JPH09147177A - Method for reading and inspecting printed matter and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a large quantity of authenticity judgement without depending on the material aptitude of printed matter and at one time by making a binary image a contracted image in a state that the existing image state of a connection component is unchanged, confirming the presence or absence of the shape of the binary image of the contracted image and performing the authenticity judgement. SOLUTION: Picture element expansions are performed for a binary image 15 and a left image group 16' and the binary image 15 of the part corresponding to the image 8 of the part to which a latent image is not given becomes a connected binary image 17 and the left image group 16' becomes an expanded image group 18. Further, picture element contractions are performed for the binary image 17 and the expanded image group 18. Thus, the expanded picture element group 18 is returned to its original size, that is, the contracted picture element group of the same size as that of the left picture element group 16' and the binary image 17 which becomes a connection component becomes the contracted image in a state that the existing image state of the connection component is unchanged. Thus, the latent image given to printed matter becomes the binary image of the existing image and the autheticity judgement can be easily performed by outputting the binary image to a CRT montor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a latent image, which is normally invisible to the naked eye, to a collection pattern of curved lines of a printed matter which requires forgery and alteration prevention, and mechanically detects the applied latent image. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reading and inspecting a printed matter, which enables true / false determination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Counterfeiting and falsification prevention are important factors in printed matter such as securities such as banknotes, stock certificates and bonds, various certificates and important documents. These countermeasures for counterfeiting and alteration of printed matter mainly use a method that uses a pattern that makes extensive use of geometric patterns for design, and if any means are applied to the printed matter, a latent image that can not be recognized visually will appear. There is such a method. Typical examples of the former are those using geometric patterns such as a tint block, a color pattern, and a relief pattern, which are widely used for designing printed matters such as securities, and forgery and alteration using the geometric pattern. As a preventive measure, a pattern is basically formed by a set of curved drawing lines having a constant drawing line width. These patterns add design characteristics such as the design of printed matter, and use colors that are difficult to reproduce by a photolithography machine or a photocopier, or create complicated curved lines for scanning input / output of a photocopier and a scanner. , The role as a counterfeit prevention measure is enhanced by generating moiré, but recently, with the advent of highly functional photoengraving machines or copying machines, there is a drawback that they do not bring sufficient anti-counterfeiting and alteration prevention effects. is there.

Of the latter typical examples in which some means and action are applied to the above-mentioned printed matter, the most frequently used forgery / alteration prevention measure is a series of measures generally referred to as copy prevention image lines. With this technology, the latent image formed on the printed matter cannot be visually recognized, and the latent image appears when the image is copied by a copying machine. For example, a latent image on the surface of which fine characters, which are halftone dots of 85 lines and 30%, are displayed is printed by using silver ink, and then, in a blank area other than this latent image, a rougher or denser than the latent image ( For example, 150 lines 30
%) Printed with a halftone dot and a printed pattern such as a tint pattern or a tint pattern on the upper surface of the latent image, which is suitable for preventing forgery by copying (JP-A-57-20395). In addition, a latent image is printed on the surface of the paper with halftone dots, a background with the same density as the latent image is printed simultaneously with a line, and a decorative pattern on the upper surface of the latent image including the background is of a light color that is not reproduced by copying. By overprinting with transparent ink, the surface of the printed matter is finished in a good appearance, and when copied, the pattern disappears, the background is reproduced and the latent image is not reproduced, and the density difference between the background and the latent image becomes obvious. A printed material suitable for copy prevention, which can be seen at a glance as a copied material (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-79991).
Gazette), which further comprises a latent image consisting of 150 lines and 10% halftone dots, and 50 to 60 lines 1 on the white ground around the latent image.
Using a latent image plate with a background consisting of about 0% lines
A dark color is printed on the surface of the paper, and an overprint plate with a wavy pattern consisting of parallel lines that forms a moire pattern when it interferes with the background lines is used. Overprinting creates a moire pattern on the surface of the printed matter that is dazzling to the naked eye, making it difficult to identify the presence of a latent image.When applied to a copier, the latent image and waveform pattern are not reproduced, but only the background is reproduced. As a result, the latent image is recognized as distinguished from the background, and a latent image cam-image method for preventing copy in printed matter (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-8738).
No. 0) is disclosed.

In the printed matter according to the above publications, a latent image is formed by the density of an image group (hereinafter referred to as a screen pattern) in which dots and lines such as lines and dots are continuously arranged at a constant cycle, and a printed surface is formed. The entire pattern is a screen pattern with uniform density. When a printed matter having the latent image is copied by a copying machine, a density difference occurs between a densely constructed screen pattern that is not reproduced and a coarsely structured screen pattern that is reproduced, resulting in a coarsely structured screen pattern that is reproduced. By contrast, the latent image portion of the screen pattern having a dense structure that is not reproduced is exposed so that it can be seen at a glance as a copy. However, in all of the above publications, a screen pattern having a uniform density over the entire printing surface is used. Therefore, even with the naked eye, different screen patterns on the same printing surface cause different images due to different screen shapes and a latent image caused by the screen pattern. There is a drawback that the existence of the latent image can be identified by the interference portion with the boundary line of. Therefore, as a method for solving the above-mentioned drawbacks, all of the above publications and the like provide different patterns, light-colored transparent ink, and light-color overprinting in order to camouflage the latent image, but the above methods identify latent images. Although it is effective in making it difficult, it has a drawback that the number of steps increases and it is not economical.

Therefore, as a method of solving the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, the inventors of the present invention use a latent image formed of a pattern of halftone dots or lines on the surface of the paper and the latent image around the latent image. A printed matter suitable for copy prevention, which is characterized by cam framing, such as a white circular pattern having different density and a concentric pattern in which a halftone dot percentage of a partial screen pattern is increased with respect to the entire screen pattern (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4- No. 170569), another pattern for camouflaging a latent image, a light-colored transparent ink, and a printed matter in which a light-color overprint is not performed and the latent-image pattern on which the latent image is applied are not visually recognizable. Provided. However, as described above, in all of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, a latent image is formed by a screen pattern, and therefore, a different pattern or a light-colored transparent ink or a light-colored overprint is not required for the camouflage. It is impossible to make an image-printed monochromatic print streak pattern itself into a freely designed pattern like a stipple pattern, or to make an artistic printed matter with a decorative effect. Further, since all of the above-mentioned prior art methods must be a screen pattern consisting of dots and lines such as lines and the density of lines, a tint block,
It has a drawback that it is not suitable for use in existing products such as securities such as banknotes, stock certificates, bonds, etc., which frequently use color patterns.

Therefore, as a method of sufficiently compensating for the drawbacks of the copy protection methods described in (1) to (3) above, the inventors of the present invention apply a collective pattern of curved lines to form a single line and a latent image on the non-latent image portion. The part with two or more lines is used to represent the marked area, and the two or more lines of the latent image have a total drawing width of the two or more lines that is not the latent image. The line width of the main line is equal to the line width of the line, and the line is branched from one line without the latent image, and the boundary line between the line without the latent image and the line with the latent image is curved. A method for producing a copy-preventing pattern, which is a straight line that intersects with a straight line tangent to the basic curve at the intersection of the basic curve forming the aggregate pattern of the image lines and the outline of the latent image, and a printed matter thereof Invented and filed a patent application No. 6-206140). Furthermore, on the same date as the application of the present application, a patent application has been filed for a method of forming a copy protection pattern and a printed matter thereof, which are further improvements of the above invention. When a printed matter having the pattern of the present invention is reproduced by a copying machine, a portion having a latent image represented by two or more lines cannot be reproduced due to the resolution of the copying machine, and a portion not having a latent image represented by one line is not reproduced. It becomes possible to discriminate between true and false by the difference in shade.
As a result, due to the camouflage, it is possible to create banknotes, stock certificates, securities such as bonds, various certificates, important documents, etc. The present invention provides a method for producing a copy-preventing pattern and a printed matter, which does not require overprinting, and has an effect of preventing forgery and alteration by a copying machine.

Further, in the above-mentioned copy protection methods (1) to (3), since the image lines are formed by a simple screen pattern, the desk top publishing (hereinafter DT)
Due to the remarkable progress of the technology (referred to as P.), a large-scale criminal organization possessing an excellent DTP system can obtain a counterfeit product that is comparable to the genuine product. It is difficult to create a copy-preventing printed matter having a latent image similarly, even if an excellent DTP system is used, because the image line configuration is higher than those of the copy-preventing methods of. However, by using the characteristic that the printed matter produced by the above-mentioned copy protection method has high invisibility of the latent image by the naked eye, the unskilled person creates the image with a single line from the beginning so that the image is visually approximated. It is highly conceivable to create a forged copy-forgery-inhibited pattern or a tint block pattern having a line, that is, an image line represented by a single line as in the past.

That is, the characteristic of the counterfeit is that the latent image component of the image line is lost. However, since it is common knowledge that latent images cannot be visually identified, there is a risk that a counterfeit product will be mistakenly recognized as a genuine product unless the printed matter is carefully observed, and there is a risk that fraudulent acts will be confused. ing. Therefore, an effective authenticity discrimination method is to copy the counterfeit product using a copying machine under normal copying conditions. That is, since these counterfeits have already lost the latent image component of the image lines even when copied by a copying machine, the latent image does not appear as if a real printed matter was copied. However, since the authenticity of a counterfeit product is visually confirmed by a copying machine, it is insufficient to easily perform a large amount of confirmation work at one time.

As a solution to such a problem, a machine reading inspection method capable of processing a large amount and at a high speed in authenticity discrimination is widely adopted. Today, the machine reading inspection method for printed matter is magnetic ink, infrared reflection absorption ink. , Functional inks such as fluorescent inks, fibers forming printing media,
These technologies, such as detection of materials such as materials and chemicals, are caused by specific electromagnetic waves that cannot be detected by humans, and in many cases, they depend on material suitability when producing printed matter, and in terms of production cost. It can only be given to products that are economically viable. Therefore, as a method that does not particularly consider the production cost of the printed matter, an optical reading method for a pattern on the printed matter to which a printing material such as a visible general printing ink is applicable is desirable. OCR, OMR, bar code, two-dimensional code, and the like are known as optical reading methods that are relatively easy to apply, but these optical reading methods must use encoded print images, and of course, existing When used in products, changes in design and specifications are required. In addition, these optical reading methods are also widely available in the market, and since the code can be seen as a printed image line, there is a risk that the code will be deciphered by an intelligent criminal. Is insufficient. Therefore, by a method for preventing forgery and forgery that does not depend on the material suitability of printed matter, it is possible to discriminate the authenticity by machine-reading the pattern having the copy protection suitability suitable for securities such as banknotes, stock certificates, bonds, various certificates and important documents. It is desired to develop an effective inspection method technology.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and by applying a latent image, which is usually invisible to the naked eye, to a collective pattern of curved lines, it is possible to perform overprinting for camouflage. Applicability of the printed material by easily detecting the latent image on the copy-prevented printed matter that does not require forgery or alteration prevention by a copying machine and cannot be visually identified on the tint block or color pattern. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for reading and inspecting a printed matter, which is capable of making a large amount of authenticity determination at one time without depending on the above.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems A first invention of the present invention is:
The curved pattern is expressed as a single line for the part without a latent image, with two or more lines for the part with a latent image, and two or more lines for the part with a latent image are The total line width of the two or more lines is equal to the line width of the line of the single line where the latent image is not applied, and is branched from the line of the line where the latent image is not applied, and In an image line that is a set of two or more lines of the portion on which the latent image is applied, at the portion where the image lines of each set intersect, the image lines of each set are Deleted within the range between the lines of each drawing line, the boundary line on the drawing line between the part without the latent image and the part with the latent image is the basic curve forming the collective pattern of the curved lines. For a printed matter having a copy-preventing pattern that is a straight line that intersects the basic curve at an intersection of the contour lines of the latent image, the straight line intersecting at a right angle, 2 was input as an image by the optical image input device, the image processing an image signal obtained by inputting
The connected component of the binarized pixel is contracted, and contracted until the pixel group corresponding to the image line of the latent image is almost removed, so that the image line of the latent image is not formed. The binary image is left in the corresponding portion, and the binary image and the remaining pixel group are expanded, and the pixels of the binary image in the portion corresponding to the image line of the portion not subjected to the latent image become connected components. , The remaining pixel group of the portion corresponding to the image line of the latent image portion becomes an expanded pixel group, and performs the same amount of contraction as when expanding the connected component and the expanded pixel group, and the expanded pixel group Returns to the contracted pixel group having the same size as the original remaining pixel group, and in the binary image that is one connected component, only the pixels around the connected component are contracted, and the visible state of the connected component is The contracted image remains unchanged and the presence or absence of the binary image shape of the contracted image is checked. By sure, a printed matter read test method for authenticity discrimination.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the true binary image shape remaining in the position corresponding to the image line of the portion not subjected to the latent image, which is recorded in advance in the true / false determination section, and the removal of the pixel group. This is a method for inspecting the reading of a printed matter for making a genuine / counterfeit determination by comparing the suitability of the binary image shape remaining at the position corresponding to the image line of the portion where the subsequent latent image is not applied.

A third aspect of the invention is an optical image input section for inputting an image to image the copy protection pattern,
By binarizing the image signal input and obtained by the optical image input unit, the binarized image is contracted, and further expanded and contracted, whereby the image line of the latent image portion on the input image is obtained. Recognizing, comparing, or collating a binary image shape remaining at a position corresponding to an image line of a portion not subjected to a latent image, which is obtained by the image processing unit, for removing the corresponding pixel group. A reading inspection device for a printed matter, which comprises a genuineness / counterfeit determination unit for determining whether the product is true or false and a display unit for displaying a result determined by the true / false determination unit.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, of the two or more image lines of the latent imaged portion, the image line width is 2 in the image line width direction of the binary image corresponding to the image line of one line. It is a reading inspection device for printed matter in which the resolution of the optical image input unit is set so as to be constituted by more pixels.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a method for inspecting the reading of a printed matter, wherein the remaining binary image shape is visualized on a CRT monitor to make a true / false decision.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is a method for inspecting and reading a printed matter, which enables the remaining binary image shape to be output to a CRT monitor.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is a reading inspection device for printed matter, in which a CRT monitor is provided in the display section in order to output the remaining binary image shape as a visible image.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is a method for reading and inspecting a printed matter, wherein authenticity is determined by outputting the visible image with a printer.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is a printed matter reading / inspecting device, which is provided with a printer in the display section for outputting the visible image and making a true / false decision.

[0020]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A method for inspecting and reading a printed matter according to the present invention includes a curved line assembly pattern in which a portion without a latent image is a single line and a portion with a latent image is a double line image or more. The line width of a line with two or more lines in the latent image is expressed by the line, and the total line width of the lines with two or more lines is the line width of the line of one line without the latent image. And an image line that diverges from a single line of a portion on which a latent image is not applied, and further forms a set of two or more lines of the portion on which the latent image is applied, the image lines of each set are At the intersection, the lines of each pair are deleted within the range between the lines of the lines of each pair, and a part without a latent image and a part with a latent image The boundary line on the drawing line intersects at a right angle to the straight line that is tangent to the basic curve at the intersection of the basic curve that makes up the curved pattern and the contour line of the latent image. A printed matter having a copy protection pattern that becomes a straight line is input as an image with a CCD camera or an optical scanner, and the image signal obtained by inputting is binarized by image processing to shrink the connected components of the binarized pixels. By performing contraction until the pixel group corresponding to the image line of the latent image is almost removed, the pixel group remaining in the part corresponding to the image line of the latent image is made authentic.
Those that do not remain are judged as counterfeit. Further, the residual binary image shape after the removal is compared with the authentic binary image shape remaining in the position corresponding to the image line of the portion not subjected to the latent image, which is recorded in advance in the authenticity determining unit. , Those that are proper are determined to be authentic, and those that are inappropriate are determined to be counterfeit. Further, in order to effectively operate the visibility, the binary image and the remaining pixel group are expanded, and the pixels of the binary image of the portion corresponding to the image line of the portion not subjected to the latent image become connected components,
The remaining pixel group of the portion corresponding to the image line of the portion on which the latent image is applied becomes the expanded pixel group, and the same amount of contraction as when the connected component and the expanded pixel group are expanded is performed. As a result, the expanded pixel group returns to the original size, that is, the contracted pixel group having the same size as the remaining pixel group, and in the binary image as one connected component, the pixels around the connected component are contracted. However, the contracted image is obtained without changing the visible state of the connected component. As a result, the latent image formed on the printed matter can be projected as a visible image on the CRT monitor as a binary image, so that the latent image on the printed matter can be easily visually recognized and the authenticity can be determined. Furthermore, since the visible image can be output by a printer as needed for confirmation, for example, when it is determined that the image is forged, more reliable authenticity determination can be performed.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method for reading and inspecting printed matter according to the present invention is
As shown in the system flow chart of FIG. 1, an optical image input unit for inputting a copy protection pattern on a printed matter as an image and a contraction process of a binarized image to obtain a latent image on the input image An image processing unit for removing image information where an image is located and an image expansion process, and a true / false determination unit for recognizing, comparing or collating a binary image shape remaining in a portion where a latent image is not applied; Copying on the printed matter to be inspected by a printed matter reading / inspection device including a display unit for displaying the determination result of the copy section and for displaying the binary image shape as a visible image on a CRT monitor or a printer if necessary. Although it is a method of inspecting the authenticity of the prevention pattern, equipment such as an optical image input device (CCD camera or optical scanner) or an image processing device used in the reading inspection device of the printed matter of the present invention is particularly preferable. Not to the constant, it is possible with a general-purpose equipment. Further, the image processing method for the recognition and the comparison and collation in the binary image shape in the authenticity determination unit can be a generally used pattern recognition method, a threshold method or the like. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to an example using a colorful pattern, which is an aggregate pattern of curved lines, which is often used for securities such as banknotes, stock certificates, bonds, etc. It is not limited.

First of all, the conventional printed matter (1) shown in FIG.
While the color pattern (2) is formed by the single line image (3), the color pattern (5) of the printed matter (4) has a latent image as shown in FIG. 3 as an example. It is composed of a double-line image (7) of the part (6) and a single-line image (8) of the part where the latent image is not applied. The image width of each of the two-line image lines (7) in the portion to which the latent image is applied is 58 μm, and the one-line image line (8) to which the latent image is not applied has an image line width of 116 μm. Thus, the inner spacing of the double line image (7) in the latent imaged portion is 50 μm. In the printed matter (4), a commercially available coated paper (SK coat) is used as a paper, and a commercially available offset ink (gray) having a rheology suitability of the ink of generally suitable viscosity of 99 poise and tack value of 4.4 is used. Offset printing is carried out, and the solid density of the image line is 0.36, and the density of the paper is 0.09.

Next, the image of the inspection object (printed matter) is input at 2,200 ppi in the image input section. The input image (9) shown in FIG. 4 is converted into the binary image (10) shown in FIG. In this example, the input image (9) is input as a continuous tone image, and the density level of the input image is 188 among 0 to 255 levels (0 is high density and 255 is low density). , The density level of the paper is 255. Therefore, the threshold for binarization is set to 250. However, in this example, the input image (9) is input as a continuous-tone image, but since the boundary between the image line and the non-image line (paper background) is clearly caught in high-resolution input, the threshold for binarization is set. Since it suffices to make settings so that the drawing line and the paper background can be distinguished from each other, it is not always necessary to input a continuous tone image. Therefore, in the binarization, not only is the binarization performed only by the image processing unit, but the image density area that can be input by the optical image input device is fixed in advance so that the image is already in the binary state when the image is input. You can read it.

Next, since the drawing width of the latent imaged portion of this embodiment is designed to be 58 μm, the input condition for this pattern is 2,200 ppi as described above, so the input drawing line is Since the number of pixels in the portion on which the latent image corresponding to is applied is 5 to 8 pixels, the unit pixel (11) of the binary image (10) is changed to the enlarged image of the latent image boundary portion in the image of FIG. Binary image (1
For the contour portion (12) of the connected component of the pixel of (0), the pixel is removed by contraction every three pixels for each layer (○ in the figure).
The pixel group (13) corresponding to the double-line image line (7) of the latent imaged portion on the input image is removed. As a result, while the double-line image (7) of the latent imaged portion on the input image is composed of four contour portions, the image line (7) of the latent image-free portion on the input image ( 8) is 2
Since it is composed of two contour parts, a part of the pixel group (14) corresponding to the image line (8) of the part where the latent image is not applied on the input image is not removed, and the part of the part where the latent image is not applied is not removed. The binary image remains in the portion corresponding to the drawing line. Therefore, the one in which the binary image remains is determined to be authentic, and the one in which the binary image does not remain is determined to be counterfeit. Further, as long as the binary image shape remaining in the portion where the latent image is not applied is the method of removing the pixel for every three layers from the contour portion (12) of the connected component of the pixel described above, the schematic diagram of FIG. Since the shape shown in Fig. 1 is authentic, the above-mentioned authentic binary image shape is stored in advance in the authenticity image file of the authenticity determination unit in Fig. 1 and sent from the image processing unit. Compare with the image shape of the inspected object,
By collating, it is possible to determine the authenticity of a counterfeit product, which is similar to the image line configuration applicable to the present invention.

Further, according to the present invention, in counter operations such as banking and immigration control examination, visual inspection by witness of an inspector is also an important element in authenticity determination. Although it is possible to perform visualizing by visually confirming it, a binary image (15) is provided in a portion corresponding to the image line (8) of the portion where the latent image is not applied.
8 is obtained, and when the authenticity determination is possible, the color pattern (5) of the printed matter (4) is temporarily visualized as shown in FIG.
The applied latent image becomes a visualized state as shown in FIG. The feature of the image lines of the inspected object (printed matter) used in the present invention is that the set pattern of the curved image lines is one line for the part without the latent image and two or more lines for the part with the latent image. An image with two or more lines in the latent image is represented by a line, and the total line width of the lines with two or more lines is the image of one line of the line without the latent image. In an image line that is equal to the width and branches from a single line on which a latent image is not applied, and further forms a set of two or more lines on the latent image applied part, the image lines for each set By deleting the above-mentioned image lines of each pair at the intersections, within the range between the image lines of the image lines of each pair, the copy prevention pattern of the present invention can be seen as a whole. In this case, even if it seems that there is a portion intersecting with the curved lines in the pattern, there is actually an intersection between the lines in the latent imaged part. 'Re not. Therefore, since the high density and the increase in the number of pixels of the intersecting portion are prevented, after the binarization and contraction, the portion (7) of the two lines of the latent image portion of FIG. 3 intersects ( 16), the number of remaining pixel groups (16 ′) that could not be removed in the portion opposite to that of the image is one in each of the two or more lines of the latent imaged portion. At the portion where the lines intersect with each other, the above-mentioned image lines for each set are binarized and shrunk in the printed matter that is not deleted within the range between the image lines for the image lines for each set. The feature is that the amount of remaining pixel groups removed is significantly smaller than that by the method of creating the applied copy protection pattern, and this makes it possible to further improve visibility.

Therefore, in order to make the visibility effective, the image processing unit shown in FIG. 1 expands the image again, and contracts the same amount as when the image is expanded next. That is, the binary image (15) and the remaining pixel group (1
6 ′) was expanded by 45 pixels to obtain an expanded image as shown in FIG. As a result, the binary image (15) of the portion corresponding to the image line (8) of the portion where the latent image is not applied becomes the binary image (17) in which the pixels are connected, and the remaining pixel group (16 ') is the expanded pixel. It became a group (18). Furthermore, the binary image (1
7) And the expanded pixel group (18) is contracted by 45 pixels.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 10, the expanded pixel group (18) returns to the original size, that is, the contracted pixel group (18 ′) having the same size as the remaining pixel group (16 ′) of FIG. The binary image (17) becomes a contracted image (19) only with the pixels around the connected component contracted and the visible state of the connected component remains unchanged. As a result, the latent image applied to the printed matter (4) in FIG. 3 becomes the contracted image (19) in FIG.
That is, the latent image becomes a binary image of a visible image, and by outputting the latent image to a CRT monitor, it is possible to easily determine whether the image is true or false. Furthermore, since the binary image of the visible image can be output by a printer as needed for confirmation when it is determined to be counterfeit, for example, the person in charge of inspecting the counter work can easily determine whether the image is true or false. It is possible to double-check whether the machine is true or false and whether it is true or false.

[0027]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION In the conventional authenticity discrimination of printed matter, as a machine reading inspection method capable of processing a large amount and at a high speed, functional inks such as magnetic ink, infrared reflection absorption ink, fluorescent ink, and fibers forming a printing medium, Although it depends on the material suitability such as detecting the material by the material, chemicals, etc., the reading inspection method of the printed matter of the present invention is applied to the printing material applicable to the commonly used printing ink. It is an optical reading method for the printed pattern,
Securities such as banknotes, stock certificates, bonds, certificates, important documents such as tint block, color pattern, relief pattern, etc. With the reading inspection method and device that can effectively detect the latent image on the printed matter as well as the effect of suppressing the forgery production by the copying machine, it is not dependent on the material suitability of the printed matter and a large amount at a time. It becomes possible to determine whether the As a result, the printed matter that has the anti-copying suitability and can be discriminated as to whether it is true or false by the reading inspection is not only a simple crime such as being easily forged by the copying machine by the reading inspection method of the present invention, but also an organized forgery group. It has an improved anti-counterfeiting and alteration prevention effect for advanced crimes. Also,
By outputting an image that visualizes the latent image in the printed matter to the CRT monitor, the inspector of the counter operation such as bank and immigration control can easily make a true / false decision, and the machine makes a true / false decision and a visual check Enables double confirmation of discrimination. Furthermore, for example, for confirmation or the like when it is determined that the image is forged, the visualized image can be output by the printer as necessary, and thus more reliable authenticity determination can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a system flow chart of a printed matter reading inspection apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of a printed matter having a conventional color pattern and the pattern.

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of a printed matter having a copy-preventing color pattern of the present invention and the pattern.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image input by a reading inspection device for printed matter.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a binary image converted from an input image.

FIG. 6 shows an enlarged view of a latent image boundary portion in an image.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a state where pixels remain.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a binary image in which a latent image is removed with a remaining pixel group.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a binary image subjected to expansion processing with a residual pixel group.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a latent image boundary portion obtained by performing contraction processing on a binary image subjected to expansion processing with a residual pixel group.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printed matter having a conventional print pattern 2 Conventional print pattern 3 Printed line of the print pattern of the conventional print 4 Printed print with latent image 5 Printed print with latent image 6 Latent image The applied part 7 The image line of the part to which the latent image is applied 8 The image line of the part to which the latent image is not applied 9 Input image 10 Binary image of input image 11 Unit pixel of binary image 12 Connected component of pixel of binary image Contours 13 Pixel group corresponding to the image line of the latent image applied portion 14 Pixel group corresponding to the image line of the portion not subjected to the latent image 15 Binary image 16 latent image corresponding to the image line of the portion not subjected to the latent image 16 'where the imaged lines intersect the image Remaining pixel group at the intersection of the imaged lines 17 Connected components of the binary image pixels corresponding to the image lines in the non-latent image 18 Expansion Pixel group 18 'Contracted pixel group 19 Contracted image

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] December 27, 1995

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All figures

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

FIG. 4

FIG.

[Figure 5]

FIG. 6

FIG. 7

[Figure 8]

FIG. 9

FIG. 10

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A set pattern of curved lines is represented by a single line for a portion without a latent image and two or more lines for a portion with a latent image, and two or more lines for a portion with a latent image. The line width of the line is equal to the line width of the line of the single line where the latent image is not applied, and the line width of the line of two or more lines is equal to the line width of the line where the latent image is not applied. Further, in the image lines which are branched and further form a set of two or more lines of the portion to which the latent image is applied, at the portion where the image lines of each set intersect each other, the image lines of each set are Is deleted within the range between the lines of the lines of each pair, and the boundary line between the line without the latent image and the line with the latent image shows a set pattern of curved lines. For a printed matter having a copy-prevention pattern, which is a straight line that intersects at a right angle to the straight line that is tangent to the basic curve at the intersection of the basic curve that constitutes it and the outline of the latent image, A portion in which a copy protection pattern is input as an image by an optical image input device, the image signal obtained by inputting is binarized by image processing, and the connected component of the binarized pixel is contracted to form a latent image. By contracting until the pixel group corresponding to the image line of is almost removed, the binary image is left in the part corresponding to the image line of the part where the latent image is not applied,
Further, the binary image and the remaining pixel group are expanded, and the pixels of the binary image of the portion corresponding to the image line of the portion where the latent image is not applied become connected components, and the image line of the portion where the latent image is applied is formed. The remaining pixel group of the portion corresponding to is the expanded pixel group, and performs the same amount of contraction as when the connected component and the expanded pixel group are expanded, and the expanded pixel group has the same size as the original remaining pixel group. Return to the contracted pixel group of 2 and become 1 connected component
The value image only shrinks the pixels around the connected components,
It becomes a contracted image without changing the visible state of the connected component, and by checking the presence or absence of the binary image shape of the contracted image,
A method for reading and inspecting printed matter, which is characterized by true / false discrimination. 2. A true binary image shape remaining in a position corresponding to an image line of a portion not subjected to a latent image, which is previously recorded in a true / false determination unit, and a latent image after removal of the pixel group. The read inspection method for a printed matter according to claim 1, wherein authenticity is determined by comparing the suitability of the binary image shape remaining at the position corresponding to the image line of the non-exposed portion. 3. An optical image input unit for inputting an image to image the copy protection pattern, and an image signal input by the optical image input unit is binarized and binarized. The image processing unit for removing the pixel group corresponding to the image line of the latent image portion on the input image by contracting the expanded image and further expanding and contracting the image, and the latent image obtained by the image processing unit. An authenticity determination unit that determines authenticity by recognizing, comparing, or collating a binary image shape remaining at a position corresponding to an image line of a portion that is not imaged, and a result determined by the authenticity determination unit The reading inspection device for printed matter according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a display unit for displaying. 4. A pixel having an image width of 2 pixels or more in an image line width direction of a binary image corresponding to an image line of one line among the image lines of two or more lines of the latent imaged portion. 4. The reading inspection apparatus for printed matter according to claim 3, wherein the resolution of the optical image input unit is set so as to be configured according to the above. 5. The method for inspecting the reading of a printed matter according to claim 1, wherein the remaining binary image shape is visualized on a CRT monitor to make a true / false determination. . 6. The method for inspecting the reading of a printed matter according to claim 1, wherein the remaining binary image shape can be output to a CRT monitor. 7. The printed matter according to claim 3 or 4, wherein a CRT monitor is provided in a display unit to output the remaining binary image shape as a visible image. Reading inspection device. 8. The reading inspection of the printed matter according to claim 1, wherein authenticity is determined by outputting the visible image by a printer. Method. 9. The printed matter according to claim 3, wherein a printer is provided in a display unit for outputting the visible image and making a true / false decision. Reading inspection device.