JP4904911B2 - Image processing apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a copying machine or a scanner and a control method thereof, and more particularly to a technique for managing acquired image data.

In recent years, some image processing apparatuses such as copying machines and scanners store read image data and management information such as user names and access dates for the purpose of managing confidential information (for example, Patent Document 1). . In such an image processing device, for example, when the leakage of confidential information is found, the image data held in the image processing device is closely examined, and the time when the confidential information was leaked and the confidential information was illegally acquired. A user or the like is specified.
JP-A-2005-250539

  However, since the amount of image data is generally large, the conventional image processing apparatus has a problem that a large amount of image data and management information corresponding to the image data cannot be held.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus capable of managing more image data.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a fixed image storage unit that stores in advance fixed image data representing a predetermined fixed image, a reading unit that reads a document image and generates image data, An acquisition unit that acquires management information related to a document image; a determination unit that determines whether the image data includes the standard image data; and the image data that includes the standard image data when the image data includes the standard image data. Separating and extracting means for separating data other than the standard image data from the data and extracting at least a part of the data other than the standard image data as management image data, and storing the management image data in association with the management information Management image storage means.

  In order to solve the above problem, a control method according to the present invention is a control method of an image processing apparatus that holds fixed image data representing a predetermined fixed image, and reads a document image to generate image data. A step of acquiring management information relating to the document image, a determination step of determining whether or not the image data includes the standard image data, and a case where the image data includes the standard image data A separate extraction step for separating data other than the standard image data from the image data and extracting at least a part of the data other than the standard image data as management image data; and the management image data corresponding to the management information And storing in the storage means.

  According to the present invention, rather than holding the entire image data, a part of the image data is extracted as management image data and the management image data is held, so that more original images can be managed. . The management image data is extracted from data other than the standard image data of the image data. Therefore, the original image data can be restored by referring to the management image data stored in the management image storage unit and the fixed image data stored in the fixed image storage unit.

  In the aspect of the invention, the document image read by the reading unit includes ID information for identifying the document image, and the acquisition unit acquires the ID information and manages the management information. The image storage means stores the management image data in association with the ID information. According to this aspect, the document image to be managed is attached with the ID information, and the management image data is held together with the ID information. Therefore, management of the management image data becomes easy.

  In the aspect of the invention, the fixed image storage unit holds a plurality of types of fixed image data in association with fixed image identification information for identifying them, and the management image storage unit The management image data is stored in association with the fixed image identification information of the fixed image data included in the image data. According to this aspect, the original image can be easily restored from the standard image data by referring to the standard image identification information.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the image forming unit further includes: an image forming unit that forms an image based on the image data; and an image formation control unit that controls image formation by the image forming unit. The image formation by the image forming unit is selectively performed according to the determination result of the determination unit. According to this aspect, since the image forming unit selectively performs image formation based on the image data, the confidential information is protected more strictly. For example, by enabling image formation only for image data including fixed image data, image formation by an outsider who does not have predetermined fixed image data can be restricted.

  In the aspect of the invention, the standard image may include a ground pattern that guides a region on the sheet where an image is drawn.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an image processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image processing apparatus 1 is, for example, a copying machine, reads a document image, generates document image data, and forms an image based on the document image data on a sheet. The image processing apparatus 1 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a reading unit 13, an image forming unit 14, a display unit 15, and an operation unit 16.

  The reading unit 13 is a scanner, for example, reads an original image with an imaging element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), and outputs the gradation value of each pixel to the control unit 11 as original image data.

  The image forming unit 14 is a printer engine such as an electrophotographic printer, for example, and forms a toner image on a sheet according to image data input from the control unit 11.

  The storage unit 12 includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, a hard disk, and the like. The storage unit 12 stores a program executed by the control unit 11 and also functions as a work memory of the control unit 11. In the present embodiment, fixed image data representing a predetermined fixed image is stored in the storage unit 12 in advance. The standard image is, for example, a form that guides the document creator on the character position on the paper, or a ground pattern that guides the drawing area of the pattern or character. The storage unit 12 stores multiple types of fixed image data. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a standard image. In the example of FIG. 2A, a frame as a standard image is drawn at the peripheral edge of the sheet. In the example of FIG. 2B, a rectangle as a standard image is drawn on the top of the sheet. These standard images include a standard image identification area in which standard image identification information (here, “aaa” and “bbb”) for identifying the type of the standard image is described, and document ID information. A document ID area is provided. The document ID information is attached to each document image and is, for example, an ID number.

  In addition, a part of the document image data generated by the reading unit 13 is stored in the storage unit 12 as management image data. The process for storing the management image data will be described in detail later.

  The control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), for example, and executes a program stored in the storage unit 12 to control the entire image processing apparatus 1. In the present embodiment, in particular, a part of the document image data input from the reading unit 13 is stored in the storage unit 12 as management image data, thereby managing the document image used for copying of the image processing apparatus 1. To do. The processing executed by the control unit 11 will be described in detail later.

  The display unit 15 is a display, for example, and presents information to the user in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 11.

  The operation unit 16 is, for example, an operation button or a touch panel, and outputs a user operation content to the control unit 11.

  Here, the content of the process which the control part 11 performs is demonstrated in detail. The control unit 11 extracts at least a part of data other than the standard image data from the document image data input from the reading unit 13 as management image data. Then, the management image data is stored in the storage unit 12 in association with management information such as user ID information and information on the date and time of reading by the reading unit 13. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the control unit 11. As shown in the figure, the control unit 11 functionally includes a determination unit 11a, a separation / extraction unit 11b, an image data management unit 11c, an image formation control unit 11d, and an image reading unit 11e. It is out.

  The determination unit 11a determines whether or not the standard image data is included in the document image data input from the reading unit 13. This determination process is executed as follows, for example.

  First, the determination unit 11a converts the document image data into a binary image, and extracts a region in which significant pixels (for example, ON pixels) are connected in the binarized document image data as a connected pixel region. Next, the determination unit 11a determines whether or not the extracted image of the connected pixel region matches the fixed image. For example, the determination unit 11a determines whether or not the difference between the gradation value of each pixel in the connected pixel region and the gradation value of the corresponding pixel of the standard image is 0 or within a predetermined range. If the difference between all the pixels is 0 or within a predetermined range, it is determined that the image of the connected pixel region matches the fixed image. When there are a plurality of connected pixel areas, the determination unit 11a performs this process for each connected pixel area. When a connected pixel region (hereinafter referred to as a fixed image region) that matches the fixed image exists in the document image, it is determined that the fixed image data is included in the document image data. When a plurality of types of fixed image data are stored in the storage unit 12, the determination unit 11a sequentially performs the determination process described above for each fixed image data.

  Note that the determination unit 11a may determine whether or not the feature amount (for example, area or perimeter) of each connected pixel region matches the feature amount of the standard image. If there is a matching connected pixel region, it may be determined that the standard image data is included in the document image data. In addition, the determination unit 11a may execute other image processing in the course of processing to improve the accuracy of determination. For example, the determination unit 11a may execute a thinning process that converts a line of a document image into a line of one pixel, or an expansion process that expands the outline of a figure or a character as a whole. The determination unit 11a may perform correction processing such as gradation correction, noise removal, and edge enhancement on the document image data in advance, and extract a connected image region from the document image data after the correction processing.

  The separation extraction unit 11b separates data other than the standard image data (hereinafter referred to as non-standard image data) from the document image data when the document image includes a standard image. Then, at least a part of the atypical image data is extracted as management image data. This process by the separation and extraction unit 11b is executed as follows, for example.

  First, the separation / extraction unit 11b separates tone value data of an area other than the standard image area (hereinafter referred to as an atypical image area) in the original image from the original image data as atypical image data. Then, at least a part of the non-standard image area is selected, and pixel value data of the selected area is extracted as management image data. Here, the selected area may be a predetermined area (for example, an area having a predetermined shape in the center) in the atypical image area, or may be an area that matches a predetermined condition. For example, the separation and extraction unit 11b may select a region where the gradation value is within a predetermined range or a connected pixel region that is not recognized as a fixed image region in the processing of the determination unit 11a. Further, the separation / extraction unit 11b may extract non-standard image data as management image data.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining image data generated by the processing of the separation and extraction unit 11b. FIG. 4A shows an example of a predetermined fixed image. In the figure, a rectangle as a standard image is drawn on the top of the sheet. The standard image is provided with a document ID area and a standard image identification area. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a document image. In the same figure, a pattern and characters are drawn together with the standard image of FIG. In FIG. 4B, document ID information is written in the document ID area.

  As described above, the separation / extraction unit 11b separates the atypical image data from the document image data. FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating an example of atypical image data. In the figure, as a result of erasing the rectangular standard image from the original image of FIG. 4A, the pattern and characters represented by the non-standard image data are drawn.

  Further, as described above, the separation and extraction unit 11b extracts management image data from atypical image data. FIG. 4D illustrates an example of management image data. As a result of the separation and extraction unit 11b selecting the image data of the pattern drawn in the center of the image among the patterns and characters in FIG. 4C as the management image data, only the pattern is drawn in FIG. 4D. It is. As described above, the separation / extraction unit 11b extracts the atypical image data representing the design and characters in FIG. 4C as the management image data in place of the management image data representing the design in FIG. 4D. May be.

  The image data management unit 11c stores the extracted management image data in the storage unit 12 in association with the management information related to the document image. As described above, the management information is, for example, ID information for identifying each user, information on the date and time when the document image is read, and the like.

  For example, the image data management unit 11 c acquires ID information input from the operation unit 16 by the user. In addition, when the area for describing the ID information is provided in the standard image in advance, the image data management unit 11c may recognize and acquire the ID information recorded in the area. In this case, the image data management unit 11c recognizes the ID information by a known character recognition process. Further, the image data management unit 11c measures the date and time in advance, and acquires the time or date when the reading unit 13 reads the document image as date information.

  The image data management unit 11c recognizes and acquires the document ID information described in the document ID area of the document image and the fixed image identification information described in the fixed image identification area. The document ID information and the standard image identification information are also recognized by a known character recognition process.

  The image formation control unit 11d selectively forms an image based on the document image data on a sheet according to the determination result in the determination unit 11a. Specifically, the image formation control unit 11d performs image formation based on the document image data when the document image includes a standard image. That is, the image forming control unit 11d generates a signal for driving the image forming unit 14 based on the document image data, and outputs the signal to the image forming unit 14, thereby copying the document image. On the other hand, when the document image does not include the standard image, for example, a message prompting the user to use the paper on which the standard image is drawn is displayed on the display unit 15 without copying the document image.

  Further, the image forming control unit 11d may restrict copying of the document image by the image forming unit 14 when the document ID information of the document image is already attached to another document image. The process in this case is executed as follows, for example.

  When the determination unit 11a determines that the document image data includes the standard image data, the image formation control unit 11d recognizes and acquires the document ID information written in the document ID area of the document image. Then, the management image data associated with the same document ID information as the document ID information is searched from the management image data already stored in the storage unit 12. As a result, when management image data having the same document ID information is detected, it is determined whether or not the detected management image data and the management image data extracted by the separation and extraction unit 11b are the same. To do. As a result, if the management image data is different, it is determined that the same document ID number is duplicated to different document images, and the document image is not copied. For example, document ID information is duplicated. Then, a message indicating that it is attached is displayed on the display unit 15. On the other hand, if the management image data is the same, it is determined that one document image has been subjected to copying again, and the document image is copied.

  The image reading unit 11 e reads management information and management image data from the storage unit 12 and displays them on the display unit 15 when the user designates document ID information and instructs reading of document image data. Specifically, the image reading unit 11 e reads management image data associated with the received document ID information and fixed image identification information from the storage unit 12. Then, a fixed image corresponding to the fixed image identification information and an image represented based on the management image data are displayed on the display unit 15. If the non-standard image data is set as the management image data by the processing of the separation and extraction unit 11b, the image reading unit 11e combines and displays the image represented by the management image data and the standard image. Also good. As a result, the same image as the original document image is displayed on the display unit 15.

  Here, an example of processing executed by the control unit 11 will be described based on a flowchart shown in FIG.

  When document image data is input from the reading unit 13, the determination unit 11a determines whether any of a plurality of types of fixed image data is included in the document image data (S101). If none of the standard image data is included, the image formation control unit 11d displays on the display unit 15 that the copy is not executed because the document image does not include the standard image (S102). .

  On the other hand, when the standard image data is included, the non-standard image data is separated from the document image data, and at least a part of the non-standard image data is extracted as the management image data (S103). Further, the image data management unit 11c acquires management information such as user ID information and date / time information when the reading unit 13 reads the document image (S104). Further, the image data management unit 11c recognizes and acquires the document ID information written in the document ID area of the document image and the fixed image identification information written in the fixed image identification area (S105). Then, management information, document ID information, and fixed image identification information are stored in the storage unit 12 in association with the management image data (S106). Next, the image forming control unit 11d generates a signal for driving the image forming unit 14 based on the document image data, and outputs the signal to the image forming unit 14 to copy the document image ( S107).

  As described above, the image forming control unit 11d does not duplicate the document ID information associated with the document image on the other document image before executing the copy of the document image in S107. It may be determined whether or not. Then, the copy of the document image may be executed only when it is not duplicated.

  According to the image processing apparatus 1 described above, since all of the original image data is not stored in the storage unit 12 but the management image data that is a part of the original image data is stored in the storage unit 12, more image data is stored. Document images can be managed.

  Further, the image processing apparatus 1 performs copying only for a document image including a fixed image, and copying is limited for a sheet on which the fixed image is not drawn. Thereby, for example, a user who does not own the paper cannot copy, and leakage of confidential information is suppressed.

  In the above description, the image processing apparatus 1 has been described as a copying machine, but may be a printer, a scanner, or the like. For example, when the image processing apparatus 1 is a printer, management image data may be extracted from document image data received from another information processing apparatus, and the management image data may be held together with the management information.

1 is a configuration block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a fixed form image. It is a functional block diagram of the control part with which the said image processing apparatus is provided. It is a figure for demonstrating the image data produced | generated in the process of the process of a control part. It is a flowchart figure showing the example of the processing which a control part performs.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image processing apparatus, 11 Control part, 12 Storage part, 13 Reading part, 14 Image formation part, 15 Display part, 16 Operation part.

Claims (7)

Fixed image storage means for holding in advance fixed image data representing a predetermined fixed image;
Reading means for reading a document image and generating document image data;
Obtaining means for obtaining management information relating to the document image;
Determination means for determining whether or not the document image data includes the standard image data;
When the document image data includes the standard image data, data other than the standard image data is separated from the document image data as atypical image data, and a concatenation included in an area corresponding to the atypical image data Separation and extraction means for selecting a pixel area and extracting image data of the connected pixel area as management image data;
Management image storage means for storing the management image data in association with the management information instead of the document image data generated by the reading means ;
An image processing apparatus comprising: The image processing apparatus according to claim 1.
The determination unit extracts a plurality of connected pixel regions from the document image, and when there is a connected pixel region that matches the fixed image in the extracted plurality of connected pixel regions, the document image data is the fixed image. Determine that it contains data,
An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 ,
ID information for identifying the document image is written on the document image read by the reading unit,
The acquisition means acquires the ID information,
The management image storage means stores the management image data in association with the ID information.
An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The fixed image storage means holds a plurality of types of fixed image data in association with fixed image identification information for identifying them,
The management image storage means stores the management image data in association with fixed image identification information of the fixed image data included in the image data;
An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Image forming means for forming an image based on the image data;
An image formation control means for controlling image formation by the image formation means,
The image formation control unit selectively performs image formation by the image formation unit according to a determination result of the determination unit;
An image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 ,
The standard image includes a ground pattern that guides an area in which an image is drawn on a sheet of paper.
An image processing apparatus. A control method for an image processing apparatus for holding fixed image data representing a predetermined fixed image,
A reading step of reading a document image and generating document image data;
An acquisition step of acquiring management information relating to the document image;
A determination step of determining whether or not the document image data includes the standard image data;
When the document image data includes the standard image data, data other than the standard image data is separated from the document image data as atypical image data, and a concatenation included in an area corresponding to the atypical image data A separation and extraction step of selecting a pixel area and extracting image data of the connected pixel area as management image data;
A storage step of storing the management image data in the storage unit in association with the management information instead of the document image data generated by the reading unit ;
A method comprising the steps of:

Images