JP2011081742A - Copy management system, copy management method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a copy management system and the like which, when copies of a publication are used, specify the use results of the publication, such as which pages of which publication are copied by how many times. <P>SOLUTION: The copy management system comprises a copier, a storage device and an image retrieval device. The copy management system collates a copied image copied by the copier with an image stored in the storage device and retrieved by the image retrieval device and identifies the copied image copied by the copier. The copier includes a copying means which copies a copy including a publication to obtain a copied image. The storage device includes a storage means which stores images contained in the publication in association with the bibliographic information of the publication. The image retrieval device includes a retrieval means which retrieves the copied image copied by the copying means from the images contained in the publication stored in the storage means, and a copied image identifying means which obtains the bibliographical information of the publication associated with the images contained in the publication retrieved by the retrieval means and identifies the copied image copied by the copying means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to the field of a copy management system, a copy management method, and a program.

  In general, when a user uses a copyrighted work, a considerable price is paid to the copyright holder as a royalty for the copyrighted work. Setting is accompanied by difficulties. Therefore, there is a copyright management organization as an organization acting on behalf of such work related to copyrighted works. Copyright management organizations are organizations that manage copyrighted works. For example, licenses for copyrighted works are given to users, and users (including individuals and groups) who use the copyrighted works also receive copyright holders (copyright holders). ) On behalf of the copyright holder, such as collecting copyright fees for

  For example, when copying a publication related to copyright, the user pays the copyright holder a fee for using the copyrighted work through a copyright management organization. Here, when the usage fee is paid by the individual license or the full amount method of the comprehensive license, the publication itself used is clear, so the copyright management organization will pay the copyright holder a fee for the copyrighted work. There is no particular problem in distributing.

  On the other hand, it is not an individual license that specifies a certain publication, but a comprehensive license (a flat-rate survey) in which a group of copyrighted publications in a certain range or field is collectively licensed. It is very difficult to identify the publication itself used. Therefore, copyright management organizations are currently conducting actual surveys with the cooperation of several companies by industry to clarify which publications and authors were used. Based on the actual investigation, a document for distribution is created, and based on this, the price is distributed to the copyright holder as a royalty fee.

  However, this fact-finding survey is limited only to the state of copying of a specific company during a specific period, and depending on this method, it is possible to use it accurately, such as how many publications have been copied and how many times. It is difficult to clarify the entire situation (usage record). For this reason, when the consideration is distributed to the copyright holders according to the usage situation specified by the fact-finding, the actual usage situation of the copyrighted work may not necessarily be reflected in the consideration.

  Conventionally, in order to clarify the usage status of a copyrighted work, proposals have been made to specify a publication (for example, a book) copied using a digital watermark. However, since there are a large number of publications, it is necessary to embed information in all publications at the time of publication, and it is difficult to identify past publications that have already been published.

  Therefore, as a technique related to this, in Patent Document 1, for the purpose of managing the copying of a copyrighted work, when copying the copyrighted work, the user inputs the copyrighted work specifying information such as the ISBN number in the image forming apparatus. It is described that the number of copies is managed as usage record data by notifying the copyright management organization of the object identification information. This usage data makes it clear how many publications have been copied and how many times, so when distributing the price to the copyright holders according to the usage conditions specified in the actual survey, It is possible to reflect the substance of the usage status of goods in the consideration. Moreover, there is no work of embedding information in all publications at the time of publication, and it is possible to specify past publications that have already been published.

  Here, in view of the copy form of the publication, there are various copy forms such as a double-page spread copy, a copy of only a part of the page, an enlarged / reduced copy, and even among the same books (joint works, etc.) , Rights holders may vary from page to page. Therefore, in order to obtain a more accurate understanding of the actual usage status of a work in a reproduction form of a publication, not only the publication unit, but which page of which publication has been used and how many times. It is desirable to be accurately identified. If the actual usage status of the copyrighted work can be accurately grasped, that is, if it becomes clear how many times each page of which publication has been copied, the copyright management organization will determine the copyright according to the usage status. When the consideration is distributed to the copyright holder, it becomes possible to pay the copyright holder more appropriately.

  Therefore, from this point of view, it has not been easy to grasp and manage the usage (copying) situation for each page of the publication in the above-described prior art. Furthermore, in the prior art, when a further copy is made from a copy manuscript once copied from a publication (indirect copy), the indirect copy manuscript is no longer accompanied by digital watermark information or ISBN number information, and the work It is impossible to count the usage of things.

  Accordingly, in the present invention, in view of the above problems, a copy management system that specifies the use record of a publication such as which page of which publication has been copied and how many times when the publication is copied and used. An object of the present invention is to provide a copy management method and program.

  In order to solve the above problems, a copy management system according to the present invention includes a copying machine, a storage device, and an image search device. The copy image copied by the copy machine and the image search stored in the storage device A copy management system for collating images searched by an apparatus and identifying a copy image copied by the copying machine, wherein the copying machine copies a copy including a publication and copies the copy image. A copy unit for acquiring, and the storage device includes a storage unit that stores an image included in the publication in association with the bibliographic information of the publication, and the image search device stores the image in the storage unit. Search means for searching for a copied image copied by the copying means from images included in the stored publication, and bibliographic information of the publication associated with the image included in the publication searched by the search means To get, and a copy image specifying means for specifying the duplicated copy image by the copying means.

  In order to solve the above problem, in the copy management system, the storage unit of the storage device stores a partial image that is a part of an image included in a publication and bibliographic information of the publication in association with each other. Then, the search means of the image search device searches for the copy image copied by the copy means from the partial image stored in the storage means, and the copy image specifying means is searched by the search means. The bibliographic information of the publication associated with the partial image is acquired, and the copied image copied by the copying unit is specified.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the copy management system includes: a storage unit that stores a plurality of copy images acquired by the copy unit; and a plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit. Grouping means for grouping the same copy image and determining a representative image from among the plurality of grouped copy images, wherein the search means of the image search device replaces the copy image with the copy image The representative image is searched from the images included in the publication stored in the storage means.

  In order to solve the above problem, in the copy management system, the grouping unit includes a plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit, and the copy image and a partial image of the copy image belong to the same group. Group as a copy image.

  In addition, what applied the arbitrary combination of the component of this invention, expression, or a component to a method, an apparatus, a system, a computer program, a recording medium, etc. is also effective as an aspect of this invention.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a copy management system, a copy management method, and a program for specifying the actual use of a publication, such as which page of which publication has been copied and how many times, etc. Can be provided.

1 is an example of a basic copy management system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a figure explaining the persons concerned in connection with utilization of the copy management system 100 and copyrighted publication which concern on embodiment. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a main functional configuration of a copy management system 100 according to the first embodiment. FIG. An example of an association between an original image and bibliographic information is shown. An example of the association between the feature amount of the original image and the bibliographic information is shown. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing a main functional configuration of a copy management system 100-2 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing a main functional configuration of a copy management system 100-3 according to a third embodiment. It is a figure explaining grouping of a copy image as an example. FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing a main functional configuration of a copy management system 100-4 according to a fourth embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings in each embodiment. Further, in this specification, for example, a publication related to copyright, such as a book, is referred to as a “copy publication”. This “authorized publication” is a work that can be copied by a copying machine or the like.

[System Overview]
First, before describing a specific embodiment, an outline of a system as an embodiment will be described in carrying out the present invention. FIG. 1 is an example of a basic copy management system configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the copy management system 100 includes a copying machine 1, an image search device 2, a copyrighted publication DB (Data Base) creation device 3, and a copyrighted publication DB 4, each of which is connected via a network. Connected.

  The copying machine 1 is a so-called copying machine, and is a device for copying a copy including a publishing publication. Copying here is a concept including copying from a document to a paper medium and digitization from a document to an electronic file. The image search device 2 is a device for identifying a publication, and by collating the image of the copy copied by the copying machine 1 with the image of the publication published in the publication publication DB 4, Identify copyrighted publications. Specifically, the specification of the copyrighted publication specifies bibliographic information of the copyrighted publication and a copied page of the copyrighted publication. Here, the bibliographic information includes, for example, the title of the copyrighted publication, author, publisher, publication date, copyright holder, ISBN (International Standard Book Number) number, and the like. The copyrighted publication DB creation device 3 is a device that creates the copyrighted publication DB 4. At the time of publishing a copyrighted publication, bibliographic information and all page images of the copyrighted publication are registered in the copyrighted publication DB 4. Note that the copyrighted publication DB creation device 3 and the copyrighted publication DB 4 may be constructed in the same device such as a storage device.

  As described above, in the copy management system 100, before the user performs copying in advance, the copyright publication DB creation apparatus 3 creates copyright publication information for specifying the copyrighted publication in advance. Save it in DB4. When a user (individual, group, company, etc.) copies a copy with the copying machine 1, the image of the copy is transmitted from the copying machine 1 to the image search device 2. The image retrieval apparatus 2 retrieves an image of a copy that has been transmitted from the work publication DB 4 created in advance. That is, the information in the copyrighted publication DB 4 and the image of the copied material are collated, and if the copied material is a copyrighted publication as a result of the collation, the copyrighted publication is specified. Hereinafter, each embodiment will be described more specifically.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining parties involved in the use of the copy management system 100 and copyrighted publications according to the embodiment. In FIG. 2, in addition to the copy management system 100 shown in FIG. 1 (however, the publication publication DB creation device 3 is omitted), the parties involved in the use of the publication publication are shown. The parties that appear here are users who use copyrighted publications, copyright management organizations that manage copyrighted works, and copyright holders of the copyrighted publications.

  As described above, generally, when a user uses a copyrighted work, a considerable price is paid to the copyright holder. However, a license and a price are individually set between the user and the copyright holder. There are difficulties to do. Therefore, the copyright management organization gives the user a license for the copyrighted work, and collects the copyright usage fee from the user who uses the copyrighted work to the copyright holder (copyright holder). Act on behalf of the copyright owner.

  In this embodiment, when a user copies a copyrighted publication using the copying machine 1, the user pays a copyright fee to the copyright holder through a copyright management organization. Here, the user and the copyright management organization have a license agreement regarding the use (copying) of the publication. The license agreement method according to the present embodiment is not an individual license for specifying a certain publication, but a license for comprehensively licensing a group of publications in a certain range or field. It is a specific comprehensive license agreement (also called flat-rate survey method or simplified method). Accordingly, the copyright management organization comprehensively calculates the usage fee in consideration of the use of a plurality of publications (groups). Then, the user pays the calculated usage fee to the copyright management organization in advance (or afterwards). The paid usage fee is distributed to each copyright holder as a copyrighted material usage fee according to the usage record of the copyrighted publication. This usage record is calculated by the copy management system 100 according to the present embodiment described later.

  The flow of information processing and related party actions by the copy management system 100 from use of the copyrighted publication according to the first embodiment to distribution of usage fees will be described along the steps shown in FIG.

  First, when publishing a copyrighted publication, the copyright holder must include the original image of the copyrighted publication (for all pages), bibliographic information (title, author, publisher, publication date, copyright holder, ISBN number, etc.) Registration is made in the work publication DB 4 via the publication DB creation device 3 (not shown) (S2001). Here, the original image and the bibliographic information are associated with each other and registered in the copyrighted publication DB 4.

  In most cases, since the original originals of copyrighted publications are originally digitized (electronic data), it is considered that registration is not required much. It is also possible to use electronic data used at the time of publication printing. Here, the registration work is not necessarily performed by the copyright holder, and for example, it can be registered by a publisher or a copyright management organization.

  Next, when using a copyrighted publication, the user, for example, makes a contract with a copyright management organization to comprehensively use a group of copyrighted publications in a certain range and field, and includes the usage fee for the copyrighted publication. (S2002).

  After the contract, the user actually uses the copying machine 1 to copy the copyrighted publication (S2003). In addition to copying on paper, copying includes conversion to an image such as PDF (Portable Document Format) or TIF (Tagged Image File Format), storage in a file server, and mail delivery.

  When the copying machine 1 transmits the image data of the copied copyrighted publication (referred to as a copied image) to the image search apparatus 2 along with the copying (S2004), the image search apparatus 2 accesses the copyrighted publication DB 4 and copies it. The copy image transmitted from the machine 1 is searched from the publication publication DB 4 (S2005). In other words, the image search device 2 compares (collates) the copy image transmitted from the copying machine 1 with the original image of the work publication in the work publication DB 4. When the corresponding original image is searched, the bibliographic information of the copyrighted publication associated with the original image is also specified. That is, when a copy image is retrieved from the copyright publication DB 4, bibliographic information and a copy usage page of the copyrighted publication copied and used by the copying machine 1 are specified.

  The information specified by the image search device 2 is notified to the copyright management organization as a usage record (information) (S2006). The notification may be made every time or at regular intervals. In addition, as the contents of the usage record to be notified, for example, information such as ISBN number (copy publication is specified), copyright holder, copy usage page, copy count, etc. are notified to the copyright management organization. Of course, the contents of the usage record to be notified can be arbitrarily determined as necessary.

  The copyright management organization determines the amount of the copyrighted material usage fee for each copyright holder based on the usage record (so-called copy usage record) notified from the image search apparatus 2. Then, the copyright management organization distributes a determined amount of the copyrighted material usage fee to each copyright holder from among the usage fees paid comprehensively by the user.

  As described above, according to the copy management system 100 according to the present embodiment, at least the copyright holder, the copy use page, and the number of times of use of the copyrighted publication copied by the copying machine 1 are specified. The organization can appropriately distribute the copyright fee for the copyrighted works among the royalty fees paid by the user to the respective copyright holders according to the record of copying.

  Note that the fee for using copyrighted material from the user is based on the comprehensive contract (S2002), which is in line with the actual conditions and customs of the contract currently employed, and is not necessarily intended to be limited to this. For example, the copyright management organization can charge the copyright usage fee to the user according to the usage record after the usage record information is notified (S2006). In this case, the fee for using the copyrighted work is paid according to the usage record, so that a more appropriate usage fee can be exchanged.

  In addition, when further copying is made from a copied manuscript once copied from a copyrighted publication (indirect copying), this case also corresponds to the usage of the copyrighted publication. It is possible to specify at least the copyright holder, the copy usage page, and the number of times the copyrighted publication has been used.

(Function of copy management system)
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the main functional configuration of the copy management system 100 according to the first embodiment. The present embodiment described so far is realized by a configuration including the copying machine 1, the image search device 2, the copyrighted publication DB creation device 3, and the copyrighted publication DB 4, and each device has the following main functions. It is realized by. That is, in the copy management system 100, the copying machine 1 includes the copying unit 101, and the image search apparatus 2 includes the image searching unit 201 and the image specifying unit 202. A brief description is given below.

  The copying unit 101 has a function of copying (copying) a copy including a publication and acquiring a copy image.

  The image search unit 201 has a function of searching for a copy image copied by the copy unit 101 from an image (original image) included in a publication stored in the copyright publication DB 4. As an image search method, first, abstracted feature quantities are extracted (calculated) from two images to be matched, and the feature quantities are compared. As a result of the comparison, the same or non-identical determination of the two images, that is, matching of the images can be performed according to the similarity (for example, distance) between the feature amounts of the two images. That is, the image search unit 201 searches for an image at high speed by extracting a feature amount from the copied image and comparing it with the feature amount of the original image in the publication publication DB 4. In the present embodiment, since a known image matching technique can be adopted for the image search unit 201, a detailed description is omitted.

  The image specifying unit 202 has a function of acquiring bibliographic information of a publication associated with an image included in a publication searched by the image search unit 201 and specifying a copy image copied by the copy unit 101. is doing. Specifically, the ISBN number of the copy image (the copyrighted publication is specified), the copyright holder, the copy use page, etc. are specified, and if the information is stored for a certain period, the information on the number of copies is specified. .

  Further, as described above, the work publication DB creation device 3 registers the bibliographic information of the work publication and the images of all pages in the work publication DB 4 when the work publication is published. In the publication publication DB 4, an image included in the publication and the bibliographic information of the publication are registered in association with each other. In addition, for an image (original image) included in a publication, its feature amount is extracted in advance for high-speed image search.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the association between the original image and the bibliographic information. As shown in the figure, in the publication publication DB 4, the original images (image files) of all pages of the publication publication and bibliographic information are registered in association with each other. Depending on the page, the copyright holder and author may be different. FIG. 5 shows an example of the association between the feature amount of the original image and the bibliographic information. In order to realize high-speed image retrieval, as described above, the feature publication DB 4 extracts (calculates) feature quantities abstracted from the original image, and associates the feature quantities with bibliographic information. Therefore, the image search unit 201 can perform a high-speed image search by performing an image search based on a feature amount when searching for a copy image copied by the copy unit 101 from the publication publication DB 4. Note that the feature quantity in FIG. 5 is a multi-dimensional (n-dimensional) feature quantity calculated, but the feature quantity is not necessarily limited thereto, and an appropriate feature quantity can be extracted.

  Note that these functions are actually realized in each computer by a program executed by the CPU of each device.

[Embodiment 2]
Next, the second embodiment will be described. Here, in view of the copy form of copying, there are copy forms such as a copy of a part of a page of a publication or book, and an enlarged / reduced copy thereof, and an entire page is necessarily copied. Not exclusively. For example, in the copy form, it is assumed that only a part of a certain publication published on page x is used for copying, but even in this case, the publication is still used. Of course, a fee for using the copyrighted work may be incurred. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in view of such a copy form of copy use, that is, a copy form of partial use of a work publication, a work publication can be specified from any copied partial image. is there. If exactly which part of which publication, which part of which page has been used, and how many times it has been used, the actual state of use of the publication can be accurately grasped. Appropriate compensation can be paid to the copyright holder according to the usage status of the object.

  Next, the copy management system 100-2 according to the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the main functional configuration of the copy management system 100-2 according to the second embodiment. The copy management system 100-2 according to the second embodiment is realized by a configuration including a copying machine 1, an image search device 2, a copyrighted publication DB creation device 3, and a copyrighted publication DB4-2. Compared to the above-described first embodiment (FIG. 3), the publication publication DB 4-2 is different.

  First, as in the first embodiment, the copyrighted publication DB creation device 3 registers the bibliographic information of the copyrighted publication and images of all pages in the copyrighted publication DB 4-2 at the time of publication of the copyrighted publication. In the publication publication DB 4-2, an image included in the publication and bibliographic information of the publication are registered in association with each other. In addition, for an image (original image) included in a publication, a feature amount of an arbitrary partial image of the original image is extracted in preparation for image search.

  Further, in the publication publication DB 4-2, an index (search index) for performing image search from the feature amount of the partial image of the original image at high speed is created and registered. In this case, the work publication DB 4-2 includes an index for image search (image collation) from an arbitrary partial image. As described above, the copy management system 100-2 according to the present embodiment includes the publication publication DB 4-2 as an index for image search (image collation) from an arbitrary partial image. A copy image copied by the copy unit 101 is searched from the index of the publication DB 4. That is, the image search unit 201 performs feature extraction of a partial image used for copying, and extracts an index close to the feature amount extracted from the partial image from the publication publication DB 4-2. Then, by identifying a probable index using a histogram or the like in the multi-dimensional feature quantity (n-dimension in FIG. 5), the original image including the partial image used for copying, as well as the copyrighted publication, and its bibliographic information can be specified. To do.

By the way, as for the image search technique from the partial image described above, for example, the following document is detailed. An electronic document is stored in the DB in advance. When a user captures a part of a paper document with a camera attached to a mobile phone and acquires an image, the corresponding electronic document is searched by the image search device based on the captured image. Is. If an image retrieval technique (referred to as MMR (Mixed Media Reality) technique) described in these documents is applied to the copy management system 100-2 of this embodiment, the corresponding original can be obtained even from an “arbitrary” partial image of the copied image. The image can be searched, and the position / location in the original image of a part of the image can be specified (useful when there are a plurality of copyright holders within a certain page).
(1) JP 2006-107495 (2) Jonathan Hull, Berna Errol, Jamie Graham, Seafac, Hidenobu Kishi, Hohe Malareda, Daniel Van Olst “Mixed Media Reality (MMR): Paper and the Electronic World New method to connect ", Ricoh Technical Report, No33, December 2007,
http://www.ricoh.co.jp/about/business_overview/report/33/pdf/A3314.pdf
Further, for example, the following document is detailed as a technique for realizing high-speed search. The technique described in this document increases the search speed on the premise that an object can be dynamically inserted. For this reason, spatial data is registered, a spatial index in M-tree format having a tree structure is generated in advance for the registered spatial data, and spatial data similar to the spatial data specified by the user is used as the spatial index. And search. In this case, the area of each node constituting the tree structure of the spatial index is set as an area including all the spatial data existing in the lower layer, thereby eliminating the overlap between the respective node areas and increasing the search speed. .
(3) JP 2007-073063 A In this embodiment, as described above, by using the partial image search technology described above, only a part of a copyrighted publication is copied or enlarged or reduced. In this case, the image search unit 201 can search (collate) the original image from an arbitrary partial image (copy partial image). Bibliographic information etc. can be specified. Similarly to the above-described embodiment, at least a copyright holder, a copy-use page (including a partial image), and a copy-use page (including a partial image) of a publication that is copied and used by the copying machine 1 from the copy management system 100-2 according to this embodiment. Since the number of times of use is specified, as in the above-described embodiment, the copyright management organization appropriately uses the copyrighted work according to the actual use of the copy from the fee paid comprehensively by the user. The fee can be distributed to each copyright holder. Of course, similarly to the above-described embodiment, for example, the copyright management organization can charge the user for the copyright usage fee according to the usage record after the usage record information is notified. In this case, the fee for using the copyrighted work is paid according to the usage record, so that a more appropriate usage fee can be exchanged.

  In addition, when a further partial copy is used from a copy partial manuscript once copied from a copyrighted publication (indirect copying), this case also corresponds to the usage of the copyrighted publication. It is possible to specify at least the copyright holder, the copy use page, and the number of uses of the used publication.

[Embodiment 3]
Next, the third embodiment will be described. In the above-described embodiment, when the copying machine 1 copies (copies) a copy including a copyrighted publication and obtains a copy image, the copy image is transmitted to the image search device 2. Here, the number of copyrighted publications is very large, and according to a survey, the number of copyrighted publications in circulation is said to be about 1.5 million or more. Every time copying is used, the copied image is transmitted to the image search apparatus 2. If the image search device 2 accesses the copyrighted publication DB 4 and specifies the copyrighted publication, a problem of processing load arises. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to reduce the load on the system, the copying machine 1 stores the copied images used for copying for a certain period, and groups the same images from the stored copied images. The copying machine 1 can reduce the number of image searches in the image search device 2 by transmitting only one representative image from the grouped same image group to the image search device 2, thereby reducing the system load. it can. A description will be given below.

  A copy management system 100-3 according to the third embodiment will be described. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing the main functional configuration of the copy management system 100-3 according to the third embodiment. A copy management system 100-3 according to the third embodiment is realized by a configuration including a copying machine 1, an image search device 2, a copyrighted publication DB creation device 3, and a copyrighted publication DB4-2. Compared with the above-described second embodiment (FIG. 6), in particular, the copier 1 of the third embodiment includes a storage unit 102 and a grouping unit 103 in addition to the copy unit 101. Hereinafter, the storage unit 102 and the grouping unit 103 of the copying machine 1 will be described in detail.

  The storage unit 102 has a function of storing a plurality of copy images acquired by the copy unit 101. That is, when the copyrighted publication is copied and used in the copying machine 1, the copied image is temporarily stored in the storage unit 102.

  Here, the copy image stored in the storage unit 102 includes an image of a whole page of a copyrighted publication and an image of a part of the page. Considering copy forms for copying, there are copy forms such as double-page spreads of publications and books, copy of only a part of a page, enlargement / reduction copy, etc. It is not limited.

  The grouping unit 103 has a function of grouping the same copy image from a plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit 102 and determining a representative image from the grouped copy images. Yes. That is, the same copy image is grouped from a plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit 102. Since the same copy image is grouped within the same group, one copy image from one group is determined as the representative image of the group. Various methods can be applied as a method for grouping copy images. For example, an image matching technique using the above-described feature amount can be applied. Copying images determined to be the same by image matching are grouped as images belonging to the same group.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of grouping of copy images. The storage unit 102 stores copy images A1 to A3, B1, 2, and C1. Here, A1 to B3, B1, 2, and C1 (partial images) are copied images copied and used by the user from the same publication. Then, when the same copy images are grouped by the grouping unit 103, they are grouped into groups A, B, and C as shown in FIG. One representative image is determined from each group. For example, in group A, the representative image is A1 (can be A2 or A3), in group B, the representative image is B1 (can be B2), and in group C, the representative image is C1.

  The copy machine 1 keeps a copy image for a certain period without transmitting it to the image search device 2 every time the copy is used. An image search device for one representative image per group from among the grouped copy images every certain period of time (for example, every day) or every certain amount of accumulated copy images (for example, every 1000 sheets, every 1 GB). 2 to send. At the time of transmission, the copying machine 1 transmits to the image search device 2 together with the number of copied images belonging to the group of representative images together with the representative image. This is for specifying the number of times of copying.

  When the copy image is transmitted, the image search device 2 (image search unit 201) searches the representative image transmitted from the copy unit 101 from the images included in the publication stored in the copyrighted publication DB 4. When searching, by using the above-described MMR technique as in the second embodiment, even if the representative image is an image of a part of a page with a copyrighted publication, that is, a partial image, the corresponding copyrighted publication. Can be specified.

  Then, from the representative image, at least the copyright holder and the copy use page of the copyrighted publication copied by the copying machine 1 are specified, and the number of times the copyrighted publication is used is determined by the number of copied images belonging to the representative image group. Is identified (the number of copied images belonging to a group = the number of times a publication is used). For this reason, as in the above-described embodiment, the copyright management organization appropriately assigns the copyright for the copyrighted work to each copyright according to the actual usage of copying from the usage fees that have been comprehensively paid by the user. Can be distributed. Of course, similarly to the above-described embodiment, for example, the copyright management organization can charge the user for the copyright usage fee according to the usage record after the usage record information is notified. In this case, the fee for using the copyrighted work is paid according to the usage record, so that a more appropriate usage fee can be exchanged.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the copying machine 1 stores the copy images used for copying for a certain period, groups the same images from the stored copy images, and groups the same images. Since only one representative image (and the same number of images) from the group is transmitted to the image search apparatus 2, the number of image searches in the image search apparatus 2 can be reduced, and the load as a copy management system can be reduced. it can.

  The copying machine 1 of the third embodiment has been described as a configuration including the copying unit 101, the storage unit 102, and the grouping unit 103 as an example, but it goes without saying that the functions of the storage unit 102 and the grouping unit 103 are as follows. A configuration outside the copying machine 1 is also possible.

[Embodiment 4]
Next, the fourth embodiment will be described. The present embodiment is a modification of the above-described third embodiment, and more specifically, a modification of the grouping method. For the purpose of reducing the load on the system, the copying machine 1 stores copy images used for copying for a certain period, and groups the same images from the stored copy images. Here, in the fourth embodiment, an index is created from the stored copy image using the above-described MMR technique, and the grouping of the same image from the copy images stored by using this index is performed. I do.

  FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram showing the main functional configuration of the copy management system 100-4 according to the fourth embodiment. The copy management system 100-4 according to the third embodiment is realized by a configuration including a copying machine 1, an image search device 2, a copyrighted publication DB creation device 3, and a copyrighted publication DB4-2. Compared to the above-described third embodiment (FIG. 7), the copying machine 1 of the fourth embodiment is particularly different in the storage unit 102-2 and the grouping unit 103-2. Hereinafter, the storage unit 102-2 and the grouping unit 103-2 of the copying machine 1 will be described.

  The storage unit 102-2 stores a plurality of copy images acquired by the copy unit 101. That is, when a copyrighted publication is copied and used in the copying machine 1, the copied image is temporarily stored in the storage unit 102-2. Further, using the above-described MMR technique, a feature amount for an arbitrary partial image of a copy image is extracted. Further, the storage unit 102-2 creates and registers an index for performing high-speed image retrieval from the feature amount of the partial image of the copy image.

  The grouping unit 103-2 groups the same copy images from the plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit 102-2, and determines a representative image from the grouped copy images. More specifically, if there are stored copy images from image 1 to image 100, image 1 is stored first (feature values of image 1 to image 100 are registered in advance in storage unit 102-2 as a DB). By referring to the DB of the unit 102-2, images having a similarity closer than a predetermined threshold are stored as images of the same group. When the image is not included in the grouped group image, or when the image 2 is not included in the same group as the image 1, the DB of the storage unit 102-2 is referred to for the image 2. On the other hand, if the already grouped images, image 1 and image 2, are included in the same group, image 2 processes the next image 3 without referring to the DB of storage unit 102-2. By performing the processing up to the last image 100 in this way, grouping using the DB of the storage unit 102-2 becomes possible.

  If grouping is performed, the copying machine 1 transmits only one representative image (and the same number of images) from the grouped same image group to the image search apparatus 2.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, by using the DB of the storage unit 102-2 at the time of grouping, copying is performed in a double-page spread, only a part of a copyrighted publication is used for copying, enlargement or reduction Even when copying is performed, the entire image and the partial image can be grouped in a copy image in which the entire image and the partial image are mixed. This is because according to the MMR technique, the entire image can be specified (collated) from an arbitrary partial image. That is, the grouping accuracy can be further improved.

[Summary]
Hereinafter, functions and effects of the copy management system 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  The configuration of the copy management system according to the present embodiment includes a copying machine, a storage device, and an image search device. The copy image copied by the copy machine and the image stored in the storage device and searched by the image search device. A copy management system for identifying a copy image copied by the copying machine by collating with a copied image, wherein the copying machine copies a copy including a publication to obtain a copy image And the storage device includes storage means for storing an image included in the publication and bibliographic information of the publication in association with each other, and the image search device is stored in the storage means. Search means for searching for a copy image copied by the copying means from images included in the publication, and bibliographic information of the publication associated with the image included in the publication searched by the search means. And has a copy image specifying means for specifying the duplicated copy image by the copying means.

  For this reason, according to this configuration, it is possible to specify at least the copyright holder, the copy use page, and the number of uses of the copyrighted publication copied and used by the copying machine 1. Therefore, if this system is used, the copyright management organization will appropriately pay the copyright fee to each copyright holder according to the actual usage of copying from the usage fee paid comprehensively by the user. Can be distributed. In addition, when further copying is made from a copied manuscript once copied from a copyrighted publication (indirect copying), this case also corresponds to the usage of the copyrighted publication. It is possible to specify at least the copyright holder, the copy usage page, and the number of times the copyrighted publication has been used. In addition, since there are a large number of publications, it is necessary to embed information such as digital watermarks in all publications at the time of publication, and identification of past publications that have already been published. Is also possible.

  In the configuration of the copy management system apparatus according to the present embodiment, the storage unit of the storage device associates a partial image that is a part of an image included in a publication with bibliographic information of the publication. The retrieval unit of the image retrieval apparatus retrieves a copied image copied by the copying unit from the partial image stored in the storage unit, and the copied image specifying unit retrieves by the retrieval unit. The bibliographic information of the publication associated with the partial image thus obtained is acquired, and the copied image copied by the copying means is specified.

  Therefore, according to this configuration, when only a part of a copyrighted publication is copied, or when the copy is enlarged or reduced, the original image can be searched (verified) from the partial image (copy partial image). Therefore, based on the partial image, it is possible to specify at least the copyright holder, the copy use page, and the number of uses of the copyrighted publication copied and used by the copying machine 1. Similarly, if this system is used, the copyright management organization will appropriately assign the copyright fee for each copyrighted work according to the actual usage of the copy from the usage fees paid comprehensively by the user. It can be distributed to the right holders. In addition, when further copying is made from a copied manuscript once copied from a copyrighted publication (indirect copying), this case also corresponds to the usage of the copyrighted publication. It is possible to specify at least the copyright holder, the copy usage page, and the number of times the copyrighted publication has been used. In addition, since there are a large number of publications, it is necessary to embed information such as digital watermarks in all publications at the time of publication, and identification of past publications that have already been published. Is also possible.

  In the configuration of the copy management system apparatus according to the present embodiment, the copying machine includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of copy images acquired by the copy unit, and a plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit. Grouping means for grouping the same copy images from each other and determining a representative image from the grouped plurality of copy images, wherein the search means of the image search device replaces the copy images. The representative image is searched from images included in a publication stored in the storage means.

  For this reason, according to this configuration, the copying machine 1 stores the copied images used for copying for a certain period, groups the same images out of the stored copied images, and groups the same group of images. Since only one representative image (and the same number of images) is transmitted to the image search apparatus 2, the number of image searches in the image search apparatus 2 can be reduced, and the load as a copy management system can be reduced. .

  Further, in the configuration of the copy management system apparatus according to the present embodiment, the grouping unit is configured to group a copy image and a partial image of the copy image into the same group in a plurality of copy images stored by the storage unit. Group as a copy image to which it belongs.

  For this reason, according to this configuration, when copying is performed in a spread, only a part of a copyrighted publication is used for copying, or when copying with enlargement or reduction, in a copy image in which the entire image and a part of the image are mixed, It becomes possible to group the entire image and the partial image. That is, the grouping accuracy can be further improved.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, these are illustrations of this invention and can also employ | adopt various structures besides the above.

  For example, as described above, the fee for use of copyrighted material from the user is based on the comprehensive contract (S2002), which is in line with the actual conditions and customs of the contract currently employed, and is not necessarily limited to this. For example, the copyright management organization can charge the copyright usage fee to the user according to the usage record after the usage record information is notified (S2006). If comprised in this way, since a copyrighted material usage fee is paid according to a utilization track record, a more appropriate usage fee can be exchanged.

  Moreover, the system configuration of each embodiment is merely an example, and each functional unit can be configured flexibly. For example, in the third embodiment, the configuration including the copying unit 101, the storage unit 102, and the grouping unit 103 has been described. Needless to say, the functions of the storage unit 102 and the grouping unit 103 may be configured outside the copying machine 1. Is possible. Further, for example, the image search device 2, the work publication DB creation device 3, and the work publication DB 4 can be configured as an integrated device.

  The copy management system according to each embodiment is realized by a configuration including a copying machine 1, an image search device 2, a copyrighted publication DB creation device 3, and a copyrighted publication DB 4. The hardware of each device is as follows. Hardware by a general information processing apparatus (PC or the like) can be applied. For example, each device includes hardware such as a CPU, RAM, ROM, and HDD, and may be provided with a display, a mouse, and a keyboard.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a copy management system and a copy management that specify the use record of a publication, such as which page of which publication has been copied, how many times, etc. It becomes possible to provide a method and a program. The present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.

1 Copier 2 Image Retrieval Device 3 Copyright Publication DB Creation Device 4 Copyright Publication DB
5 Paper Document 100 Copy Management System 101 Copying Unit 102 Storage Unit 103 Grouping Unit 201 Image Searching Unit 202 Image Identification Unit

JP 2003-174551 A

Claims (9)

A copy machine, a storage device, and an image search device are configured to collate a copy image copied by the copy machine with an image stored in the storage device and searched by the image search device. A copy management system for specifying copied images,
The copier is
It has a copy means to copy a copy including a publication and obtain a copy image.
The storage device
Storage means for storing an image included in a publication and bibliographic information of the publication in association with each other;
The image search device includes:
Search means for searching for a copy image copied by the copy means from images included in the publication stored in the storage means;
A copy image specifying means for acquiring bibliographic information of a publication associated with an image included in the publication searched by the search means, and specifying a copy image copied by the copy means;
A copy management system comprising: The storage means of the storage device is
A partial image that is a part of an image included in the publication and the bibliographic information of the publication are stored in association with each other,
The search means of the image search device includes:
Search the copied image copied by the copying means from the partial image stored in the storage means,
The copy image specifying means includes
Obtaining bibliographic information of a publication associated with the partial image searched by the search means, and specifying a copy image copied by the copy means;
The copy management system according to claim 1. The copier is
Storage means for storing a plurality of copy images acquired by the copying means;
Grouping means for grouping the same copy image from a plurality of copy images stored by the storage means, and determining a representative image from the grouped plurality of copy images;
The search means of the image search device includes:
Retrieving the representative image instead of the copied image from images included in the publication stored in the storage means;
The copy management system according to claim 1 or 2. The grouping means grouping a copy image and a partial image of the copy image as a copy image belonging to the same group in a plurality of copy images stored by the storage means;
The copy management system according to claim 3. A copy machine, a storage device, and an image search device are configured to collate a copy image copied by the copy machine with an image stored in the storage device and searched by the image search device. A copy management method in a copy management system for specifying a copied image,
The copier is
Copying copies including publications and having a copy procedure to obtain copy images
The storage device
A storage procedure for storing an image included in a publication and bibliographic information of the publication in association with each other;
The image search device includes:
A retrieval procedure for retrieving a copied image copied by the copying procedure from images included in the publication stored in the storing procedure;
A copy image specifying procedure for obtaining bibliographic information of a publication associated with an image included in the publication searched by the search procedure, and specifying a copy image copied by the copy procedure;
A copy management method characterized by comprising: The storage procedure of the storage device is:
A partial image that is a part of an image included in the publication and the bibliographic information of the publication are stored in association with each other,
The search procedure of the image search device includes:
Retrieving a copied image copied by the copying procedure from the partial images stored in the storing procedure,
The copy image specifying procedure includes:
Obtaining bibliographic information of a publication associated with the partial image searched by the search procedure, and specifying a copy image copied by the copy procedure;
The copy management method according to claim 5. The copier is
A storage procedure for storing a plurality of copy images obtained by the copying procedure;
A grouping procedure for grouping the same copy image from a plurality of copy images stored by the storage procedure and determining a representative image from the grouped copy images;
The search procedure of the image search device includes:
Retrieving the representative image instead of the copied image from images included in the publication stored in the storage procedure;
The copy management method according to claim 5 or 6. The grouping procedure includes grouping a copy image and a partial image of the copy image as a copy image belonging to the same group in a plurality of copy images stored by the storage procedure;
The copy management method according to claim 7. A program for causing a computer to execute the copy management method according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

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