JP5595535B2 - Copying apparatus, copying method, program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a copying apparatus, a copying method, and a program.

  When electronic data is printed and made into a paper medium, the security management of the paper medium is difficult, and the security level of the paper medium is low at present.

  Therefore, as a security measure for the paper medium, a technique for specifying the information leakage path has been proposed. As one of the techniques, there is a technique for recording history information on a paper medium by adding a code (for example, a two-dimensional code or a digital watermark) to a medium such as paper in order to specify a leakage path. However, there is a limit to the amount of information in the code, and information cannot be entered as much as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to select some information from all the information that is to be included in the code. In consideration of such points, in Patent Document 1, some information is selected from all of the information to be included in the code. Specifically, the latest information and the two newest information items after the latest information are selected. And the oldest information is deleted. This Patent Document 1 will be explained in more detail.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique of recording paper medium owner data and copy person data on a paper medium using a digital watermark technique.

  In this technique, when a new copy is generated by copying a paper medium, the owner data is changed to the copy person data before the copy, and the copy person data is the person who newly executed the copy. Is.

  The technique described in this patent document will be described with reference to FIG. When the user X copies the watermarked document, the user X is recorded in the owner data and the copy person data in the watermarked document. Further, when the user Y copies the watermarked document, the copy person data of the watermarked document is changed to Y.

  Next, when the user Z copies the watermarked document, the owner data of the watermarked document is changed to Y, and the copy person data is changed to Z.

JP2008-131522

  However, every time a paper medium is copied, if the owner data recorded on the paper medium and the history data of the copy person data are updated, if the intermediate paper medium is lost, the person who created the paper medium first The route to go through. In other words, it is impossible to specify who is the first person who created the paper medium (the person who instructed printing from the state of electronic data: the person who created the paper medium).

  For this reason, there is a problem that it takes time for the paper medium creator itself to notice the fact of information leakage. The person who first created the paper medium does not mean the person who created the paper itself, but the person who instructed printing from the state of electronic data. Since the paper medium on which the electronic data is printed is created for the first time by this printing instruction, it is simply called a paper medium creator.

  In addition, when electronic data managed at a high security level is used as a paper medium that is difficult to manage, information about who created the paper medium first is important information for security.

  This is because the creators of paper media have first created the cause of increasing the risk of information leakage.

  However, as in Patent Document 1, when the owner data recorded on the paper medium at each copy and the history data of the copy person data are updated, the first paper medium creation that created the cause of increasing the risk of information leakage It was also difficult to identify the person.

  For this reason, the creator of the paper medium easily creates a paper medium from the state of the electronic data because the awareness of information management responsibility for security deterioration due to the use of electronic data as a paper medium and the risk of information leakage are diminished. It will be.

  Therefore, the information of the person who created the paper medium from the electronic data should not be deleted first, and the security level of information management is lowered by always leaving the information of the paper medium creator in the history information. It was necessary to raise awareness of information management responsibility. That is, when creating a paper medium, it is necessary to be aware of the risk of information leakage from the paper medium.

  Of course, the information of the person who last copied the paper medium is also important. This is because there is a high possibility that information leakage occurred because this person's management of paper was sloppy.

  The above description is merely an example for explaining how important the latest information and the oldest information are.

  In order to solve the above problems, an apparatus according to the present invention has, for example, the configuration described in claim 1.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, when information is leaked from a paper medium, the information leakage source can be easily specified, and the information source that created the paper medium can also be specified.

The figure which shows the flowchart of Example 1. The figure which shows the change of the user history data added to a copy according to the processing flow of FIG. The figure which showed an example of the structure of user history data. Example of Patent Document 1 The figure which shows the flowchart of Example 2. The figure which shows the change of the user history data added to a copy according to the processing flow of FIG.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The present embodiment (this embodiment and other embodiments) is directed to a code image of a specified size (in terms of area) that can include information of a specified size (in terms of information amount). explain. Needless to say, a code image of such a prescribed size can include information of a prescribed size or less. In this embodiment, it is assumed that two types of user history data can be included in the code image of the specified size. One of the data in the user history data is called first data and the rest is called second data. In this embodiment, information = data.

  Further, when the user tries to log in to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus accesses the data server to acquire information for specifying the login user, and stores storage means (HDD, memory, etc.) in the image forming apparatus. ). This storage completes login. Although not shown, the data server is a login management server that is electrically connected to the image forming apparatus. In addition, the information which specifies a user is called user information in a present Example etc. For example, the user ID and the user name are included in the user information. In addition, information that indirectly identifies the user is also information that identifies the user. For example, the copy time and the machine number of the image forming apparatus that performs copying are also information that indirectly specifies the user. This is because if the copy time is known, it may be known who has instructed the copy of the original document before copying (for example, the user who is standing in front of the copier at that time may be known by a monitoring camera or the like). ). If the machine number of the image forming apparatus is known, it may be known who has instructed the copying of the original document before copying (for example, the user who exclusively uses the image forming apparatus may be determined). It should be noted that the “information for indirectly specifying the user” can be rephrased as “information that can be useful for specifying the user”.

  FIG. 1 shows a processing flow that is performed after a CPU (not shown) that controls the image forming apparatus causes the scanner of the image forming apparatus to read a document before copying and generate document image data. . Needless to say, before the scanner of the image forming apparatus reads the original before copying, an instruction to copy the original placed on the scanner is issued from the login user to the image forming apparatus. A user who logs in and gives a copy instruction as in this case is called a copy user.

  In step S101, the CPU performs a process of detecting code image data included in the document image data.

  In step S101.5, the CPU performs a process of determining whether code image data is detected in the document image data. If code image data is detected in step S101.5, the process proceeds to step S102. If code image data is not detected in step S101.5, the process proceeds to step S104.

  In step S102, the CPU decodes the code image data detected in step S101.5. Thereby, information (user history data) included in the code image data is obtained. The obtained user history data is stored in the storage means.

  In step S103, the CPU performs a process of determining whether user information is included as the first data in the user history data. If user information is included as the first data in step S103, the process proceeds to step S106. If user information is not included in step S103, the process proceeds to step S104.

  It is assumed that the user information is included in the ascending order in the code image data handled by this embodiment. For this reason, in this embodiment, user information is included as the first data, and then user information is included as the second data. Therefore, when the user information is not included in the first data, the user information is not included in the second data.

  In step S104, the CPU retrieves user information from the storage means.

  In step S105, the CPU records the user information extracted from the storage means as first data in the user history data. That is, when the processes of steps S102 to S103 are executed, the first data of the user history data stored in the storage unit is updated and stored in the storage unit again. When the processes of steps S102 to S103 are not executed, the user history data is stored in the storage unit with the extracted user information as the first data of the user history data. Furthermore, in step S111, the CPU encodes the user history data, generates code image data of the specified size, and ends the process. At this time, the second data in the user history data is empty.

  In step S106, processing is performed when user information is included in the first data in the user history data. In this step S106, the CPU retrieves user information from the storage means.

  In step S107, the CPU performs a process of determining whether or not the included user information is the same as the user information extracted from the storage unit. If it is determined in step S107 that they are the same, the process proceeds to step S111, and the user history data stored in the storage unit is encoded (as it is without being changed), so that the code image data of the specified size is stored. Is generated and the process is terminated.

  In this way, at least a part of the information originally included in the code image data (first data) and information to be newly included in the code image data from now on (information on the login user who instructed copying) are included. If they match, the user history data is not changed.

  If it is not determined in step S107 that they are the same, the CPU proceeds to step S107.5.

  In step S107.5, the CPU performs a process of determining whether user information is included as second data in the user history data stored in the storage unit. If user information is included as the second data in step S107.5, the process proceeds to step S108. If user information is not included in step S107.5, the process proceeds to step S110.

  In step S108, a process is performed to determine whether the user information included as the second data in the user history data is the same as the user information extracted from the storage means. If it is determined in step S108 that they are the same, the process proceeds to step S111, and the user history data stored in the storage means is encoded (as it is without being changed), and the code image data of the specified size is stored. Is generated and the process is terminated.

  Thus, at least a part of the information originally included in the code image data (second data) and information to be newly included in the code image data from now on (information on the logged-in user who instructed copying) are included. If they match, the user history data is not changed.

  If it is determined in step S108 that the user information included as the second data in the user history data is not the same, the CPU proceeds to step S109.

  In step S109, the CPU performs a process of deleting the user information included as the second data in the user history data stored in the storage unit from the user history data.

  In step S110, the CPU records the user information extracted from the storage unit as the second data in the user history data. That is, the user history data is changed and stored in the storage means so that user information is included as second data of the user history data. By the processes in steps S109 and S110, the first data in the user history data is not updated, and only the second data is updated. Moreover, this step S110 can also be paraphrased as follows. That is, step S110 is a step of adding user information to the user history data in which the second data is emptied by deletion in step S109. Furthermore, in step S111, the CPU encodes the user history data stored in the storage unit in S110, generates code image data of the specified size, and ends the process.

  In S103 to S110, the second data is updated in the user history data while leaving the first data in the user history data. That is, the original second data is deleted, and new user information (latest information) is recorded as the second data. As described above, the first data, the latest information, and the latest information are selected from the three pieces of information of the first data, the second data, and the latest information, and used as user history data. Here, as is apparent from the above-described rules (user information is included in ascending order), the first data is the oldest information. Therefore, in S103 to S110, it can be said that the oldest information and the latest information are selected as user history data. In other words, the oldest information (second data) is removed from the three pieces of information of the first data, the second data, and the latest information, and the oldest information (first data) is removed. It can be said that information other than (second data) is selected as user history data.

  Thereafter, the CPU synthesizes the generated code image data with the original image data acquired by scanning the original before copying. The combining position is the same as the position of the code image of the original document before copying. Then, the image data obtained by the synthesis is printed on a printing unit (not shown) in the image forming apparatus. As a result, encoded user history data including the oldest information and the latest information is added (included) to the copied document.

  In the above example, it is assumed that when a document is copied, the encoded user history data is printed on the document as code image data.

  However, the case where code image data (coded user history data) is printed on a paper medium may occur when print data is transmitted from a personal computer to the image forming apparatus for printing.

  In this case, the printer driver adds user information (information relating to a user who uses the host computer) to the print data, and a CPU (not shown) of the image forming apparatus that receives the print data stores the user information in the user history data. Code image data is generated as one data. Then, the CPU causes the printing unit (not shown) in the image forming apparatus to print the image data obtained by combining the generated code image data and the print data. In this case, since there is only one user information, the second data in the user history data is empty. Also, the user information included in the coded image data in the coded state is information relating to the paper medium creator (the person who first created the paper medium. The person who instructed printing from the electronic data state). . The creator of the paper medium may be referred to as a printing user. On the other hand, other users, that is, users involved in copying may be referred to as copying users.

  Note that the print data may be referred to as document data. In the present embodiment, a paper medium will be described, but the code image data may not be printed on the paper medium. For example, it may be printed on a medium such as an OHP sheet. In this embodiment, an object to be printed with image data, such as a paper medium or a medium such as an OHP sheet, is referred to as a medium. However, when referred to as a storage medium, it is different from the medium, and refers to an object capable of digitally storing information such as a memory, HDD, CD or DVD.

  As described above, when a printed matter including the printing user information as the first data and the copying user information as the second data is scanned as the original before copying, and the processing in the flowchart of FIG. 1 is performed, The following occurs: That is, the copy user information as the second data is updated (S109, S110), while the print user information as the first data remains, and both are encoded in S111.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing changes in user history data added to a copy in a coded state according to the processing flow of FIG.

  The pre-copy original 201 is printed with encoded user history data 202. The user X information 204 is recorded as the first data 203 of the encoded user history data 202, and the user Y information 206 is recorded as the second data 205.

  Here, when the user Z copies the pre-copy original 201 with the image forming apparatus 207, the process flows in the order of S106 to S111, and the second data is updated. As a result, as shown in the original 209 after copying, the intermediate information (original second data) is deleted from the user history data 210, and instead, the latest information is included as the second data of the user history data. Will be.

  As described above, in this embodiment, normally, halfway information is deleted, and the latest information and the oldest information are included in the document after copying as coded user history data. However, there are exceptional cases where the latest information matches the oldest information. In such an exceptional case, in this embodiment, information on the way is intentionally left without being deleted.

  In the lower part of FIG. 2, this exceptional case (in the case where the user X copies the original 201 before copying using the image forming apparatus 208) is illustrated. In this case, the determination result in S107 is YES (user X information as first data = user X information as information for specifying a login user). Therefore, as shown in the original 215 after copying, the intermediate information (user Y information) is not deleted.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the maximum information is included in the code image of the specified size by not intentionally deleting the intermediate information.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of user history data.

  The user history data has two pieces of information: first data and second data. The user information includes a user name, a user mail address, and a user contact information. The first data and the second data are recorded in the user history data.

  On the other hand, not only the above three information (user name, user / email address, user contact information), but also device information used by the user, date of copying performed by the user, number of copying, etc. User information may be changed.

  The above embodiment has been described on the assumption that two pieces of information can be included in the code image data. Then, two pieces of information, the first data (oldest information) and the latest information, are selected from the three pieces of information of the first data, the second data, and the latest information, and used as user history data. In other words, the oldest information (second data) is removed from the three pieces of information of the first data, the second data, and the latest information, and the oldest information (first data) is removed. It can be said that the user history data is selected by selecting two pieces of information other than the second data.

  The same applies to the case where N (N is an integer of 3 or more) information can be included in the code image data. In other words, removing the oldest information (second data) from the plurality of pieces of information and selecting the other N-1 pieces of information as user history data is N The same applies to the case where is 3 or more.

  As a result, the latest information and the oldest information remain, and more recent information remains among other information. In the following embodiment, a case where N is 3 will be described. Of course, the same applies to the case where N is 4 or more.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that three types of user history data can be included in a code image of a prescribed size. Data in the user history data is referred to as first data, second data, and third data.

  Further, when the user logs in to the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus accesses the data server to acquire information (user information) for specifying the login user, and stores storage means (HDD, not shown) in the image forming apparatus. Memory). Although not shown, the data server is a login management server that is electrically connected to the image forming apparatus.

  FIG. 5 is a processing flow in the case where three types of user history data can be included in a code image of a prescribed size. This processing flow is a processing flow that is performed after a CPU (not shown) that controls the image forming apparatus causes the scanner of the image forming apparatus to read a document before copying and generate document image data. is there.

  In the description of the present embodiment using FIG. 5, only the processing different from that in FIG. 1 (the processing of S509 to S515) will be described.

  In step S509, the CPU determines whether user information is included as third data in the user history data stored in the storage unit. If user information is included as the third data in step S509, the process proceeds to step S510. If user information is not included in step S509, the process proceeds to step S514.

  In step S510, a process is performed to determine whether or not the user information included as the third data in the user history data is the same as the user information extracted from the storage means. If it is determined in step S510 that they are the same, the process proceeds to step S111, and the user history data stored in the storage means is encoded (as it is without being changed), so that the code image data of the specified size is stored. Is generated and the process is terminated.

  If it is not determined in step S510 that the user information included as the third data in the user history data is the same, the CPU proceeds to step S511.

  In step S511, the CPU performs processing for deleting the user information included as the second data in the user history data from the user history data.

  In step S512, the CPU records the user information included as the third data in the user history data as the second data in the user history data.

  In step S513, the CPU performs processing for deleting the user information included as the third data in the user history data from the user history data.

  In step S514, the CPU records the user information extracted from the storage unit as the third data in the user history data. That is, the user history data is changed and stored in the storage means so that the original third data is included as the second data of the user history data and the user information is included as the third data. Through the processing in steps S511 to S514, the second data and the third data are updated without updating the first data in the user history data. In step S111, the CPU encodes the user history data stored in the storage unit in step S514, generates code image data of the specified size, and ends the process.

  In step S515, the CPU records the user information extracted from the storage means as second data in the user history data. Furthermore, in step S111, the CPU encodes the user history data, generates code image data of the specified size, and ends the process. Note that the third data in the user history data is empty.

  In S103 to S514, the third data is newly updated in the user history while leaving the first data in the user history data and the original third data. That is, the original second data is deleted, and the original third data is recorded as the second data. New user information (latest information) was recorded as third data. As described above, the first data, the third data, and the latest information are selected from the four pieces of information of the first data, the second data, the third data, and the latest information, and used as the user history data. Here, as is clear from the above-described rules (user information is included in ascending order), the first data is the oldest information. Therefore, in S103 to S514, it can be said that the oldest information, the latest information, and the information immediately before the latest are selected and used as user history data.

  In the present embodiment, the case where three types of user history data are included in the user history data has been described. However, it goes without saying that even when the number of types of user information included in the user history data is four or more, the user history data can be generated in the same way as described above in which the original second data is deleted.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing changes in user history data wiped onto a copy in a coded state according to the processing flow of FIG.

  The pre-copy original 601 is printed with encoded user history data 602. Then, as the first data 603 of the encoded user history data 602, user X information 604 is recorded, user Y information 606 is recorded as second data 605, and user Z information 622 is recorded as third data 621. .

  Here, when the user C copies the original document 601 with the image forming apparatus 607, the process flows in the order of S509 to S514 and S111, the second data is changed to the original third data, and the third data Is updated. As a result, as shown in the original 609 after copying, one of the intermediate information (original second data) is deleted from the user history data 610, and the second data is changed to the original third data. The latest information is included as the third data of the user history data.

  Further, in the lower part of FIG. 6, a case where a user (user Y in this figure) recorded in the user history data of the pre-copy original 601 executes copying with the image forming apparatus 608 is illustrated. In this case, the determination result in S108 is YES (user Y information as second data = user Y information as information for specifying a login user). Therefore, as shown in the post-copy original 615, the intermediate information (user Z information) is not deleted.

  As described above, in the first and second embodiments, the processing of each step in each flowchart has been described as being performed by one apparatus, but the processing of each step may be performed by another apparatus. Needless to say.

  The same can be achieved by a computer reading and executing the program code from a storage medium that stores the program code for realizing the procedure of the flowchart shown in the above-described embodiment.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment. Therefore, this program code and a storage medium storing the program code can also constitute the present invention. Of course, the program code would need to be readable from the storage medium. Examples of such a storage medium include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, and a ROM.

Claims (9)

Reading means for reading a manuscript for which copying is instructed;
Decoding means for decoding a code image in a document image obtained by reading by the reading means;
Processing means for processing the obtained document image;
Printing means for printing the image output by the processing means,
The processing means includes
If the code image is not included in the obtained document image,
A code image including user information indicating the user who instructed the current copy is combined with the original image, and the combined result is output.
When one piece of user information indicating one user who has instructed copying in the past is obtained by decoding the code image in the obtained document image by the decoding means,
Replace the code image in the document image with the obtained one user information and the code image including the user information indicating the user who instructed the current copy, and output the replacement result.
When two pieces of user information indicating two users who have instructed copying in the past are obtained by decoding the code image in the obtained document image by the decoding means,
The code image in the original image does not include the user information indicating the user who instructed the copying later, and the user information indicating the user who previously instructed the copying, A copying apparatus comprising: replacing with a code image including user information indicating a user who has instructed copying, and outputting the replacement result. The processing means includes
When replacing the code image in the obtained document image with another code image,
2. The copying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein another code image is synthesized at the position of the code image in the document image. By synthesizing other code images in the processing means,
3. The copying apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the code image in the obtained document image is deleted. The user issues an instruction of copying, copying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that instructions of the copy is a login user when made. A reading process for reading a manuscript for which copying is instructed;
A decoding step of decoding a code image in the document image obtained by reading in the reading step;
A processing step for processing the obtained document image;
A printing step of printing the image output by the processing step,
The processing step includes
If the code image is not included in the obtained document image,
A code image including user information indicating the user who instructed the current copy is combined with the original image, and the combined result is output.
When one piece of user information indicating one user who has instructed copying in the past is obtained by decoding the code image in the obtained document image in the decoding step,
Replace the code image in the document image with the obtained one user information and the code image including the user information indicating the user who instructed the current copy, and output the replacement result.
When two pieces of user information indicating two users who have instructed copying in the past are obtained by decoding the code image in the obtained document image in the decoding step,
The code image in the original image does not include the user information indicating the user who instructed the copying later, and the user information indicating the user who previously instructed the copying, A copying method comprising: replacing with a code image including user information indicating a user who has instructed copying, and outputting the replacement result. The processing step includes
When replacing the code image in the obtained document image with another code image,
6. The copying method according to claim 5 , wherein another code image is synthesized at the position of the code image in the document image. By synthesizing other code images in the processing step,
7. The copying method according to claim 6 , wherein the code image in the obtained document image is deleted. The copying method according to any one of claims 5 to 7 , wherein the user who has instructed copying is a login user at the time of instructing copying. A program for causing a computer to execute the copying method according to any one of claims 5 to 8 .

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