows the 1st example of the printing system of this invention. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a printing process in the printing system illustrated in FIG. 1. The block diagram which shows the 2nd example of the printing system of this invention. The figure which shows the detail of the fingerprint press printing start operation part shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of printing processing in the printing system illustrated in FIG. 3.

Explanation of symbols

100 Printing system 10 PC
20 Face Authentication Processing Device 21 Face Authentication Database 30 Printing Device 31 Print Control Unit 311 Face Photo Composition Unit 312 Electronic Watermark Processing Unit 313 Log Recording Unit 314 Fingerprint Image Composition Unit 32 Printing Device Storage Unit 321 Print Data Storage Unit 322 Log Information 33 Image forming unit 34 Print start switch 35 Paper feed tray unit 351 Fingerprint image reading unit 40 Camera 50 Network 60 Document 61 Face image printing unit 62 Biometric information embedded image 63 Fingerprint image printing unit 70 User 71 Finger 80 Fingerprint attachment printing start operation unit 81 Printing Paper 82 Ultraviolet Light Source 83 Fingerprint Image Reading Camera 84 Printing Start Switch 85 Stamp Pad 86 Opening 90 Fingerprint Authentication Processing Device 91 Fingerprint Image Database

Claims (7)

An acquisition means for acquiring biometric information of a user who performs an operation of taking out a document printed by a printing apparatus;
An output unit that outputs a print document to which the biometric information acquired by the acquisition unit is added. The biological information is
A face image of the user;
The acquisition means includes
A camera provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus for imaging the face of the user;
The output means includes
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein an image captured by the camera is combined with an image of the print document and printed out. The biological information is
It is a fingerprint image of the user, and the acquisition means is
A reading unit provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus and reading a fingerprint image of the finger by a pressing operation of a predetermined finger of the user;
The output means includes
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the image of the print document is combined with the fingerprint image read by the reading unit and printed out. The biological information is
It is a fingerprint image of the user, and the acquisition means is
Transfer means for transferring a fingerprint image of the finger onto the printing paper by pressing a predetermined finger of the user against the printing paper accumulated in a paper feed tray of the printing apparatus;
The output means includes
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein a printing document printed using a sheet on which the user's fingerprint image is transferred by the transfer unit is output. An acquisition means for acquiring biometric information of a user who performs an operation of taking out a document printed by a printing apparatus;
Job storage means for storing a print job to be printed by the printing apparatus;
Registration means for registering biometric information of a user who permits printing of a print job stored in the job storage means;
A print permission unit that permits printing of the print job stored in the job storage unit on condition that the biometric information acquired by the acquisition unit matches the biometric information registered in the registration unit;
Biometric information giving means for giving corresponding biometric information to a print image of a print job permitted by the print permission means;
A printing system comprising: a print output unit that prints out the print image to which the biometric information is added by the biometric information providing unit. The biological information is
A face image of the user;
The acquisition means includes
A camera provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus for imaging the face of the user;
The biological information giving means is
The printing system according to claim 5, wherein image information of the user's face captured by the camera is combined with a print image of the print job. The biological information is
It is a fingerprint image of the user, and the acquisition means is
A reading unit provided in the vicinity of the printing apparatus and reading a fingerprint image of the finger by a pressing operation of a predetermined finger of the user;
The biological information giving means is
The printing system according to claim 5, wherein the user's fingerprint image information read by the reading unit is combined with the print image of the print job.

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