JP2012151532A - Image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance flexibility in generating image information by enabling generation of the image information with a partially limited output to the image information of a sheet of manuscript.SOLUTION: An image processing device includes: an image acquisition unit for acquiring input image information having a secrecy level preset for each region; a region information storage unit for storing the secrecy level and region information identified by the secrecy level in an associated manner; an output destination information storage unit for storing output destination identification information to identify the output destination of output image information and a reference level corresponding to the secrecy level in an associated manner; an image region extraction unit for extracting the image information from the input image; and an image processing unit for generating the image information to be transmitted to the output destination. The image region extraction unit searches the output destination information storage unit for a reference level associated with the output destination identification information corresponding to the output destination of the output image information, and collates the reference level with the secrecy level in the region information storage unit. The image processing unit generates the image information to be output among the input image information.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a function of determining the importance of image information acquired from a document and limiting image information to be output.

  As a conventional image processing apparatus of this type, it is checked whether or not a confidential identifier pattern indicating that confidential information is included in image information acquired by reading a document includes a confidential identifier pattern. If the user ID is entered, the image information is output only when it is confirmed that the user ID is a pre-registered user ID (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-278442 A

However, in the above-described conventional technology, output of image information is limited in units of originals. Even if image information with low confidentiality is included in image information of one original, the image information with low confidentiality is included. However, there is a problem that the output is limited and the flexibility is low.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

  Therefore, the image processing apparatus of the present invention includes an image acquisition unit that acquires input image information in which a security level is set in advance for each area, an image storage unit that stores the input image information, a security level, and the security level. An area information storage unit that stores the area information specified in association with each other, an output destination information storage that associates and stores output destination specifying information for specifying the output destination of output image information, and a reference level corresponding to the security level And an image region extraction unit that extracts image information from the input image, and an image processing unit that generates image information to be sent to an output destination, wherein the image region extraction unit outputs an output corresponding to an output destination of the output image information The reference level associated with the destination specific information is searched from the output destination information storage unit, the reference level is compared with the confidential level of the area information storage unit, and the matching confidential level is associated. The image information of the corresponding area of the input image information is extracted based on the received area information and sent to the image processing unit, and the image processing unit uses the image information sent from the image area extracting unit to input the input image information. Image information to be output is generated.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to generate image information in which output is partially limited according to the confidential level of the output destination with respect to the image information of one document, and the flexibility of image information generation is increased. The effect that it can be obtained.

Functional block diagram showing the first embodiment The perspective view which shows the external appearance of 1st Example The figure which shows the example of registration content of the color component information storage part in 1st Example. The figure which shows the example of registration content of the destination information storage part in 1st Example. The figure which shows the example of the original document used in 1st Example Flow chart showing the operation of the first embodiment The flowchart which shows the detail of the process from S6 to S8 of a 1st Example. The figure which shows the example of the image output result according to the reference level Functional block diagram showing a second embodiment The figure which shows the example of registration content of the authentication information storage part in 2nd Example. Flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment The figure which shows the example of the user authentication screen in 2nd Example Figure showing an example of a document with a two-dimensional barcode

  Embodiments of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the first embodiment. The image processing apparatus of the first embodiment includes a scanner unit 10, an operation panel unit 11, and a printer unit 12, as shown in FIG. ing.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the first embodiment. Here, as an image processing apparatus of the first embodiment, an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) having an e-mail transmission function, a facsimile communication function, and a print (copy) function is shown. However, a scanner having an e-mail transmission function may be used.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image processing apparatus (MFP). A scanner section (image acquisition section) 10 of the image processing apparatus 1 reads a document and converts it into RGB image information, and stores RGB image information. An image buffer (image storage unit) 21, a color component extraction unit (image region extraction unit) 22 that extracts a specific color component (image region) from the RGB image information, and color component specification information extracted from the RGB image information A color component information storage unit (region information storage unit) 23 to store, a destination information storage unit (output destination information storage unit) 24 that stores destination information for specifying a destination (output destination) of output image information, and a color component extraction An image processing unit 25 that performs image processing on the color component information extracted by the unit 22, a network control unit 26 that controls all network communications including e-mail transmission, and facsimile transmission / reception Composed of facsimile control unit 27 that controls communication in general no general public line.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an operation panel unit, which controls the overall operation of the image processing apparatus 1 and includes a display unit and various operation keys necessary for registering destination information and executing each function. ing.
Reference numeral 12 denotes a printer unit. The printer unit 12 controls overall printing functions of the image processing apparatus 1.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of registered contents in the color component information storage unit 23. In the color component information storage unit 23, for example, confidential level information 30 in which five levels (0 to 4) of confidential levels are set, and confidential level information Extracted color component information 31 extracted for each of the 30 confidential levels is associated and stored in advance. As the extracted color component of the extracted color component information 31, for example, the confidential level 0 is OFF and the confidential level 1 is R ( Red), G (green), and B (blue), security level 2 is set to R and G, security level 3 is set to only R, and security level 4 is set to the brightness of the entire image. ing.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of registered contents of the destination information storage unit 24. The destination information storage unit 24 includes a serial number 40 for managing destination information, a destination name (recipient name) 41, and an e-mail address (output destination). ) 42, a facsimile number (output destination) 43, e-mail reference level information 44 that collates with a confidential level at the time of e-mail transmission, and facsimile reference level information 45 that collates with a confidential level at the time of facsimile transmission. These pieces of information are registered by a user (user) inputting in advance on the operation panel unit 11. The reference level of the electronic mail reference level information 44 and the reference level of the facsimile reference level information 45 are previously assigned to the electronic mail receiver and the facsimile receiver, and this reference level is the confidential level of the confidential level information 30. Is consistent with

FIG. 5 shows an example of a document used in this embodiment. This document is printed with a user ID 46 in blue, a password 47 in red, a contact 48 in green, and other characters in black. And
The operation of the first embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment, showing an outline of the operation of the image processing apparatus 1 at the time of e-mail transmission, and will be described according to the step indicated by S in the figure. The operation of each unit described below is executed based on a program stored in a storage unit (not shown).

  The user (user) sets the original shown in FIG. 5 on the reading unit 20 of the scanner 10 (S1), operates the operation panel unit 11 to select (input) the destination of image transmission, and then starts e-mail transmission. An operation is performed (S2). As a result, the reading unit 20 reads the set original, converts it into RGB image information, and stores the RGB image information in the image buffer 21 (S3). The information on the transmission destination is sent to the network control unit 26.

  When the RGB image information is stored in the image buffer 21, the reading unit 20 determines whether or not reading of all the originals is completed (S4). If the reading is not completed, the process returns to S3, and the next The reading of the original and the storage of the RGB image information in the image buffer 21 are repeated.

  When the reading of the document is completed, the color component extraction unit 22 searches (acquires) the reference level from the reference level information 44 for email stored in the destination information storage unit 24 based on the destination input by the user (S5). Then, the retrieved reference level is collated with the confidential level of the confidential level information 30 stored in the color component information storage unit 23 to obtain the extracted color component of the extracted color component information 31 corresponding to the matching confidential level ( S6).

Subsequently, the color component extraction unit 22 extracts image information of the extracted color component from the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21 based on the extracted color component acquired from the color component information storage unit 23, and the image processing unit 25. (S7), the image processing unit 25 performs image processing such as binarization and logical product operation on the image information received from the color component extraction unit 22 to generate image information (S8).
The processing operations from S6 to S8 will be described in detail later.

  Next, the network control unit 26 acquires the information of the e-mail address 42 of the transmission destination from the destination information storage unit 24, acquires the image information generated by the image processing unit 25, and generates transmission image information ( S9), the network control unit 26 transmits the transmission image information to the e-mail address of the transmission destination (S10).

When this transmission is completed, the network control unit 26 determines whether or not the transmission to all the transmission destinations is completed (S11). If a plurality of transmission destinations are selected, all the transmission destinations are selected. The processing from S5 to S10 is repeated until the transmission of the transmission image data to is completed.
When transmission to all transmission destinations is completed, the network control unit 26 deletes (clears) the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21 (S12).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the processing from S6 to S8 in FIG.
In acquiring the extracted color component of the extracted color component information 31 in S6, the color component extraction unit 22 determines whether or not the reference level of the transmission destination acquired from the reference level information 44 for email in the destination information storage unit 24 is 0. When the determination is made (S21) and the reference level is 0, the color component extraction unit 22 does not extract the extracted color component from the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21, and completes the process. That is, the processing is completed without sending the image information to the image processing unit 25.

If the reference level is not 0, the color component extraction unit 22 determines whether or not the reference level is 1 (S22). If the reference level is 1, the color component extraction unit 22 matches the confidentiality that matches the reference level 1. The R, G, B extracted color components of the extracted color component information 31 corresponding to the confidential level 1 of the level information 30 are acquired, and the R, G, B extracted color components are extracted from the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21. Information is extracted for each color and sequentially transmitted to the image processing unit 25 (S23).
The image processing unit 25 individually binarizes the R, G, and B extracted color component information received from the color component extraction unit 22 (S24), and performs a logical AND operation on the binarized information for each pixel. (S25) to generate image information.

  If the reference level is not 1, the color component extraction unit 22 determines whether or not the reference level is 2 (S26). If the reference level is 2, the color component extraction unit 22 matches the confidentiality that matches the reference level 2. The R and G extracted color components of the extracted color component information 31 corresponding to the confidential level 2 of the level information 30 are acquired, and the R and G extracted color component information is extracted from the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21. Is transmitted to the image processing unit 25 (S27). The image processing unit 25 individually binarizes the extracted R and G color component information received from the color component extraction unit 22 (S28), and performs a logical product operation process of the binarized information for each pixel. (S29) to generate image information for transmission.

  If the reference level is not 2, the color component extraction unit 22 determines whether or not the reference level is 3 (S30). If the reference level is 3, the color component extraction unit 22 matches the confidentiality that matches the reference level 3. The R extracted color component of the extracted color component information 31 corresponding to the confidential level 3 of the level information 30 is acquired, and only the R extracted color component information is extracted from the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21 to obtain an image. The data is transmitted to the processing unit 25 (S31). The image processing unit 25 binarizes the R extracted color component information received from the color component extraction unit 22 (S32), and generates image information.

  When the reference level is not 3, the color component extraction unit 22 acquires the extracted color component of the luminance of the extracted color component information 31 corresponding to the confidential level 4 of the confidential level information 30, and the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21 The extracted color component information of luminance is extracted from the image data and sent to the image processing unit 25 (S33). The image processing unit 25 binarizes the extracted color component information received from the color component extraction unit 22 (S34) to generate image information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image output result according to the reference level described above. FIG. 8A shows a case where the reference level is 1, FIG. 8B shows a case where the reference level is 2, and FIG. ) Is an output image when the reference level is 3, and FIG.
As is clear from these drawings, in the output image of FIG. 8A, binarization processing of R, G, and B color components is performed on the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21, In addition, since the three color components of R, G, and B are removed by performing the AND operation processing, that is, the password that is R (red) image information, the contact information that is G (green) image information, The user ID, which is B (blue) image information, is removed, and only the user name is output.

  In the output image of FIG. 8B, the R and G two-color components are removed by performing binarization processing and logical product operation processing of the two color components R and G on the RGB image information. Therefore, the user name and the user ID are output, and in the output image of FIG. 8C, the R component is removed by binarizing only the R component of the RGB image information. Therefore, the user name, the user ID, and the contact information are output. By binarizing only the luminance component in the output image of FIG. 8D, all of the user name, the user ID, the password, and the contact information are obtained. It is output.

  The above explanation is an example of the operation at the time of e-mail transmission. The e-mail in the descriptive text is facsimile, e-mail address 42 is facsimile number 43, e-mail reference level 44 is facsimile reference level 45, network By replacing the control unit 26 with the facsimile control unit 27, the same processing can be performed during facsimile transmission.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the reference level associated with the destination information stored in the destination information storage unit is compared with the confidential level registered in the color component information storage unit, and the confidential level is set. Since the output image information is generated based on the associated extracted color component, the image information in which the output is partially limited according to the confidential level of the image transmission destination with respect to the image information of one original. And the flexibility of image information generation can be increased.

  FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. This second embodiment is an authentication information storage unit 28 in which authentication information for specifying a user (user) is stored during copying. A user authentication unit 29 for authenticating the user ID input by the user is added to the scanner unit 10. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of registered contents in the authentication information storage unit 28. The authentication information storage unit 28 includes a serial number 48 for managing authentication information, a user name 49, a user ID 50, and a collation with a confidential level. It is assumed that reference level information 51 for copying used in the above is stored (registered), and the information is registered by the user inputting in advance on the operation panel unit 11. The reference level of the copy reference level information 51 is the same as the confidential level of the confidential level information 30.

  The operation of the second embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment, showing an outline of the operation at the time of copying, and will be described according to the step indicated by S in the figure. In addition, the operation | movement of each part demonstrated below shall also be performed based on the program stored in the memory | storage part which is not shown in figure. The document used in the second embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment.

  When the image processing apparatus 1 is in a user authentication waiting state (S41), a user authentication screen is displayed on the operation panel unit 11. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a user authentication screen in this case, and a message prompting the user to input a user ID is displayed.

  The user authentication unit 29 monitors the operation panel unit 11 to determine whether or not the user has input a user ID (S42). If not, the user authentication unit 29 continues monitoring, and the user follows the message on the user authentication screen. 11, the user authentication unit 29 compares the input user ID with the user ID 50 of the authentication information storage unit 28 (S 43), and whether or not the input user ID is registered in the user ID 50. (S44).

  If the input user ID is not registered in the user ID 50, the process is terminated. If the input user ID is registered in the user ID 50, the user authentication unit 29 can copy the image processing apparatus 1. The state is changed (S45). As a result, the user sets a document on the reading unit 20 (S46). The document used here is the document shown in FIG. 5 as in the first embodiment.

  Subsequently, the user operates the operation panel unit 11 to select (or input) a transmission destination, and then performs an operation to start electronic copy transmission (S47). As a result, the reading unit 20 reads the set original, converts it into RGB image information, and stores the RGB image information in the image buffer 21 (S48).

  When the reading of the original is completed, the color component extraction unit 22 acquires the copy reference level of the user from the copy reference level information 51 of the authentication information storage unit 28 (S49), and uses the acquired copy reference level as the color component information. The corresponding extracted color component is acquired from the extracted color component information 31 associated with the matching confidential level by comparing with the confidential level of the confidential level information 30 stored in the storage unit 23 (S50).

  Subsequently, the color component extraction unit 22 extracts image information corresponding to the extracted color component from the RGB image information stored in the image buffer 21 based on the extracted color component acquired from the color component information storage unit 23 and performs image processing. The image processing unit 25 performs image processing such as binarization on the image information received from the color component extraction unit 22 to generate image information (S52). The processing operations from S46 to S52 described above are the same as the processing operations from S1 to S8 in FIG. 6 in the first embodiment, and the same processing as in FIG. 7 is performed in S50 to S52. .

  The image information generated by the image processing unit 25 is sent to the printer unit 12. When the printer unit 12 receives the image information from the image processing unit 25, the image information is printed (S53). Judges whether or not copying (printing) of all the originals has been completed (S54). If not completed, the process from S48 is repeated, and if completed, the process ends.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the reference level associated with the user authentication information registered in the authentication information storage unit is compared with the security level registered in the color component information storage unit, Since the output image information is generated based on the extracted color component associated with the level, the image information in which the output is partially limited according to the user's confidential level with respect to the image information of one original. And the flexibility of image information generation can be increased.
In the first and second embodiments described above, the output image information is limited using the color component data of the input image. However, the output image information may be limited by the following method. .

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a document on which a two-dimensional barcode is described. A sheet of a document is divided into a plurality of areas, for example, A, B, C, and D areas, and the upper left in each area, for example, A two-dimensional barcode 60 including area information and confidential level information of each area information is provided at the corner.
The original document thus read is read by the reading unit 20 of the scanner unit 10, the security level set for the user is specified from the security level described in the two-dimensional barcode, and the area information is stored in accordance with the security level. It is also possible to limit the output of the image information.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image processing apparatus 10 Scanner part 11 Operation panel part 12 Printer part 20 Reading part 21 Image buffer 22 Color component extraction part 23 Color component information storage part 24 Destination information storage part 25 Image processing part 26 Network control part 27 Facsimile control part 28 Authentication Information storage unit 29 User authentication unit

Claims (6)

An image acquisition unit that acquires input image information in which a security level is set in advance for each area;
An image storage unit for storing the input image information;
A region information storage unit that stores the secret level and the region information specified by the secret level in association with each other;
An output destination information storage unit for storing output destination specifying information for specifying an output destination of output image information and a reference level corresponding to the confidential level;
An image region extraction unit for extracting image information from the input image;
An image processing unit for generating image information to be sent to an output destination;
The image area extraction unit searches the output destination information storage unit for a reference level associated with output destination specifying information corresponding to the output destination of the output image information, and compares the reference level with the confidential level of the area information storage unit And extracting the image information of the corresponding area of the input image information based on the area information associated with the matching confidential level, and sending it to the image processing unit,
The image processing unit generates image information to be output from the input image information based on the image information sent from the image region extraction unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The image processing apparatus, wherein the image acquisition unit is a scanner unit, and the input image information is image information read by the scanner unit. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The area information is color component information,
The image area extraction unit specifies color component information from a reference level of the output destination information storage unit and a confidential level of the area information storage unit, and extracts image information of the specified color component information from the input image. An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The output destination specifying information is information for specifying an e-mail recipient, and the image processing unit generates output image information according to a confidential level assigned to the e-mail recipient. . The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The image processing apparatus, wherein the output destination specifying information is information for specifying a facsimile receiver, and the image processing unit generates output image information according to a security level assigned to the facsimile receiver. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The output destination specifying information is user authentication information, and the image processing unit generates output image information according to a security level assigned to the user.

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