JP2008259105A - Image processing apparatus, image processing system, image processing program, and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily manage an execution history of jobs for processing an image to be processed as log information, to appropriately prevent the information from being leaked, and to promote acceleration of a history investigation while suppressing increase in storage capacitance for the log information. <P>SOLUTION: An image processing apparatus comprises: a log information generating means 2 for generating log information containing image specification information for specifying an image to be processed and attribute specification information specifying an execution attribute of imaging processing other than the image specification information; a log information storage means 3 for storing and accumulating the log information, an identity discriminating means for discriminating whether there is log information identical in the image specification information between one target log information item and another log information item; and an information replacing means 5 for replacing all or a part of the image specification information in the log information discriminated as identical in a case where the identity discriminating means 4 discriminates there is the log information identical in the image specification information, with image specification information of any one log information item. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in an image processing apparatus, an image processing system, an image processing program, and an image processing method in which a job for processing an image to be processed is executed.

  In recent years, for example, a scan function, a copy function, a print function, a FAX function, and the like are integrated as an image processing apparatus for executing a job for processing an image to be processed, that is, a document image or digital data transmitted from an external device. Such multifunction devices are widely known. In such an image processing apparatus, jobs such as reading of a document image, print output, FAX transmission, and the like can be executed, so that the risk of information leakage such as output of a copy-prohibited document increases with the spread of the job. It is coming. For this reason, it is required that the image processing apparatus be provided with a function capable of tracking the output history when such information leakage occurs.

  For this purpose, an image configured to store and store the execution history of a job that has processed the image as log information so that it is possible to check who, when and where the information leaked information was output. A processing apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). As the log information, there are a method for storing and storing image data corresponding to the image itself (see, for example, Patent Document 1), and a method for extracting and storing text data included in an image (for example, see Patent Document 2). Proposed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-270477 (Example, FIG. 3) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-1557569 (first embodiment, FIG. 4)

  The technical problem of the present invention is that it is possible to easily manage the execution history of a job for processing an image to be processed as log information, appropriately prevent the information leakage, and increase the storage capacity for log information. It is an object to provide an image processing apparatus, an image processing system, an image processing program, and an image processing method capable of prompting a speedy history survey while suppressing the above-described problem.

  That is, the invention according to claim 1 is an image processing apparatus having job execution means capable of executing image forming processing on an image to be processed and a control device for controlling the job execution means, wherein the control apparatus However, the log information, which is the history information of the processing operation executed by the job execution means, specifies the image specifying information for specifying the image to be processed and the image processing attribute other than the image specifying information. Log information generating means generated as including attribute specifying information, log information storing means for storing and storing log information generated by the log information generating means, and a plurality of log information generating means generated by the log information generating means Identity determination means for comparing log information with each other and determining whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and other log information, and this identity determination An image processing apparatus comprising: information replacement means for replacing all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same with one of the log information when determined to be the same in the stage is there.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the log information generating unit includes an image specifying information generating unit that generates the image specifying information, and an attribute specifying information generating unit that generates the attribute specifying information. And an association means for associating the image specifying information and the attribute specifying information.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the image specifying information generating unit generates a stored image generating unit that generates an image to be stored from an image to be processed, and the stored image is searched. An image processing apparatus includes search data generation means for generating possible search data.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the third aspect, the search data generation means is an image feature amount calculated or extracted based on the stored image generated by the stored image generation means. An image processing apparatus for generating search data including at least a character string and determining whether the identity determination means is the same as at least one of the image feature quantity or the character string It is.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, when the code information for identifying the image is included in the image to be processed, the search data generation means includes the code Image processing for generating search data including information, wherein the identity discrimination means can discriminate identity with respect to at least one of the image feature quantity, the character string, and the code information Device.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the information replacing unit operates at a predetermined timing different from a timing at which the log information is generated by the log information generating unit. Device.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the log information can be deleted under predetermined conditions with respect to the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage means. Information deletion means, and replacement presence / absence determination means for determining whether or not the image specifying information of the log information to be deleted by the log information deletion means includes the information subjected to replacement processing by the information replacement means. The log information deletion unit is an image processing apparatus that does not delete at least a part of the image specifying information in the log information when the log information deletion unit determines that the replacement processing is performed by the replacement presence determination unit.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the aspect of the image processing apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising an image reading unit that reads a document image, log information obtained by performing a process of reading a document by the image reading unit, An image processing apparatus includes a search processing unit that calculates a degree of coincidence of the image specifying information with log information stored and accumulated in a log information storing unit and specifies a corresponding job.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus having a job execution means capable of executing an image forming process on an image to be processed and a control device for controlling the job execution means, and communicates with the image processing apparatus. An image processing system comprising: a server device connected by means, and capable of storing and storing job execution history processed by the image processing device as log information, wherein at least one of the image processing device and the server device Either one of the log information, which is the history information of the processing operation executed by the job execution means, executes image forming processing other than the image specifying information for specifying the image to be processed and the image specifying information. Log information generating means generated as including attribute specifying information for specifying attributes, and a log for storing and accumulating log information generated by the log information generating means A plurality of log information generated by the information storage means and the log information generating means are compared with each other to determine whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information. The identity identifying means for discriminating the image identification information and all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same when determined to be the same by the identity identifying means An image processing system comprising information replacing means for replacing.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the aspect of the image processing system according to the ninth aspect, the image processing apparatus includes an image reading unit that reads a document image. Further, at least one of the image processing apparatus and the server apparatus includes Retrieval processing means for calculating the degree of coincidence of the image specifying information between the log information obtained by reading the document by the image reading means and the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storing means to identify the corresponding job Is an image processing system.

  The invention according to an eleventh aspect is an image processing program capable of storing and storing, as log information, an execution history of a job in which an image forming process has been performed on an image to be processed. A computer in an image processing apparatus having a job execution means capable of executing image processing and a control device for controlling the job execution means, or a computer connected to the image processing apparatus by communication means is used as the job execution means. Log information that is history information of processing operations executed in this manner includes image specifying information for specifying an image to be processed and attribute specifying information for specifying an execution attribute of image forming processing other than the image specifying information Log information generating means, log information storing means for storing and storing the log information generated by the log information generating means, and the log information generating means A plurality of pieces of log information generated by each other, and identity determining means for determining whether or not there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information, and this An image that functions as an information replacement unit that replaces all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same with one of the log information when determined to be the same by the identity determination unit It is a processing program.

  The invention according to claim 12 is an image processing method capable of storing and storing, as log information, an execution history of a job in which image forming processing has been performed on an image to be processed. A job execution step capable of executing image processing, and log information which is history information of processing operations executed in the job execution step includes image specifying information for specifying an image to be processed and other than the image specifying information. A log information generating step generated as including attribute specifying information for specifying an execution attribute of the image forming process, a log information storing step for storing and storing the log information generated in the log information generating step, and the log Whether there is the same image identification information between one target log information and other log information by comparing multiple log information generated by the information generation step The identity determination step for determining whether or not all of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same when it is determined to be the same in this identity determination step An image processing method including an information replacement step for replacing the information.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily manage the execution history of a job for processing an image to be processed as log information, appropriately prevent the information leakage, and store the log information. The increase in capacity can be suppressed to speed up the history survey, and the reliability of the history survey can be improved.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, specific log information by log information generation is maintained.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the stored image of log information and the search data can be replaced with those of other log information, and the storage capacity can be reduced.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, more accurate information can be obtained as search data for searching for a target image, a more accurate history survey can be performed, and search data It becomes easier to determine the identity.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the identity can be more easily determined based on the code information, and the survey at the time of the history survey can be quickly performed.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the storage capacity of log information can be reduced without hindering the generation timing of log information.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to leave the image specifying information in the log information to be replaced without unnecessarily increasing the storage capacity of the log information.
According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to perform a history survey with the image processing apparatus.

According to the ninth aspect of the invention, it is possible to easily manage the execution history of a large number of jobs for processing images as log information, appropriately prevent the information leakage, and increase the storage capacity for the log information. It is possible to construct an image processing system that can suppress the occurrence of the problem and promote the speeding up of the history investigation.
According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily construct an image processing system capable of performing a history survey from a large amount of log information.
According to the invention of claim 11, by using such an image processing program, it is possible to easily manage the execution history of a job for processing an image as log information, and appropriately prevent the information leakage. Therefore, it becomes possible to easily construct an image processing apparatus or an image processing system that can suppress an increase in the storage capacity for log information and promote an expeditious history survey.
According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily manage the execution history of a job for processing an image as log information, appropriately prevent the information leakage, and suppress an increase in storage capacity for log information. Thus, it becomes possible to realize an image processing method capable of speeding up the history survey.

First, an outline of an embodiment model to which the present invention is applied will be described.
Outline of Embodiment Model FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment model embodying the present invention.
In the figure, one of the representative models of an image processing apparatus is an image processing having a job execution means 1 capable of executing an image forming process on an image to be processed and a control device for controlling the job execution means 1. The log information, which is the history information of the processing operation executed by the job execution unit 1 by the control device, is generated by the image specifying information for specifying the image to be processed and the information other than the image specifying information. Log information generating means 2 generated as including attribute specifying information for specifying an image processing execution attribute, log information storing means 3 for storing and accumulating log information generated by the log information generating means 2, and a log Identity determination for comparing a plurality of log information generated by the information generating means 2 to determine whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information hand 4 and information replacement that replaces all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same when it is determined to be the same by the identity determination means 4 with one of the log information Means 5 are provided.

Here, the job means a processing operation executed by the image processing apparatus, and the log means a history of information regarding the processing operation.
The “image to be processed” means an image corresponding to various jobs. For example, in an aspect in which the image processing apparatus includes an image reading unit that reads a document image, the document read by the image reading unit The image is an image referred to here, or digital data or the like brought from outside the image processing apparatus is used as the image.
The job execution unit 1 can execute an image forming process on an image to be processed. Examples of jobs to be executed include an image reading job, a copy output job, a print output job, and a FAX. Any device having a function such as a transmission job and the like and capable of handling an image to be processed in the image processing apparatus may be used.

Further, as the log information generating means 2, an image specifying information generating means 11 for generating image specifying information, an attribute specifying information generating means 12 for generating attribute specifying information, and an associating means 13 for associating image specifying information and attribute specifying information. And this makes it possible to generate more appropriate log information.
At this time, the image specifying information generating unit 11 includes a stored image generating unit that generates an image to be stored from an image to be processed, and a search data generation that generates search data from which the stored image can be searched. Means, which makes it possible to easily search for processed images and to search for executed jobs.

  The job execution unit 1, the log information generation unit 2, and the log information storage unit 3 may be provided in the same image processing apparatus, or may be provided distributed in a plurality of image processing apparatuses. May be provided redundantly in a plurality of image processing apparatuses.

The identity determination unit 4 compares the plurality of log information generated by the log information generation unit 2 with each other, and the same image identification information is obtained between one target log information and another log information. It has a function of determining whether or not it exists, and the image specifying information itself may be compared with each other to determine the identity between them. The format of the image specifying information is not particularly limited, and various types can be used.
The log information generating unit 2 includes an image specifying information generating unit 11, an attribute specifying information generating unit 12, and an associating unit 13, and the image specifying information generating unit 11 generates an image to be saved from an image to be processed. In the aspect provided with the stored image generating means and the search data generating means for generating search data that can be searched for the stored image, the search data generating means from the viewpoint of increasing the discrimination accuracy of identity. The search data generated in step (b) includes the image feature amount calculated corresponding to the stored image generated by the stored image generation unit or the extracted character string, and the identity determination unit 4 However, it is preferable to determine whether or not it is the same for at least one of the image feature amount and the character string.
Furthermore, in such an aspect, from the viewpoint of comparing more accurate search data, if the code information for identifying the image is included in the image to be processed, the search data generating means The search data is generated including the code information, and the identity discriminating means 4 discriminates the identity with respect to at least one of the image feature amount, the character string, and the code information. Is preferred.

  In addition, when the identity determining unit 4 determines that the image specifying information is the same, the information replacing unit 5 replaces all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same with any one of them. It has a function of replacing with log information. Then, from the viewpoint of preventing the log information generation unit 2 from hindering the log information generation, the information replacement unit 5 has a predetermined timing different from the timing at which the log information generation unit 2 generates the log information. It is preferable to operate.

  Further, in the present embodiment model, from the viewpoint of suppressing an increase in the storage capacity of the log information storage unit 3, the log information stored in the log information storage unit 3 is stored under a predetermined condition. It is determined whether or not the log information deleting means 6 that can be deleted and whether the image specifying information in the log information that has been deleted by the log information deleting means 6 includes information that has been replaced by the information replacing means 5. A replacement presence / absence determination unit 7, and when the log information deletion unit 6 determines that the replacement has been performed by the replacement presence / absence determination unit 7, at least a part of the image specifying information is not deleted from the log information. It is preferable to do so. The image specifying information that is not deleted includes a stored image and an image feature amount.

Here, the log information deleting unit 6 has a function of deleting log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 3 under a predetermined condition in order to effectively use the storage area of the log information storage unit 3. The pre-defined conditions include, for example, conditions after a predetermined period has elapsed since the start of storage in the log information storage unit 3.
Further, the replacement presence / absence determining means 7 determines whether or not the image specifying information of the log information to be deleted by the log information deleting means 6 includes the information processed by the information replacing means 5. It has a function of notifying the log information deleting means 6 of the result. Here, the determination as to whether or not the replacement processing has been performed is that the other log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage means 3 has been unified after the replacement processing, that is, is to be deleted. What is necessary is just to search whether there exists the same thing as the image specific information in log information.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1
FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The image processing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment is a so-called multi-function machine equipped with a scan function (image reading function), a copy function, a print function, and a FAX function.
In the figure, an image processing apparatus 20 has an image forming unit 21 that forms an image on a recording material at the center, and a plurality of recordings that supply a recording material on which an image is formed by the image forming unit 21 below. A material supply member 22 (in this example, four members 22a to 22d are arranged) is provided with an image reading unit 24 as an image reading unit for reading a document image on the upper part, and an image reading unit on the upper part of the image reading unit 24. And an automatic document feeder 25 for feeding the document to the image reading position on the platen glass of the unit 24. A recording material between the image reading unit 24 and the image forming unit 21 is a recording material on which the recording material on which the image forming unit 21 has formed an image is discharged and accommodated on the recording material supplied from the recording material supply member 22. A housing portion 23 is formed. An operation unit 26 is provided in a part of the image reading unit 24 so that various processes can be manually operated. Note that reference numeral 30 in the figure is a control device that controls various processes in the image processing apparatus 20.

  Therefore, the image processing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment is configured to execute any one of an image reading job, a copy output job, a print output job, and a FAX transmission job as a job for processing an image.

  Here, “log information” will be briefly described. The log information corresponds to information representing the contents of a job executed by the image processing apparatus 20, and includes image specifying information for specifying an image processed by the executed job, and execution of the job It consists of attribute specifying information that specifies attributes. Further, the image specifying information includes a stored image corresponding to the processed image and search data for searching for the stored image. The “saved image” here is a saved image corresponding to the image processed in the job, and its data format is not particularly limited. Further, in order to generate a stored image, the processed image itself may be used, or may be an image after undergoing a data amount reduction process such as data compression. Furthermore, instead of the saved image itself, for example, information related to the storage destination (location name, file name, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) information, etc.) of the saved image may be used as the image specifying information.

Examples of the search data include text information obtained by performing OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing on the above-described stored image and the original image data, image feature amounts extracted from the stored image, and the like. Furthermore, when code information for identifying the document image is embedded in the image to be processed in the job by a barcode, a QR code (two-dimensional code), digital watermarking, or the like, The code information may be included in the log information, or the code information may be used as one of search data.
The attribute specifying information for “specifying the job execution attribute” includes, for example, information related to the job attribute (hereinafter referred to as “job attribute information”) such as a job requester (user) and a process execution date and time. The job attribute information may be acquired using a known method such as UI (User Interface) setting recognition or card authentication at the time of job execution.
Such log information is generated for each image processed in the executed job, that is, for each page of the stored image (which can be generated for each job. Let's say every image. Then, as will be described later, the generated log information is used for a specific execution history tracking survey or the like.

<Control system>
Next, a control system for generating log information in the image processing apparatus 20 will be described.
FIG. 3 shows an outline of a functional block diagram of the image processing apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. A control device 30 that controls various processes in the image processing device 20 and an input side of the control device 30 are shown. The image reading unit 24 having a document scanning function (scanner function) provided and an image forming unit 21 provided on the output side are configured. In the present embodiment, as an image transmitted to the control device 30 (specifically, since it is a data format, hereinafter referred to as image data), the mode of the data read by the image reading unit 24, or an unillustrated There is a mode of image data transmitted from an external device (for example, external data when the image processing apparatus 20 functions as a printer function). Further, in the present embodiment, various settings are performed from the operation unit 26 provided in the image reading unit 24.

The control device 30 is configured by a computer system using a CPU, ROM, RAM, various interfaces, and the like, and is operated by a predetermined program. The image processing device 20 performs various image formation controls, and in particular. In this embodiment, a function for controlling various processes for input image data is provided.
That is, a job execution unit 31 that processes image data, a log information generation unit 32 that generates, as log information, execution history information of a job executed by the job execution unit 31, and log information that stores and accumulates the generated log information The storage unit 37 includes at least a search processing unit 43 that calculates a matching degree from log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 based on a search source document and identifies a corresponding job. Then, the log information generation unit 32 includes a storage image generation unit 33 that generates a storage image from the image data processed by the job execution unit 31, and the storage image data generated by the storage image generation unit 33 or its source. The search data generation unit 34 for generating search data for searching for stored images from at least one of the image data processed by the job execution unit 31 and the execution attribute executed by the job execution unit 31 are specified. An attribute specifying information generating unit 35 for generating attribute specifying information for performing the above and an associating unit 36 for associating these pieces of information.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, a plurality of pieces of log information generated by the log information generation unit 32 are compared with each other, and search for image specifying information between one target log information and other log information. The identity determination unit 38 that determines whether or not the data are identical to each other, and the image specifying information of a plurality of pieces of log information that are determined to be the same when the identity determination unit 38 determines that they are the same, that is, And an information replacement unit 39 that replaces the stored image and the search data with one of the log information. Here, the “one target log information” may be, for example, log information just generated by the log information generation unit 32, or one of the log information in the log information storage unit 37. This means that you may specify one. In the present embodiment, both the stored image and the search data are replaced. However, if at least one of them is replaced, the storage capacity as log information is smaller than the case where the storage is not replaced. Obviously, it goes without saying that this may be done.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, a log information deletion unit that can delete any log information from the log information storage unit 37 under predetermined conditions with respect to the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37. 41 and a replacement presence / absence determining unit 42 for determining whether or not the search data in the log information to be deleted by the log information deleting unit 41 has been replaced by the information replacing unit 39. ing.

  In this embodiment, the log information generation unit 32, the log information storage unit 37, the identity determination unit 38, the information replacement unit 39, the log information deletion unit 41, the replacement presence / absence determination unit 42, and the search processing unit 43 are combined into one. Although the configuration provided in the image processing apparatus 20 is shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and the search processing unit 43 is provided in another apparatus (for example, another image processing apparatus, server apparatus, etc.), and tracking from a specific search source document is performed. It does not matter even if the investigation is carried out with another device. In this case, it goes without saying that the data in the log information storage unit 37 is used.

  The saved image generation unit 33 according to the present embodiment has a function of generating a saved image from the image data processed by the job execution unit 31. Specifically, in order to save the image after reducing the storage capacity. In addition, the image data is stored after being compressed or resolution-converted. The content differs depending on the purpose of use of the stored image. For example, if the purpose of use is a thumbnail for checking the outline of a document that meets the conditions when searching for log information, the amount of information is not so much and the resolution is about 72 dpi. Therefore, such resolution conversion and high compression processing are performed. On the other hand, in order to update log information, etc., due to progress in log information search technology (for example, establishment of technology for improving the accuracy of OCR, establishment of new image feature amount extraction technology suitable for image search) Image data with a certain level of resolution is required (images that have undergone low-resolution conversion or high-compression processing have a high degree of information loss, and the effect cannot be expected with advanced technology). Conversion at 300 dpi, low compression processing, and the like are performed.

  Further, the search data generation unit 34 is used for searching for a corresponding stored image from the stored image generated by the stored image generation unit 33 and the image data processed by the job execution unit 31 as a source. It has a function to generate data. As the search data, the stored image and the original image data, that is, the image feature amount extracted from the image data processed by the job execution unit 31, the stored image and the original image data are OCR. Text information obtained by processing can be used.

Here, the “image feature amount” refers to a quantitative representation of the image feature. For example, the density distribution in the image, the existence amount of the edge and its distribution, the distribution of each color value, etc. in a histogram form, In addition, there are pixel length distributions in the image represented by run lengths, and these may be used in combination.
FIG. 4 shows an example of normalizing the image data size and the like and dividing the mesh (for example, 16 divisions in this example) as an example of the image feature amount, and calculating each feature amount in each divided mesh. In this case, for example, if the average density is used as the feature quantity in the mesh, a 16-dimensional density distribution feature quantity can be obtained as the image data. On the other hand, if the number of edge points is used as the feature quantity in the mesh, a 16-dimensional shade change feature quantity can be obtained. The image feature amount is not limited to the above-described one, and other known techniques may be used.

Further, the attribute specifying information generating unit 35 of the present embodiment has a function of generating attribute specifying information for specifying an execution attribute of a job executed by the job executing unit 31, that is, job attribute information. For example, job attribute information such as information input from the operation unit 26 and processing date and time is generated.
Further, the associating unit 36 has a function of associating these pieces of information for each job and generating log information.
Furthermore, the log information storage unit 37 has a function of storing and accumulating log information generated by the association unit 36.

  Further, the identity determination unit 38 compares search data of a plurality of log information with each other and determines whether or not they are the same. At this time, the search used for determining the identity When image feature values are used as data for use, the image feature values are compared with each other to calculate a degree of coincidence. If the degree of coincidence is higher than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that they are within the same range. To do. When text information is used for discrimination of identity, the text information is compared with each other to calculate the coincidence, and if the coincidence is higher than a predetermined threshold, it is within the range of identity. What is necessary is just to distinguish. Furthermore, the identity may be determined by combining both of the two degrees of coincidence. In this way, it is possible to determine that not only the image feature quantity and text information completely match but also the image feature quantity and text information that are very similar are within the same range. As a result, it is possible to eliminate the influence at the time of image data acquisition (for example, the influence of dust or dirt at the time of image reading) on the identity determination result. Note that the degree of coincidence calculation and the like performed by the identity determination unit 38 may be performed using a known technique, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the amount of log information to be stored and stored, in other words, the storage capacity, is suppressed by the replacement process performed by the information replacement unit 39. In the present embodiment, such replacement processing is performed at a predetermined timing different from the log information generation timing in the log information generation unit 32. That is, for example, the processing is performed at an appropriate timing in a state where the processing load on the image processing apparatus 20 is low, that is, in a state of shifting to a so-called sleep mode. As such timing, for example, a regular timing that is assumed to have a low processing load on the apparatus, such as midnight, may be selected. That is, as the replacement processing, the replacement processing operation may be performed every time the log information is generated. However, if the replacement processing is performed at a predetermined timing different from the generation timing of the log information, the image processing apparatus This is very suitable in that the operation of the image processing apparatus 20 can be effectively performed by preventing the processing load from being concentrated on the apparatus 20. In this case, the identity is confirmed only for the log information in the log information storage unit 37.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a log information deletion unit 41 and a replacement presence / absence determination unit 42 are provided in order to suppress an increase in the storage capacity of the log information storage unit 37 itself. The log information deletion unit 41 deletes the log information itself in order to effectively use the storage capacity in the log information storage unit 37. At this time, the replacement information determination unit 42 saves the log information in the information replacement unit 39. The log information in which the image and the search data are replaced is not deleted.

  Also, such job execution unit 31, log information generation unit 32, log information storage unit 37, identity determination unit 38, information replacement unit 39, log information deletion unit 41, replacement presence / absence determination unit 42, and search processing unit 43 Can be realized by executing a predetermined program in the control device 30 in the image processing apparatus 20. At this time, prior to installation in the image processing apparatus 20, the program may be provided by being stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or provided via a wired or wireless communication medium. It may be a thing.

Next, an image processing method in the present embodiment will be described.
<Log information generation process and identity determination process>
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing log information generation processing and identity determination processing according to the present embodiment, and shows an example in which identity determination processing is performed when log information is generated. This example is an operation flow when the image processing apparatus 20 performs a copy job, for example.
In the figure, when a copy job is started, first, image data obtained by scanning a document using an image reading unit 24 including an image reading sensor such as a CCD sensor of the image processing apparatus 20, and the image reading unit 24 are attached. The job attribute information such as the processing date and time or the operator (user) from the input from the operation unit 26 or the built-in timer is acquired by the log information generation unit 32 via the job execution unit 31, for example (step S001). When acquiring such image data and job attribute information in a print job, for example, a communication unit (not shown) of the image processing apparatus 20 receives print data (image data) from a user terminal, and What is necessary is just to acquire image data and job attribute information. When performing a FAX transmission job, the image reading unit 24 may process a document image to acquire image data.
Furthermore, the acquisition of the operator information is not limited to the input from the operation unit 26. For example, an information reader that reads an ID card for each individual may be connected to the image processing apparatus 20 and acquired. That is, there is no problem if there is a mechanism capable of acquiring the operator information.

  Next, the saved image generation unit 33 of the log information generation unit 32 may generate a saved image from the image data and store it in a storage device (regardless of the method of the storage device, other than the log information storage unit 37). ) And information that can specify the saved image (for example, storage location and file name) is created and transferred to the associating unit 36 (step S002). In recent years, image data obtained from the job execution unit 31 often has a resolution of 600 dpi or more due to image input, high resolution at the time of image formation, and the like. Since it is not sufficient to increase the storage capacity, the processing here is conversion processing or compression processing to a resolution lower than 600 dpi.

  On the other hand, the search data generation unit 34 calculates, for example, an image feature quantity as shown in FIG. 4 from the image data, and stores it in a storage device (regardless of the method of the storage device, other than the log information storage unit 37). The image data is subjected to OCR processing, text information included in the image data is extracted, and information (for example, storage location and file name) that can specify the image feature amount is associated with the text information. 36 (steps S003 and S004). The associating unit 36 associates job attribute information, information that can specify a stored image (saved image information), search data (information that can specify an image feature amount (image feature amount information) and text information) into one log. Information is generated (step S005).

  Next, the identity determination unit 38 calculates the similarity between the newly generated image feature amount of the log information and the image feature amount of the log information already stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37, It is determined whether or not the calculated similarity satisfies a predetermined condition (steps S006 and S007). At this time, in the case of the image feature amount shown in FIG. 4, the similarity is determined based on the distance in the 16-dimensional space. That is, when the distance in the 16-dimensional space is smaller than a predetermined value, it is determined that they are similar and the identity is satisfied. Note that the image feature amount is not limited to that shown in FIG. 4 and may be any known feature amount that can determine the similarity of images. When a feature amount other than that shown in FIG. 4 is used, the feature amount is used. Similarity determination processing may be performed according to the above.

  The determination of similarity is repeated until the comparison with all the image feature amounts specified from the log information already stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 is performed when the determination condition is not satisfied in step S007. (Steps S006 to S008). On the other hand, if the determination condition is satisfied in step S007, log information corresponding to the selected image feature amount is specified, and the degree of coincidence between the text information and the text information extracted in step S004 is calculated. Then, it is determined whether or not the degree of coincidence exceeds a predetermined value (steps S009 and S010). At this time, since the text information is obtained by OCR processing or the like for the image data, the images at the time of scanning the same document are rarely the same. For the discrimination, it is preferable that the predetermined value is set between 90% and 100%.

Then, in response to the determination result in step S010, the information replacement unit 39 performs log information replacement. That is, when the degree of coincidence of the text information satisfies the condition, the stored image information, the image feature amount information, and the text information in the log information generated in step S005 are replaced with those of the log information determined to be the same. (Step S011). On the other hand, if the degree of coincidence of the text information does not satisfy the condition, the stored image information and the image feature information are similarly replaced with those of the log information identified in the same manner in the log information generated in step S005. (Step S012). At this time, the stored image information and image feature amount information or text information that are no longer needed are deleted along with the replacement operation by the information replacement unit 39. At this time, the saved image specified by the saved image information and the image feature quantity information and the image feature quantity itself may be replaced, or the saved image and the image feature quantity may be left as they are. In order to reduce the storage capacity, replacement is preferable. The deletion timing may not be the same as the replacement process.
Then, the log information newly associated by the associating unit 36 is stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37.

<Identity determination processing only for log information storage unit>
Next, identity determination processing using log information already stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing. For the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that there are N pieces of log information that have not been subjected to identity determination processing in the log information storage unit 37, It is assumed that the number N corresponds.
When the identity determination process is started, the number i of the first log information and the number j of the next log information are selected, and the image feature amount 1 associated with the first log information and the second log information, respectively. Then, the similarity with the image feature amount 2 is calculated, and it is determined whether or not it satisfies a predetermined condition (steps S101 to S103). Here, the XXth image feature amount means an image feature amount associated with the XXth log information, and this notation will be followed.

The determination of the similarity is the same as the method shown in FIG.
If it is determined in step S103 that the condition is not satisfied, the number of the latter (jth) log information is incremented (step S108), and the first log information and the jth log information until j reaches N. And repeat the determination of the similarity of the image feature amount (step S109). If j exceeds N in step S109, it is determined whether i at that time is less than N-1 (step S110). If it is less than n, the process returns to step S101, and the image feature of the next number is determined. Similarity is discriminated again based on the quantity. The determination of the similarity of the image feature amount is repeated until the reference log information number is N.
This is first performed by determining the similarity with respect to the image feature amount between the first log information and the second log information, and then between the first and third log information. When the comparison between the first and Nth log information is completed, the comparison is made between the second and third log information. This is repeated until the comparison is made between the (N-1) th and Nth log information.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S103 that the similarity of the image feature amount satisfies the condition, the degree of coincidence of the text information is determined as in FIG. 5, and the stored image information and the image of the i-th log information are determined. The feature amount information or the text information is replaced with the j-th information (steps S104 to S107). At this time, the j-th log information may be replaced with the i-th log information.
Then, after completing the replacement process, the process is repeated from step S108 in order to search for other similar image feature amounts.
Also in this case, the stored image and the image feature amount itself specified from the stored image information and the image feature amount information may be replaced, or the stored image and the image feature amount may be left as they are. In order to reduce the storage capacity, replacement is preferable.

<Log information deletion process>
Next, log information deletion processing will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. Here, in order to simplify the explanation, it is assumed that N pieces of log information are stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37, and the mth log information is to be deleted.
First, it is determined whether or not image feature amount information (for example, image feature amount data file name) in the m-th log information matches the image feature amount information in the N-th log information except for the first to m-th ( Steps S201 to S204).
Here, if they do not match, the image feature amount information (and stored image information) in the m-th log information is not unified by the replacement process, so the log stored in the log information storage unit 37 The log information is deleted from the information list, and the corresponding stored image information (including the stored image) and image feature amount information (including data of the image feature amount itself) are deleted (step S205).
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S203 that the image feature amount information in the m-th log information matches the image feature amount information in the i-th log information, the image feature amount information (and storage) in the m-th log information. Therefore, the log information is deleted from the list of log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37. Note that the deletion processing of the data of the stored image corresponding to the log information and the image feature amount itself is not performed (step S206).

<Specific examples of log information>
Here, a specific example of creating log information will be described.
FIG. 8A shows log information (first log information) regarding a job relating to image data processed to date / time mm / mm / mm according to an instruction from the user AAAA, and date / time nn / nn / nn according to an instruction from the user BBBB. Log information (second log information) regarding a job relating to image data processed in the second step, and log information (third log information relating to a job relating to image data processed on the date 11 / ll / ll according to the instruction of the user CCCC) ) And log information (fourth log information) regarding a job relating to image data processed at the date and time kk / kk / kk according to an instruction from the user DDDD. Therefore, storing and accumulating a large amount of log information in such a form increases the amount of data to be stored and accumulated, and accordingly requires a large storage capacity.

  Therefore, by performing discrimination by the identity discrimination unit 38 as in the present embodiment and performing replacement processing by the information replacement unit 39, log information as shown in FIG. 8B is obtained. In this case, it is determined that the image feature quantity 1 and the image feature quantity 3 of the search data in (a) are within the same range, and at the same time, “text 1, 2,... , 14,..., And the image feature amount 2 and the image feature amount 4 are determined to be within the same range, and at the same time, the text information “text 7, 8,. ... "and" Text 19, 20, ... "are taken as an example.

Therefore, the information replacement unit 39 performs a replacement process for unifying the image feature 1 and the search data “text 1, 2,...” And the image feature 3 and the search data “text 13, 14,. At the same time, a replacement process is performed to unify the images 1 and 3 of the stored image information (stored image storage information). Further, a replacement process for unifying the search data for the image feature amount 2 and “text 7, 8,...” Into the image feature amount 4 and “text 19, 20,. The replacement process is unified.
Specifically, the image feature amount 3 and the search data “text 13, 14,...” Are replaced with the image feature amount 1 and “text 1, 2,. Further, the image feature amount 4 and the search data “text 19, 20,...” Are replaced with the image feature amount 2 and “text 7, 8,. Yes.
At this time, the information replacement unit 39 also deletes the saved image specified by the image 3 and the saved image specified by the image 4.

  By performing such replacement processing, each time image data processing is executed by the job execution unit 31, the log information generation unit 32 generates log information, and the generated log information is stored in the log information storage unit 37. Even if it is accumulated, information about image data within the same range may be stored and accumulated in duplicate by performing replacement processing at a predetermined timing different from the generation timing of log information. It will not be.

  Here, an example in which storage information (saved image information) of the saved image is used for the log information instead of the saved image is shown, but the saved image itself may be included in the log information. It should be noted that the image 1, image 2, etc. need only be able to specify the storage destination of the stored image, and does not limit the expression method such as file name or URL.

<Other specific examples of log information>
Further, the log information is not limited to that shown in FIG. 8, but may be that shown in FIG. FIG. 9A shows the following. That is, log information (first log information) regarding a job relating to image data processed at the date / time mm / mm / mm according to the instruction of the user AAAA, and image data processed at the date / time nn / nn / nn according to the instruction of the user BBBB. Log information about the job (second log information), log information about the job related to image data processed to date / ll / ll / ll by the instruction of the user CCCC (third log information), and an instruction of the user DDDD Log information (fourth log information) about a job related to image data processed at the date / time kk / kk / kk and log information (fifth log information) about a job related to image data processed at the date / time oo / oo / oo according to an instruction from the user IEEE Log information) and images processed to date / time pp / pp / pp according to instructions from user FFFF Log information about jobs and (Sixth log information) is stored accumulated on the data.

  The log information at this time includes a document ID acquired from the image data if the document image (image data) to be processed in the job includes a document ID as code information. That is, the second log information and the fifth log information include a document ID “001”, and the fourth log information includes a document ID “002”. For the first log information, the third log information, and the sixth log information, there is no document ID information because the document ID cannot be extracted or there is no code information on the image data. Show.

  For the log information stored and accumulated in such a form, the identity discriminating unit 38 discriminates the identity at a predetermined timing specified in advance, and the information replacing unit 39 performs the replacing process as necessary. Can do. However, in this case, the identity determination unit 38 and the information replacement unit 39 preferentially use the document ID as described below.

  For example, when the identity determination unit 38 determines the identity of the search data, first, the determination is performed using the document ID. For example, in the example of FIG. 9A, it is determined that the second log information and the fifth log information are the same. After the determination using the document ID, the identity determination based on the search data is performed for other log information that cannot be determined by the document ID. If priority determination using such a document ID is performed, it becomes easy to determine identity based on information for identifying and specifying the document ID, that is, image data, and not all log information Thus, it is not necessary to perform similarity determination of image feature amounts or matching determination of text information. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the processing load in determining identity.

  Further, the information replacement unit 39 may perform the replacement process for unifying the document ID with priority for each log information determined to be identical. Here, for example, as a result of the discrimination using the document ID in the identity discriminating unit 38, it is discriminated that the second log information and the fifth log information are the same, and the search data in the identity discriminating unit 38 As a result of determination based on the above, it is determined that the search data in the first log information and the search data in the sixth log information are within the same range, and further, the search data in the second log information Consider the case where it is determined that the search data in the third log information and the third log information are within the same range of identity.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 9B, the information replacement unit 39 performs a unified replacement process between the first log information and the sixth log information, and the second log information, the first log information, A unified replacement process is performed between the third log information and the fifth log information. Specifically, a unified replacement process using the document ID “001” of the second log information preferentially between the second log information, the third log information, and the fifth log information. The stored image information (stored image storage information) and search data in the third log information and the stored image information and search data in the fifth log information are stored in the second log information. It replaces with the search data and also deletes the stored image itself specified by the stored image information of image 3 and image 5.
Further, since there is no document ID for the first log information and the sixth log information, the stored image information and the search data in the sixth log information are stored in the first log information. And the search image data are replaced, and the stored image itself specified by the stored image information called image 6 is also deleted.

As described above, if the log information includes code information, the information about the image data of the same document is prevented from being redundantly stored and stored when the log information is stored and stored, and the processing load for that is reduced. Etc. can be planned.
Even when the log information includes code information, the discrimination based on the search data is used together for the identity discrimination. This is because the code information is not necessarily attached to all the image data to be processed, and the code information may not be acquired correctly due to the influence of dust adhesion at the time of image reading. Because you get.

<Log information deletion processing after storage and accumulation>
Next, processing operations in the present embodiment after log information is stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 will be described. Normally, the storage capacity that can be used by the log information storage unit 37 is limited. For this reason, in the present embodiment, in order to effectively use the storage area used by the log information storage unit 37, the log information stored and accumulated by the log information storage unit 37, such as when a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of storage, etc. Under certain conditions, the log information deletion unit 41 deletes log information from the log information storage unit 37.
In this case, the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 includes information that has been replaced by the information replacement unit 39. That is, there may be log information that shares a stored image in the replacement process. For this reason, if the log information is deleted only by the success or failure of the predetermined condition, the sharing relationship is lost, the stored image is lost, and there is a possibility that something that does not hold as log information is generated.

  In order to avoid such a problem, when the log information deletion unit 41 deletes log information in the log information storage unit 37, prior to this, the stored image information is information about the log information to be deleted. The replacement unit 39 determines whether or not the replacement unit 39 has undergone replacement processing. This determination is made by searching whether there is the same stored image information as the deletion target in the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37, but is not limited thereto. The replacement processing may be performed using other known techniques such as flag management for each image data. Then, based on the determination result by the replacement presence / absence determination unit 42, the log information deletion unit 41 excludes those that have undergone the replacement process from deletion targets.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of such log information deletion processing, in which a plurality of log information is stored and accumulated. In FIG. 10A, the log information (first log information) about the job related to the image data processed to the date / time mm / mm / mm according to the instruction of the user AAAA and the date / time nn / nn / nn according to the instruction of the user BBBB. Log information (second log information) about a job related to processed image data, log information (third log information) about a job related to image data processed on the date 11 / ll / ll according to an instruction from the user CCCC, It is assumed that log information (fourth log information) about a job related to image data processed at the date and time kk / kk / kk in accordance with an instruction from the user DDDD is stored and accumulated, and the user AAAA has older log information. In this case, when the first log information is to be deleted due to the establishment of the predetermined condition, the replacement presence / absence determination unit 42 determines whether or not the first log information has been replaced. In this example, the stored image information in the first log information is not subjected to the replacement process by the information replacement unit 39, so the log information deletion unit 41 does not exclude the first log information from the deletion target, It deletes from the information memory | storage part 37, and also deletes the preserve | saved image identified by the preserve | saved image information called the image 1. FIG.

  On the other hand, for example, as shown in FIG. 10B, the saved image information and the search data in the third log information are replaced with the saved image information and the search data in the first log information, and the fourth When the saved image information and search data in the log information are replaced with the saved image information and search data in the second log information, if the first log information is to be deleted, the replacement presence / absence determining unit 42 It is determined that the first log information is shared with the third log information and the stored image information after the replacement process, and the log information deletion unit 41 receives the determination result and the unification after the replacement process is performed. Exclude from deletion. In this case, the log information is deleted, but it is possible to perform a process of not deleting the stored image itself specified by the stored image information of image 1.

  A storage area used by the log information storage unit 37 by allowing the log information deletion unit 41 to delete the log information from the log information storage unit 37 after the determination by the replacement presence / absence determination unit 42. Even if log information is deleted under specified conditions in order to make effective use of it, the shared relationship of stored image information between log information will not be lost. It can be avoided that the advantage of eliminating duplicate memory is hindered.

<Search process>
Next, as an example of the use form of the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37, a search process in the search processing unit 43 will be described for use in tracking and checking the job execution history. In other words, by using the log information for the search process, it is possible to check who and when and how much of the same image as the search target (information leaked document or the like).
Specifically, image feature amount calculation and OCR processing are performed on image data obtained by scanning an original document to be searched (such as an information leaked document) by the image reading unit 24, as in the case of log information generation. And the like, and the similarity between the image feature amount of the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 and the image feature amount of the search target and the matching degree of the text information are used as criteria for the search target. It is determined whether there is the same saved image as.

In the case of realizing the use of such log information, as described in the present embodiment, if the stored image information and the search data are shared with respect to the image data within the same range by the unification in the replacement process, As described below, it is possible to greatly improve the convenience of use.
For example, a case where the log information storage unit 37 stores and accumulates the text information “confidential” and retrieves log information about an image that meets the condition is considered as an example.

  In this case, the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit 37 is the one in which the stored image information and the search data for the image data are within the same range after the replacement process by the information replacement unit 39. Is unified by replacement processing. Therefore, it is possible to search very easily and quickly using the feature amount of the image that meets the search condition as a key.

Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, as search data that hits the search condition, the search data obtained from the search source original is an image feature amount 5 and an image of “text 7, 8,. If the image feature amount 8 and the image of “text 19, 20,...” Are used, the similarity of the image feature amount and the coincidence degree of the text information are determined for the log information in the log information storage unit 37, and the target Log information is selected.
At this time, it is very easy and quick to create and output output history information including at least output count information for each user for an image that meets the search conditions. If such output history information is created and output, it is possible to further check jobs that have been processed inappropriately (disturbing) (such as outputting more than necessary) by referring to the output history information. It becomes easy to take preventive measures against information leakage and to expect its deterrent effect.

  In addition, after sharing saved image information and search data for image data within the same range due to unification in replacement processing, it is also possible to make the image search result using log information appropriate. I can expect. For example, as shown in FIG. 12A, in an image search feature amount space that has not been subjected to unified replacement processing, the extraction results may vary even if the feature amounts are related to the same document. Therefore, when a search is performed using the feature amount of a document that meets the search condition as a key, and the top three items are output as the search result in order of the closest feature amount, the search result may be related to the document A. There is. On the other hand, after the unification replacement process, for example, as shown in FIG. 12B, those within the same range are unified and shared by the replacement process. Even when the top three items are output as search results in the order of the closest feature quantity, it is possible to avoid that the search results are for documents A to C and are partially biased. it can. Furthermore, since the search target is naturally narrowed down, it can be expected to shorten the time required for the search process. Therefore, it is possible to expect the search accuracy to be appropriate, and as a result, it is possible to improve the reliability of the results such as the job execution history survey.

Embodiment 2
FIG. 13 shows a schematic configuration of an image processing system according to the second embodiment to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, the image processing system according to the present embodiment connects a plurality (three in this example) of image processing devices 50 (50a to 50c), a server device 60, and a PC (personal computer) 70 to these. And a network line 80 as communication means. Components similar to those of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The image processing apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment is configured in substantially the same manner as the image processing apparatus 20 according to the first embodiment, but the image processing apparatus 50 according to the present embodiment has at least a scan function, a copy function, and a print function. Any one or more functions are provided, and therefore, a job execution function for performing processing on at least one of an image reading job, a copy output job, and a print output job is provided. The server device 60 provides log information storage and accumulation services to the respective image processing devices 50 (50a to 50c). The PC 70 is connected to the image processing apparatus 50 and the server apparatus 60 via the network line 80 to exchange various data. In particular, in this embodiment, the image data from the PC 70 is received from the PC 70. The data is transmitted to a predetermined image processing apparatus 50 so that a copy output or the like can be performed.

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of the image processing device 50 and the server device 60 according to the present embodiment. The image processing device 50 is different from the image processing device 20 (see FIG. 3) according to the first embodiment and is controlled. The apparatus 20 includes a job execution unit 31, a log information generation unit 32, an identity determination unit 38, an information replacement unit 39, and a search processing unit 43. A log information storage unit 61, a log information deletion unit 62, and a replacement presence / absence determination unit 63 is provided on the server device 60 side. Therefore, the storage capacity of the log information storage unit 61 can be greatly increased. Further, in the present embodiment, the stored image is also stored in the server device 60.
Even in such a configuration, log information generation processing and search processing similar to those in the first embodiment can be performed, and the storage capacity of the log information storage unit 61 in the server device 60 can be increased unnecessarily. Absent.

  In the present embodiment, the image processing device 50 is provided with a job execution unit 31, a log information generation unit 32, an identity determination unit 38, an information replacement unit 39, and a search processing unit 43, and the server device 60 has a log information storage unit 61, Although the configuration in which the log information deletion unit 62 and the replacement presence / absence determination unit 63 are provided is shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and other processing units (reference numerals 32, 38, 39, 61, The processing units 62 and 63 may be provided together in either the image processing apparatus 50 or the server apparatus 60, or may be provided separately from each other. Furthermore, the image processing apparatus 50 side and the server apparatus 60 side may be provided redundantly. Alternatively, a plurality of image processing apparatuses 50 (50a to 50c) may be provided in a distributed or overlapping manner.

Each processing unit indicated by other processing units (reference numerals 32, 38, 39, 43, 61, 62, 63) excluding the job execution unit 31 has a function as a computer in the image processing device 50 or the server device 60. It is assumed that this can be realized by executing a predetermined program. At this time, such a predetermined program may be stored and provided in a computer-readable storage medium prior to installation in the image processing apparatus 50 or the server apparatus 60, or may be wired. Alternatively, it may be provided via a wireless communication medium or the like.
That is, each of these processing units can be realized by an image processing program that can be installed in the image processing device 50 or the server device 60, but each processing unit is distributed in the image processing device 50 or the server device 60. Since it may be provided, such an image processing program does not necessarily have to realize all the functions of the above-described processing units. For example, the server device 60 that receives and stores the log information may be installed for the purpose of improving the efficiency. Specifically, the server device 60 includes the log information storage unit 61, the identity determination unit, and the like. 38, a program that functions as the information replacement unit 39.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of embodiment model of the image processing apparatus to which this invention was applied. It is explanatory drawing which shows the image processing apparatus of Embodiment 1 to which this invention was applied. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of calculation of an image feature-value. It is a flowchart which shows a log information generation process and an identity determination process. It is a flowchart which shows another identity determination process. It is a flowchart which shows log information deletion processing. It is a schematic diagram regarding log information, (a) is log information before replacement processing, (b) is explanatory drawing which shows log information after replacement processing. It is a schematic diagram which shows the modification of log information, (a) is the log information before replacement processing, (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the log information after replacement processing. (A) (b) is explanatory drawing which shows a deletion process, respectively. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the process at the time of a search. It is explanatory drawing which shows an image feature-value search space, (a) shows the case where a replacement process is not made, (b) shows the case where a replacement process is performed like Embodiment 1. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image processing system according to Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of an image processing system according to Embodiment 2. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Job execution means, 2 ... Log information generation means, 3 ... Log information storage means, 4 ... Identity determination means, 5 ... Information replacement means, 6 ... Log information deletion means, 7 ... Replacement existence determination means, 11 ... Image Specific information generation means, 12 ... attribute specific information generation means, 13 ... association means

Claims (12)

An image processing apparatus having job execution means capable of executing image formation processing on an image to be processed and a control device for controlling the job execution means,
The controller is
Log information that is history information of processing operations executed by the job execution means includes image specifying information for specifying an image to be processed and an attribute for specifying an execution attribute of image forming processing other than the image specifying information Log information generating means generated as including specific information;
Log information storage means for storing and accumulating log information generated by the log information generation means;
Identity that compares a plurality of log information generated by the log information generating means with each other and determines whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information Discrimination means;
And an information replacement unit that replaces all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same when the identity determination unit determines that the log information is the same. An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The log information generating means includes
Image specifying information generating means for generating the image specifying information;
Attribute specifying information generating means for generating the attribute specifying information;
An image processing apparatus comprising: association means for associating the image specifying information and the attribute specifying information. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2.
The image specifying information generating means includes
Saved image generation means for generating an image to be saved from the image to be processed;
An image processing apparatus comprising: search data generating means for generating search data that allows the stored image to be searched. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3.
The search data generating means generates search data including at least an image feature amount calculated corresponding to the saved image generated by the saved image generating means or a character string to be extracted.
The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identity determining unit determines whether or not the image feature quantity or the character string is the same. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4.
When the code information for identifying the image is included in the image to be processed, the search data generation unit generates the search data including the code information,
The image processing apparatus characterized in that the identity determining means determines identity with respect to at least one of the image feature value, the character string, and the code information. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The image processing apparatus, wherein the information replacement unit operates at a predetermined timing different from a timing at which log information is generated by the log information generation unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
Further, with respect to the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage means, log information deletion means capable of deleting the log information under pre-defined conditions;
A replacement presence / absence determining means for determining whether or not the image specifying information of the log information to be deleted by the log information deleting means includes those subjected to replacement processing by the information replacing means,
The log information deleting unit does not delete at least a part of the image specifying information in the log information when it is determined that the replacement process is performed by the replacement presence / absence determining unit. The aspect of the image processing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising image reading means for reading a document image.
Further, the corresponding job is specified by calculating the degree of coincidence of the image specifying information between the log information obtained by reading the document by the image reading unit and the log information stored and accumulated in the log information storing unit. An image processing apparatus comprising search processing means. An image processing apparatus having job execution means capable of executing image forming processing on an image to be processed, and a control device for controlling the job execution means, and a server apparatus connected to the image processing apparatus by communication means And an image processing system capable of storing and storing job execution histories processed by the image processing apparatus as log information,
At least one of the image processing apparatus and the server apparatus is
Log information that is history information of processing operations executed by the job execution means includes image specifying information for specifying an image to be processed and an attribute for specifying an execution attribute of image forming processing other than the image specifying information Log information generating means generated as including specific information;
Log information storage means for storing and accumulating log information generated by the log information generation means;
Identity that compares a plurality of log information generated by the log information generating means with each other and determines whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information Discrimination means;
And an information replacement unit that replaces all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same when the identity determination unit determines that the log information is the same. An image processing system characterized by that. The aspect of the image processing system according to claim 9, wherein the image processing apparatus includes image reading means for reading a document image.
Further, at least one of the image processing apparatus and the server apparatus may be configured such that the image specifying information includes log information obtained by performing processing of reading a document by the image reading unit and log information stored and accumulated in the log information storage unit. An image processing system comprising search processing means for calculating a degree of coincidence and identifying a corresponding job. An image processing program capable of storing and storing, as log information, an execution history of a job that has executed image forming processing on an image to be processed,
A computer in the image processing apparatus having a job execution means capable of executing image forming processing on an image to be processed and a control device for controlling the job execution means, or connected to the image processing apparatus by a communication means. Computer
Log information that is history information of processing operations executed by the job execution means includes image specifying information for specifying an image to be processed and an attribute for specifying an execution attribute of image forming processing other than the image specifying information Log information generating means generated as including specific information;
Log information storage means for storing and accumulating log information generated by the log information generation means;
Identity that compares a plurality of log information generated by the log information generating means with each other and determines whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information Discrimination means;
When it is determined that the identity is the same by the identity determination means, it functions as an information replacement means for replacing all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same with that of any one of the log information. An image processing program characterized by that. An image processing method capable of storing and storing, as log information, an execution history of a job that has executed an image forming process on an image to be processed,
A job execution step capable of executing an image forming process on an image to be processed;
Log information that is history information of the processing operation executed in the job execution step includes image specifying information for specifying an image to be processed, and an attribute for specifying an execution attribute of image forming processing other than the image specifying information A log information generation step generated including specific information;
A log information storage step for storing and storing the log information generated in the log information generation step;
Identity that compares a plurality of log information generated by the log information generation step with each other and determines whether there is the same image specifying information between one target log information and another log information A determination step;
An information replacement step of replacing all or part of the image specifying information in the log information determined to be the same in the identity determination step with one of the log information. An image processing method.

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