JP2024017205A - Image forming device and image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that can prevent forgery by not only designing freely but also by changing the design according to information related to the ticket and invisible printing on the ticket. The present invention provides a ticket information acquisition unit that receives ticket information from a ticket information server, a ticket design information acquisition unit that receives ticket design information from a ticket printing design server, and a ticket information acquisition unit that receives ticket information from a ticket printing design server. a masking processing unit that performs masking processing to conceal the ticket information, an embedding processing unit that embeds the ticket information into the ticket design information that has undergone the masking processing and generates an embedded image, and an image that prints the embedded image. and a printing unit, and the ticket design information is switched according to ticket-related information related to the ticket. [Selection diagram] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.

Patent Document 1 discloses that, for the purpose of printing a commemorative image for the user during ticket printing, the user selects from a plurality of design proposals that appear on a display, combines the print layout with the selected design proposal, and prints. A technique for doing so has been disclosed.

However, with the technology described in Patent Document 1, although it is possible to issue tickets on demand with a free design according to the image selected by the user, there are no counterfeit prevention measures for tickets, so tickets can be forged. there is a possibility.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is an image forming apparatus that is capable of preventing counterfeiting by not only creating a free design but also changing the design according to information related to the ticket and invisible printing on the ticket. , and an image forming method.

In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects, the present invention provides a ticket information acquisition section that receives ticket information from a ticket information server, a ticket design information acquisition section that receives ticket design information from a ticket printing design server, and a ticket design information acquisition section that receives ticket design information from a ticket printing design server. a masking processing unit that performs masking processing to conceal the ticket information on ticket design information; and an embedding processing that embeds the ticket information and generates an embedded image for the ticket design information that has undergone the masking processing. and an image printing unit that prints the embedded image, and the ticket design information is switched according to ticket-related information related to the ticket.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent counterfeiting not only by using a free design but also by changing the design according to information related to the ticket and invisible printing on the ticket.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image forming system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the functions of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of print processing in the image forming system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a mask image printed by the image forming system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of print processing in the image forming system according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of print processing in the image forming system according to the third embodiment.

Embodiments of an image forming apparatus and an image forming method will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image forming system according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 100 such as an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) capable of invisible printing (stealth printing), images or information for a plurality of designs ( For example, the ticket printing design server 2 stores the ticket design, ticket printing format), and the ticket print design server 2 stores the event information to be printed on the ticket (for example, the date of the event corresponding to the ticket: year and month). It has an information server 3.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. The image forming apparatus 100, which functions as an image processing apparatus, is a multifunction device that has at least two functions among a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a paper feeding section 103, an apparatus main body 104, a scanner 101, and an automatic document feeder (ADF) 102.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes a plotter 120, which is an image forming section, within the apparatus main body 104. The plotter 120 includes a tandem image forming section 105, a registration roller 108 that supplies recording paper from the paper feeding section 103 to the image forming section 105 via a conveyance path 107, an optical writing device 109, a fixing section 110, A double-sided tray 111 is provided.

In the image forming section 105, four photoreceptor drums 112 are arranged in parallel corresponding to four colors: Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (infrared absorbing visible toner (black)). Ru. Image forming elements including a charger, a developer 106, a transfer device, a cleaner, and a static eliminator are arranged around each photoreceptor drum 112. Further, an intermediate transfer belt 113 is disposed between the transfer device and the photosensitive drum 112, and is stretched between a driving roller and a driven roller while being sandwiched between the nip thereof.

The tandem image forming apparatus 100 configured in this manner has an optical writing device 109 write each YMCK color on the photoreceptor drum 112 corresponding to each color based on the original image read by the scanner 101 from the original sent from the ADF 102. The toners of each color are developed by the developing device 106, and are primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 113 in the order of Y, M, C, and K, for example. Then, the image forming apparatus 100 secondarily transfers the full-color image in which four colors are superimposed by primary transfer onto the recording paper supplied from the paper feed unit 103, fixes it in the fixing unit 110, and discharges the paper. Forms a full-color image on recording paper.

Next, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 100 is provided with an image processing apparatus 200 that performs predetermined processing on a document image read by a scanner 101 and outputs the processed image data to a plotter 120. The scanner 101, ADF 102, and image processing device 200 constitute a tilt correction device and a reading device.

The image processing device 200 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 202, a main memory 205, a chipset 206, an image processing ASIC 207, a controller ASIC 208, a main memory 209, and an I/O ASIC 210. Note that ASIC is an abbreviation for Application Specific Integrated Circuit.

CPU 201 is for controlling image forming apparatus 100 . The main memory 205 is a memory (image memory) in which a program for the CPU 201 to control the image forming apparatus 100 is expanded and used as a work area, and in which image data and the like to be handled are temporarily stored. Chipset 206 is used in conjunction with CPU 201 to control access by controller ASIC 208 and I/O ASIC 210 to main memory 205 .

The program executed by the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is a file in an installable or executable format that can be stored on a CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), etc. It may be configured to be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium and provided.

Furthermore, the program executed by the image forming apparatus 100 of this embodiment may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet, and may be provided by being downloaded via the network. Furthermore, the program executed by image forming apparatus 100 of this embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

The scanner 101 has a function of reading image data to be copied or to be output to an external interface. Plotter 120 has a function for printing image data stored in main memory 209. Specifically, the plotter 120 is an example of an image printing unit capable of invisible printing. Invisible printing (stealth printing) will be described later.

The image processing ASIC 207 performs image processing on the image data read by the scanner 101 and outputs the image data to the controller ASIC 208. Further, the image processing ASIC 207 processes the image data from the controller ASIC 208 so that it can be printed by the plotter 120, and sends the image data in accordance with the print timing of the plotter 120.

The controller ASIC 208 uses the main memory 205 over the chipset 206 to rotate and edit image data handled by the image forming apparatus 100, stores the data in the HDD 211, and transmits and receives the image data to and from the image processing ASIC 207. The main memory 209 is used as an image memory in which the controller ASIC 208 performs image processing. A HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 211 is used to temporarily store image data that has been subjected to image processing.

The I/O ASIC 210 is an external interface for providing additional functions to the image forming apparatus 100. For example, the I/O ASIC 210 is a network interface, USB, SD card, operation unit, SPI, I2C, interfaces such as the document width sensor 85 (width detection sensors SN1 to SN5), or a hardware accelerator for speeding up image processing. , an encryption processing circuit, etc.

Next, the functions exhibited by the image processing device 200 will be explained.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the functions of the image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. Note that among the functions exhibited by image processing device 200, characteristic functions in this embodiment will be described here.

In general, the image processing device 200 uses a color-isolating masking effect and a visual masking effect that compensates for its shortcomings in a mutually complementary manner, and uses black coloring material exhibiting infrared absorption characteristics, cyan coloring material exhibiting infrared transmission characteristics, It has a function of generating a latent image embedded image composed of four color materials of magenta and yellow. The generated latent image embedded image is printed by the plotter 120, thereby printing a printed matter including the infrared latent image.

Here, the infrared latent image refers to image information that is difficult to see under visible light but can be detected only by a sensing device that responds to infrared light. Furthermore, a latent image embedded image, which will be described later, refers to an image in which invisible information including an infrared latent image is embedded. Furthermore, the background image, which will be described later, represents a visible image in which a latent image is embedded. When observing a latent image embedded image, only the background image will be observed. Furthermore, the latent image, which will be described later, refers to image information that is embedded in the background image as invisible information.

Furthermore, the masking effect refers to a physical mask effect itself for concealing a latent image, and the masking process refers to image processing applied to the background in order to obtain a masking effect.

As shown in FIG. 4, the image processing device 200 includes a first masking processing section 301, a second masking processing section 302, a latent image embedding processing section 303, a ticket information acquisition section 304, and a ticket design information acquisition section. 305.

The ticket information acquisition unit 304 is an example of a ticket information acquisition unit that receives ticket information from the ticket information server 3. Here, the ticket information is a latent image that allows the ticket to be identified and is embedded in the ticket design information, and may be, for example, a date (year, month, etc.).

The ticket design information acquisition unit 305 transmits the ticket information acquired by the ticket information acquisition unit 304 to the ticket printing design server 2, and requests switching of the ticket design information. Then, the ticket design information acquisition unit 305 receives ticket design information switched according to the ticket-related information from the ticket printing design server 2. That is, ticket design information is switched according to ticket-related information. Thereby, it is possible to provide a ticket that the user can keep as a memento, and it is also possible to provide a ticket that is prevented from forgery by invisible printing.

Here, the ticket design information is information that is processed to conceal the ticket information (latent image), such as a background image in which the ticket information is embedded. Further, the ticket-related information is information related to tickets, and may be ticket information, for example.

The masking processing unit 310 performs masking processing on the ticket design information acquired by the ticket design information acquisition unit 305 to conceal the ticket information. Thereby, the ticket design information subjected to the masking process functions as a latent image mask image for invisible printing. In this embodiment, the plotter 120 prints the ticket information invisible on the latent image, but the plotter 120 is not limited to this as long as it prints the ticket information invisible, for example, on a white background. The ticket information may be printed invisible. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the masking processing section 310 includes a first masking processing section 301 and a second masking processing section 302.

The first masking processing unit 301, which is an auxiliary masking processing unit, performs first masking processing on the image (ticket design information) to conceal the latent image (ticket information). The first masking process refers to a process of changing density change characteristics between pixels in an image in order to obtain a visual masking effect for concealing a latent image. Here, this is called visual masking processing.

In general, it is easy to notice density changes such as noise in flat areas with little density change in an image. On the other hand, in areas where density changes are large, changes in density such as noise are blended into surrounding differences and are difficult to notice. This human sensing characteristic is called the visual masking effect.

Therefore, in order to utilize the visual masking effect, the first masking processing unit 301 synthesizes a specific masking pattern with the background image (ticket design information) to be embedded, thereby creating a latent image (ticket information). ) from manifesting.

The second masking processing unit 302, which is a color matching processing unit, performs a second masking process on the image (ticket design information) to conceal the latent image (ticket information). The second masking process refers to a process for performing color conversion to enhance the color-isolating masking effect in order to hide the latent image. Here, this is called color-isolated masking processing. Furthermore, the effect of concealing a latent image in the background by using the masking effect due to conditional color matching is defined as the color matching masking effect.

The first masking processing unit 301 and the second masking processing unit 302 generate a masked background image in which the latent image, which has been subjected to the first masking processing and the second masking processing, is highly concealed.

The latent image embedding processing unit 303 performs a latent image embedding processing unit 303, which is specified for the ticket design information (background image after masking) that has been subjected to masking processing by the masking processing unit 310 (first masking processing unit 301 and second masking processing unit 302). This is an example of an embedding processing unit that embeds ticket information (latent image) and performs latent image synthesis processing to generate a latent image embedded image. The latent image preferably has image information specified in the K plane. The latent image embedding processing unit 303 can also embed a latent image by changing the amount of black generation according to the pixel value of the latent image.

The plotter 120 functions as an example of an image printing unit that realizes invisible printing (stealth printing) by printing the latent image embedded image generated by the latent image embedding processing unit 303 on a recording medium such as paper. Here, the timing at which the plotter 120 executes invisible printing may be the timing at which a ticket is purchased, or the timing at which a commemorative ticket is issued after purchasing an electronic ticket.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of print processing in the image forming system according to the first embodiment. First, the ticket information server 3 transmits ticket information to be printed to the image forming apparatus 100 (step S101). The ticket information acquisition unit 304 of the image forming apparatus 100 receives the ticket information transmitted from the ticket information server 3 (step S102). Further, the ticket information acquisition unit 304 transmits the received ticket information to the ticket printing design server 2 (step S103).

The ticket printing design server 2 receives ticket information from the image forming apparatus 100 (step S104). Further, the ticket printing design server 2 switches the ticket design information according to the ticket-related information of the ticket indicated by the received ticket information (step S105). Then, the ticket printing design server 2 transmits the switched ticket design information to the image forming apparatus 100 (step S106).

Next, the ticket design information acquisition unit 305 of the image forming apparatus 100 receives ticket design information from the ticket printing design server 2 (step S107). Next, the plotter 120 of the image forming apparatus 100 performs invisible printing of the ticket information by printing the latent image embedded image generated by the image processing apparatus 200 on a recording medium such as paper (step S108).

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a mask image printed by the image forming system according to the first embodiment. A mask image (latent image embedded image) indicated by reference numeral 401 represents how the ticket information (latent image) looks under visible light. Further, a mask image (latent image embedded image) indicated by reference numeral 402 represents how the ticket information (latent image) looks under infrared light.

The mask images indicated by numerals 401 and 402 apply latent image technology that prints part of the ticket information invisible, and the characters inside the circle (for example, "proof"), which cannot be seen with visible light, are printed with infrared light. This means that it becomes visible through optical scanning (NIR scanning).

As described above, according to the image forming system according to the first embodiment, it is possible to provide a ticket that the user can keep as a memento, and it is also possible to provide a ticket that is prevented from forgery by invisible printing.

(Second embodiment)
This embodiment is an example in which the ticket related information includes ticket issuer information indicating the issuer of the ticket, and ticket design information is switched according to the ticket issuer information. In the following description, descriptions of configurations similar to those of the first embodiment will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the ticket related information includes ticket issuer information indicating the issuer of the ticket. Then, the ticket design information acquisition unit 305 acquires ticket design information switched based on the ticket issuer information from the ticket printing design server 2. Thereby, the mask image (ticket design information), which is an image subjected to masking processing, can be switched depending on the issuer of the ticket, so the security level of the ticket information can be improved.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of print processing in the image forming system according to the second embodiment. In this embodiment, the ticket printing design server 2 acquires ticket issuer information based on the ticket information received from the image forming apparatus 100. Then, the ticket printing design server 2 switches the ticket design information according to the acquired ticket issuer information (step S701). Then, the ticket printing design server 2 transmits the switched ticket design information to the image forming apparatus 100 (step S702).

As described above, according to the image forming system according to the second embodiment, it is possible to switch the mask image (ticket design information), which is an image subjected to masking processing, depending on the issuer of the ticket. It is possible to improve the degree of

(Third embodiment)
This embodiment is an example in which ticket-related information indicates ticket information and ticket design information is switched according to the ticket information. In the following description, descriptions of configurations similar to those of the first embodiment will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the ticket-related information may include ticket information. Then, the ticket design information acquisition unit 305 acquires ticket design information switched based on the ticket information from the ticket printing design server 2. Thereby, it is possible to switch the mask image, which is an image subjected to masking processing, according to the ticket information, so that the security level of the ticket information can be improved.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of print processing in the image forming system according to the third embodiment. In this embodiment, the ticket printing design server 2 switches the ticket design information based on the ticket information received from the image forming apparatus 100 (step S801). Then, the ticket printing design server 2 transmits the switched ticket design information to the image forming apparatus 100 (step S802).

As described above, according to the image forming system according to the third embodiment, it is possible to switch the mask image, which is an image subjected to masking processing, depending on the ticket information, so that the degree of security of the ticket information can be improved. can.

In the above embodiment, an example will be described in which the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied to a multifunction device having at least two functions among a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function. The present invention can be applied to any image forming apparatus such as a printer, a scanner device, a facsimile device, or the like.

2 Ticket printing design server 3 Ticket information server 100 Image forming device 120 Plotter 200 Image processing device 201 CPU
202 ROM
205 Main memory 206 Chipset 207 Image processing ASIC
208 Controller ASIC
209 Main memory 301 First masking processing section 302 Second masking processing section 303 Latent image embedding processing section 304 Ticket information acquisition section 305 Ticket design information acquisition section

Patent No. 4642445

Claims (5)

a ticket information acquisition unit that receives ticket information from the ticket information server;
a ticket design information acquisition unit that receives ticket design information from the ticket printing design server;
a masking processing unit that performs masking processing on the ticket design information to conceal the ticket information;
an embedding processing unit that embeds the ticket information into the ticket design information that has undergone the masking process and generates an embedded image;
an image printing unit that prints the embedded image,
An image forming apparatus in which the ticket design information is switched according to ticket-related information related to the ticket. The ticket related information includes ticket issuer information indicating the issuer of the ticket,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ticket design information is switched according to the ticket issuer information. The ticket related information includes the ticket information,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ticket design information is switched according to the ticket information. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ticket design information functions as a latent mask image for invisible printing. An image forming method executed by an image forming apparatus, the method comprising:
a step of receiving ticket information from a ticket information server;
a step of receiving ticket design information from a ticket printing design server;
performing a masking process on the ticket design information to conceal the ticket information;
embedding the ticket information into the ticket design information that has undergone the masking process and generating an embedded image;
printing the embedded image;
An image forming method in which the ticket design information is switched according to ticket-related information related to the ticket.

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