JP4628130B2 - Image processing apparatus and method for controlling display / non-display of image thumbnails, and image processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus that controls display or non-display of thumbnails of images, a thumbnail display method, a thumbnail display program, and a recording medium on which a thumbnail display program is recorded.

  Thumbnails used for confirming the contents of a plurality of image data are supported by many applications and OSs because the contents of a plurality of images can be easily confirmed. There has also been proposed a method for displaying thumbnails on the screen of an operation unit such as a copying machine.

Furthermore, in confidential printing mode designated by the host device, there is a document printing system that can easily maintain confidentiality with a function that can perform test printing in such a way that only the layout information is available and the data contents cannot be read at all. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-132482

  However, if the thumbnail display is easily performed in the image processing apparatus, the image content leaks to a third party, which is not preferable in terms of security. Further, in Patent Document 1 described above, consideration is given to the confidentiality of documents in the image processing apparatus, but a technique for displaying a list of thumbnails of documents accumulated in the image processing apparatus is not disclosed. No special technical disclosure has been made regarding the relationship between thumbnail display and document confidentiality.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image processing apparatus capable of displaying thumbnails while maintaining the security of stored documents.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention mainly adopts the following configuration.
An image comprising: a document image reading unit that reads image data of a document by setting a reading condition; an image data storage unit that stores the image data; and a display unit that displays a thumbnail of an image corresponding to the image data. A password input means for inputting a password as one of the setting of the reading conditions so that a password can be set for the image data when the stored image data is to be secured in the processing device; Image data storage means for storing thumbnail image data corresponding to the thumbnails displayed by the display means, generation means for generating the thumbnail image data from the image data stored in the image data storage means, and the generated Transfer means for transferring the thumbnail image data to the image data storage means When having a determining means for determining whether to said thumbnail or hide to be displayed on said display means,
When the display means displays the thumbnail of the read image data on the display means, the determination means acquires the number of images to be displayed as a thumbnail, and acquires the image attribute of the image data when the display processing of all images is not completed. Thus, it is determined whether or not the corresponding image is image data with a password set. If the image data has the password set, a dummy thumbnail that is a reserved image indicating that the thumbnail of the image data is not displayed is displayed. The determination means further displays a password input request screen when the displayed dummy thumbnail is selected in the processing after displaying the thumbnail list including the dummy thumbnail, and the password verification is authenticated. Then, instead of the dummy thumbnail, the image data corresponding to the selected dummy thumbnail is stored. Thumbnails to display, said the password verification is authenticated rejected, a configuration to sustain the display dummy thumbnail of said image data.

Also, a document image reading unit that sets the reading conditions and reads the image data of the document, an image data storage unit that stores the image data, a display unit that displays thumbnails of images corresponding to the image data, When security is to be applied to the stored image data, a password input means for inputting a password as one of the reading condition settings and a storage in the image data storage means so that a password can be set for the image data. The thumbnail in an image processing apparatus, comprising: generating means for generating the thumbnail image data from the processed image data; and determining means for determining whether to display the thumbnail on the display means or to hide the thumbnail In the image processing method for displaying on the display means ,
The determination means is
When displaying the thumbnails of the read image data on the display means, if the number of images to be displayed as thumbnails is acquired and the display processing of all images has not been completed, the corresponding image can be obtained by acquiring the image attributes of the image data. Determining whether or not the image data is set with a password; and displaying a dummy thumbnail that is a reserved image indicating that the thumbnail of the image data is not displayed when the image data is set with the password; In the processing after displaying the thumbnail list including the dummy thumbnail, when the displayed dummy thumbnail is selected, a step for displaying a password input request screen is displayed. The thumbnail of the image data corresponding to the selected dummy thumbnail And a step to display the Le, when the password verification is authenticated rejected, an image processing method for performing the steps to sustain the display dummy thumbnail of said image data, and processing.

  According to the present invention, based on the security attribute of the image data stored in the image processing apparatus, the thumbnail of the stored document is displayed by determining whether to display or hide the thumbnail of the image data. The security of image data can also be maintained by not displaying thumbnails of specific stored documents.

  In addition, even for a specific stored document for which thumbnail display is suspended, the corresponding image data can also be displayed as a thumbnail by entering a password, etc., and as an image processing device, thumbnail display of user-friendly image data is possible. It can be.

  An image processing apparatus that controls display / non-display of thumbnails according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a screen displaying thumbnails including reserved images in the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen displaying thumbnails from which the hold of the hold image is released in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  First, an overview of an image processing apparatus that controls display / non-display of thumbnails according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The thumbnail shown in FIG. 1 has four images, and the image 100 among them is “!”. This image 100 is an image indicating that the display of the thumbnail of the image that should be displayed is suspended. Below this image 100, the file name of the image to be originally displayed (“right arrow” in the illustrated example) is written.

  The image whose display is suspended is an image that needs to be kept secure, for example, an image for which a password is set. In order to display this original image, for example, when the user selects the image 100 with a mouse, a password input screen (see FIG. 6) is displayed, and when the password check is successful, the thumbnail display hold is canceled. Become. As an example, an image 101 that is a thumbnail of the original image as shown in FIG. 2 is displayed.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in the case of an image that needs to maintain security in the thumbnail display for the image, the thumbnail display is suspended to maintain the security of the document image.

  Next, an image processing apparatus according to this embodiment that executes the above-described processes and operations will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an image processing apparatus that controls display / non-display of thumbnails according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the functional blocks of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment include a control unit 110, an image management unit 111, an accumulation image storage unit 112, an image attribute storage storage unit 113, and a display management unit 114. A display image storage unit 115, a thumbnail non-display storage unit 116, and a display unit 117.

  The control unit 110 controls the entire image processing apparatus. The image management unit 111 manages image data such as compression and generation of image data, and generates thumbnail image data from the image data. The storage image storage unit 112 stores image data. The image attribute storage unit 113 stores image data attributes to be described later.

  The display management unit 114 performs management related to thumbnail display. The display image storage unit 115 stores image data displayed as thumbnails. The thumbnail non-display image storage unit 116 stores a hold image indicating that the thumbnail display is put on hold, such as the image 100 described with reference to FIG. The display unit 117 displays an image for the user.

  Note that the control unit 110 described above corresponds to a determination unit that determines whether to display thumbnail image data. The image management unit 111 generates thumbnail image data from the transfer unit that transfers the generated thumbnail image data from the image data storage unit to the thumbnail image data storage unit, and the image data stored in the image data storage unit. Corresponds to generating means. The storage image storage unit 112 corresponds to image data storage means for storing image data. The display management unit 114 and the display unit 117 correspond to display means for displaying thumbnails of images corresponding to image data. The display image storage unit 115 corresponds to an image data storage unit that stores thumbnail image data corresponding to the thumbnail displayed by the display unit. The functional block diagram shown in FIG. 3 is a software block diagram that can be realized by software.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a controller board 60, an operation panel 53, an FCU (facsimile control unit) 68, an engine 71, and a plotter 72. The FCU 68 includes a G3 standard compatible unit 69 and a G4 standard compatible unit 70.

  The controller board 60 includes a CPU 61, an ASIC (Application Specific IC) 66, an HDD 65, a local memory (MEM-C) 64, a system memory (MEM-P) 63, and a north bridge (hereinafter referred to as NB). ) 62, south bridge (hereinafter referred to as SB) 73, NIC 74 (Network Interface Card), USB device 75, IEEE 1394 device 76, and Centronics device 77.

  The operation panel 53 is connected to the ASIC 66 of the controller board 60. The SB 73, the NIC 74, the USB device 75, the IEEE 1394 device 76, and the Centronics device 77 are connected to the NB 62 via a PCI bus. Further, the FCU 68, the engine 71, and the plotter 72 are connected to the ASIC 66 of the controller board 60 through a PCI bus.

  In the controller board 60, the local memory 64, the HDD 65, and the like are connected to the ASIC 66, and the CPU 61 and the ASIC 66 are connected via the NB 62 of the CPU chip set. In this way, if the CPU 61 and the ASIC 66 are connected via the NB 62, it is possible to cope with a case where the interface of the CPU 61 is not disclosed.

  Here, the ASIC 66 and the NB 62 are not connected via a PCI bus, but are connected via an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) 67. In this way, in order to control execution of one or more processes, the ASIC 66 and the NB 62 are connected via the AGP 35 instead of the low-speed PCI bus to prevent performance degradation.

  The CPU 61 performs overall control of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The NB 62 is a bridge for connecting the CPU 61, the system memory 63, the SB 73, and the ASIC 66. The system memory 63 is a memory that stores thumbnails. The SB 73 is a bridge for connecting the NB 62 to the PCI bus and peripheral devices. The local memory 64 is a memory for storing image data.

  The ASIC 66 is an IC for use in image processing having hardware elements for image processing. The HDD 65 is a storage for storing image data, document data, programs, font data, forms, and the like. The operation panel 53 is an operation unit that accepts an input operation from the user and performs display for the user. The thumbnail is displayed on the operation panel 53.

  The storage image storage unit 112 described with reference to FIG. 3 corresponds to the HDD 65 or the local memory 64 that stores image data. Similarly, the image attribute storage unit 113 corresponds to the HDD 65, the local memory 64, or an NV-RAM (Non-Volatile-RAM) (not shown). The display image storage unit 115 and the thumbnail non-display image storage unit 116 correspond to the system memory 63. The display unit 117 corresponds to the operation panel 53 that displays thumbnails and the like.

  Next, regarding the thumbnail display according to the present embodiment, a data flow from the image data until the thumbnail is displayed will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data flow from image data to thumbnail display in the thumbnail display according to the present embodiment.

  In the data flow diagram shown in FIG. 5, an entire image 120, images 124, 125, and 127, a partial image 121, compressed image data 122, and a reserved image 126 are shown. 5 shows a compressed image data area 123, an expanded image data area 128, and a display memory 129. These areas are memory areas managed by the display image storage unit 115. It is.

  The whole image 120 corresponds to the image data stored in the storage image storage unit 112. The compressed image data 122 is obtained by compressing image data corresponding to the entire image 120. The image 124 is an image corresponding to the image data obtained by decompressing the compressed image 122 and stored in the decompressed image data area 128. The image 125 is an image corresponding to the image data stored in the display memory 129. An image 126 indicates a reserved image and corresponds to the image data stored in the thumbnail non-display image memory 118. An image 127 shows an image actually displayed on the operation panel 53.

  Next, the data flow will be described. In step S101 in FIG. 5, the image data corresponding to the partial image 121 is compressed, and compressed image data 122 is generated. In step S <b> 102 of FIG. 5, the compressed image data 122 is transferred to the compressed image data area 123. In step S103 of FIG. 5, the compressed image data 122 is decompressed and expanded into the decompressed image data area 128. The expanded image data is expanded in the display memory 129 in step S104 of FIG. The image data developed in the display memory 129 is displayed on the operation panel 53 in step S105 of FIG. As described above, the transfer of the image data is performed in the order of step S102, step S103, and step S104 in FIG.

  Next, password setting, which is a security attribute of an image file, relating to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a document accumulation screen by reading an original in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a password setting screen for a document in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, when an original is read on the screen, an image is accumulated in the HDD, and a password for a document can be set by pressing a password key. In the screen example of FIG. 8, the password is set by pressing the “execute” key after inputting the password. Then, after the setting, the screen transitions to the screen shown in FIG.

  In a multi-function copying apparatus that is one of image forming apparatuses, document image data is read from a reading device and stored in an HDD 65 shown in FIG. In this case, the original reading screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the operation panel 53 of FIG. 4, and the reading conditions and the like are set to read the original image data.

  Here, when security is to be applied to the stored image data, a password can be set for the image data stored with the “password” key 200 of FIG. That is, when the “password” key 200 shown in FIG. 7 is depressed, a password setting screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of screen expansion when the “password” key 200 is pressed. When a password is entered using the numeric keypad on this screen and the “execute key” is pressed, a password is set for the stored image data. When using stored image data for which a password is set, the image cannot be referred to unless the password is input (see the password input request screen shown in FIG. 6), and security is maintained.

  Also, it is possible to set a password, cancel the setting, or change the password for image data that has already been stored. Examples of such a password editing screen are shown in (1), (2), and (3) of FIG.

  (1) of FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an image list screen for displaying a list of accumulated images in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. (2) of FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a document management screen including a password change of an accumulated image in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. (3) of FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a password editing screen for stored images in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  When the image whose password is to be changed is selected and the document management key 300 is pressed, as shown in (2) of FIG. 9, the “user name change”, “document name change”, and “password change” keys for document management appear. Next, when the “change password” key 301 is pressed, a password editing screen as shown in (3) of FIG. 9 is displayed. In this editing screen, the password of the corresponding image can be “no password”, “new password setting”, or “password change”.

  Next, an operation procedure of the image processing apparatus that controls display / non-display of thumbnails according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the overall processing for displaying thumbnails according to this embodiment. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing for determining whether or not thumbnails can be displayed according to this embodiment. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing image data transfer processing according to this embodiment. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing after the thumbnail list is displayed according to this embodiment.

  In FIG. 10, in step S1, the control unit 110 acquires the number of images to be displayed in a menu. Next, in step S2, control unit 110 determines whether or not the display processing for all images has been completed. If completed, the process ends.

  If not completed, the process proceeds to step S3. In step S <b> 3, the control unit 110 executes a process for determining whether to display thumbnails. Details of this processing will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  In step S4, control unit 110 determines whether or not to display a thumbnail of the image (whether or not the thumbnail display suppression flag has been reset). In this determination, if it is determined that thumbnail display is possible, the control unit 110 causes the image management unit 111 to perform image data transfer processing in step S5. In step S6, image display processing is performed, and images are displayed as thumbnails. Thereafter, the process of step S2 is performed again.

  Returning to step S4, when it is determined not to display the thumbnail of the image, the control unit 110 causes the display management unit 114 to display the reserved image prepared in advance in step S7. At this time, the file name of the image to be originally displayed is displayed. That is, bibliographic information and dummy thumbnails are displayed without image transfer.

  Next, details of the processing in step S3 shown in FIG. 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S11, the control unit 110 acquires the image attribute of the image data and determines whether the corresponding image is an image with a password. This password can be set in the image data. When the image is stored (see FIGS. 7 and 8), or for the stored image ((1), (2), (3) in FIG. 9) It can be edited (password not set, new setting, password changed).

  Accordingly, password information (password presence / absence) is set in the image data, and a thumbnail can be displayed based on the password information. As a result, the “thumbnail display suppression flag” is stored in steps S12 and S13. That is, if it is a file with a password in S11, a thumbnail display suppression flag is set (S12), otherwise, the thumbnail display suppression flag is reset (S13). This flag is referred to in step S4 in FIG.

  Next, details of the process of step S5 in FIG. 10 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In step S21, the image management unit 111 performs image data compression processing of the entire image data. In step S <b> 22, the image management unit 111 performs a transfer process of the compressed image data to the display image storage unit 115. Subsequently, the display management unit 114 performs decompression processing of the compressed image data in step S23, and DMA-transfers the decompressed image data to the display memory in step S24.

  Next, processing after displaying the thumbnail list (processing for displaying thumbnails by inputting a password) will be described using the flowchart of FIG. First, in steps S31 to S33, it is determined whether or not a thumbnail display hold image by password setting has been selected (for example, whether or not the thumbnail display hold image 100 shown in FIG. 1 has been selected). If the thumbnail of the selected image is suspended due to the password setting, a screen for requesting input of a password as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed (S34). If the password verification is OK in step S35, in steps S36 and S37, image transfer is performed as already described (see FIG. 12), and thumbnail display of the image is performed. Such an operation example corresponds to the illustrated example of FIG.

  Thus, password information (presence / absence of password) is set in the image data, and thumbnails can be displayed based on the password information. When security is applied to an image, it is possible to prevent the thumbnail from being displayed unnecessarily, so that the security of the image is maintained.

  FIG. 10 is also activated when password editing (password non-setting, new setting, password changing) is performed on an image that has already been stored, and when password information changes, that is, the password is not set. When the setting changes to the setting state, the displayed thumbnail is hidden (display of the thumbnail display hold image), and when the password changes from the setting to the non setting state, the thumbnail is not displayed (thumbnail display hold image). Display) state can be changed to the thumbnail display state.

  As described above, by employing the image processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the following functions or operations can be achieved. In other words, in an image processing apparatus that displays thumbnails in consideration of the security of the stored document, it is configured to determine whether or not to display the thumbnail based on the security attribute of the image data. Security can be maintained. Further, in the case of image data for which a password has been set, the security of the stored document can be maintained by controlling the thumbnail display of the corresponding image data to be suspended. Furthermore, in the case of image data for which a password is not set, it is possible to refer to a thumbnail list of stored documents by performing control so that thumbnail display of the corresponding image data is performed.

  In addition, in the case of image data for which a password has been set, the thumbnail display of the corresponding image data is suspended and the password is entered, so that the thumbnail with respect to the image with the password is not permanently hidden. It offers a convenient thumbnail display function. Furthermore, in the case of image data for which a password has been set, the thumbnail display of the corresponding image data is suspended, and the password can be input so that the administrator of the corresponding image can display the thumbnail. . Furthermore, in the case of image data for which a password has been set, the thumbnail display of the corresponding image data is suspended and the password is entered so that the thumbnail is not displayed to people other than the administrator of the corresponding image. As a result, the security of the stored document can be maintained. Furthermore, a thumbnail display device that is easy to use can be provided by dynamically displaying / hiding thumbnails according to the password setting state.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen which displayed the thumbnail containing a hold image in the image processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen which displayed the thumbnail which cancel | released the hold | maintenance of the hold image in the image processing apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the functional block of the image processing apparatus which controls display / non-display of a thumbnail based on Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the image processing apparatus which controls display / non-display of a thumbnail based on Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data flow from image data to thumbnail display in the thumbnail display according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the confirmation screen of the document password in the image processing apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a document accumulation screen by reading an original in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the password setting of the document in the image processing apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. 5 is a diagram showing an image list screen for displaying a list of accumulated images, a document management screen including a password change for accumulated images, and a password editing screen for accumulated images in the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the whole process which displays the thumbnail regarding this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the thumbnail display possibility determination regarding this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the transfer process of the image data regarding this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process after the list display of the thumbnail regarding this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Thumbnail display pending image 101 Thumbnail image 110 Control part 111 Image management part 112 Image storage part for accumulation | storage 113 Storage part for image attribute storage 114 Display management part 115 Image storage part for display 116 Image storage part for non-display of thumbnail 117 Display part 200 Password key 300 Document management key 301 Password change key

Claims (3)

An image comprising: a document image reading unit that reads image data of a document by setting a reading condition; an image data storage unit that stores the image data; and a display unit that displays a thumbnail of an image corresponding to the image data. A processing device comprising:
When it is desired to apply security to the stored image data, password input means for inputting a password as one of the reading condition settings so that a password can be set for the image data;
Image data storage means for storing thumbnail image data corresponding to thumbnails displayed by the display means;
Generating means for generating the thumbnail image data from the image data stored in the image data storage means;
Transfer means for transferring the generated thumbnail image data to the image data storage means;
Determining means for determining whether to display the thumbnail on the display means or to hide the thumbnail;
When the display means displays the thumbnail of the read image data on the display means, the determination means acquires the number of images to be displayed in the thumbnail, and acquires the image attribute of the image data when the display processing of all images is not completed. Thus, it is determined whether or not the corresponding image is image data with a password set. If the image data has the password set, a dummy thumbnail that is a reserved image indicating that the thumbnail of the image data is not displayed is displayed. Let
The determination means further displays a password input request screen when the displayed dummy thumbnail is selected in the processing after displaying the list of thumbnails including the dummy thumbnail, and the password verification is authenticated. Instead of the dummy thumbnail, a thumbnail of the image data corresponding to the selected dummy thumbnail is displayed, and if the password verification is rejected, the display of the dummy thumbnail of the image data is continued. Image processing device. Document image reading means for setting the reading conditions and reading image data of the document, image data storage means for storing the image data, display means for displaying thumbnails of images corresponding to the image data, and the stored When security is to be applied to the image data, password input means for inputting a password as one of the setting of the reading condition, and stored in the image data storage means so that a password can be set for the image data. In the image processing apparatus comprising: generating means for generating the thumbnail image data from image data; and determining means for determining whether to display the thumbnail on the display means or to hide the thumbnail, In an image processing method for displaying on a display means ,
The determination means is
When displaying the thumbnails of the read image data on the display means, if the number of images to be displayed as thumbnails is acquired and the display processing of all images has not been completed, the corresponding image can be obtained by acquiring the image attributes of the image data. Determining whether or not the image data has a password;
When the password is set image data, displaying a dummy thumbnail that is a reserved image indicating that the thumbnail of the image data is not displayed;
A step of displaying a password input request screen when the displayed dummy thumbnail is selected in the processing after displaying the thumbnail list including the dummy thumbnail;
When password verification is authenticated, instead of the dummy thumbnail, displaying a thumbnail of the image data corresponding to the selected dummy thumbnail; and
If the password verification is authenticated rejected, the image processing method characterized by performing the steps to sustain the display dummy thumbnail of said image data, and processing. A reading function for setting a reading condition, reading a document image, reading a document image, storing the read image data, and generating a thumbnail from the stored image data;
A determination function for determining whether to display the thumbnail on the display means or to hide the thumbnail;
In the image processing program having a password input function for inputting a password as one of the setting of the reading condition so that a password can be set for the image data when security is to be applied to the stored image data. ,
The determination function of the image processing program further includes:
When displaying the thumbnails of the read image data on the display means, if the number of images to be displayed as thumbnails is acquired and the display processing of all images has not been completed, the corresponding image can be obtained by acquiring the image attributes of the image data. Determine whether the image data has a password,
When the image data is set with the password, a dummy thumbnail that is a reserved image indicating that the thumbnail of the image data is not displayed is displayed.
In the processing after displaying the thumbnail list including the dummy thumbnail, when the displayed dummy thumbnail is selected, a password input request screen is displayed.
When the password verification is authenticated, instead of the dummy thumbnail, the thumbnail of the image data corresponding to the selected dummy thumbnail is displayed,
When the password verification is rejected, the display of the dummy thumbnail of the image data is continued.

Images