JPH11283003A - Image output management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and efficiency bill for a using charge accompanying the management of the decoding key of ciphered image data and the provision of the decoding key in a network photo service system. SOLUTION: When a judgement means 14 judges that inputted image data D0 are the ciphered image data, a decoding key obtaining means 16 reads identification information S1 added to the image data D0 and transmits the identification information S1 and device information S2 for specifying a printer 10 to a management device 20. In the management device 20, a decoding key management means 24 reads the decoding key K1 corresponding to the identification information S1 from a data base 22 and transmits it to the decoding key obtaining means 16. The decoding key obtaining means 16 inputs the decoding key K1 to a decoding means 18 and also reports that effect to the decoding key management means 24. The decoding means 18 decodes the image data D0 by using the decoding key K1. Also, when the decoding key management means 24 confirms that the decoding key obtaining means 16 receives the decoding key K1, a charging means 26 performs a charging processing to an image output device 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image output management system in which a large number of image output apparatuses for outputting an image based on image data whose use such as copyrighted image data is restricted are connected to a network. The present invention relates to a system that manages a billing process accompanying the release of the use restriction of the use-restricted image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Photo images taken by a customer are digitized and stored in an image server, recorded on an FD or a CD-ROM and provided to the customer, and a photo reprint order is accepted.
2. Description of the Related Art Digital photo service systems that perform various digital photo services related to photographs are known. As one form of the digital photo service system, a network photo service system that stores (registers) a digital image of a service user in a system of a service provider and receives a print order or the like via a network such as the Internet is also available. It has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Nos. 9-66569 and 10-5396).

For example, in the networked system as described above, when providing a service to a customer, a server computer having a large-capacity disk which is one mode of a scanner, a printer, and an image server is provided in a major collection and delivery lab. A "lab server"), and store the photos taken by the customer in the lab server, and the customer accesses the service center to place a service order,
An order file is transferred from a service center to a lab server via a network, and various services, such as ordering of additional prints, attaching a photo image to an e-mail, and downloading photo image data, have been considered. In such a service, a user can access a service center (in some cases, a lab server directly) using predetermined application software on a personal computer, and make the above-mentioned order for additional prints. On the other hand, in the lab, photo processing such as additional printing, creation of postcards with photos, creation of albums, synthesis of images, and trimming are performed on image data based on photo processing order information (order files) from customers. The processed data can be transferred to the customer, or a process (image output process) of notifying the customer of the completion of the process by e-mail can be performed.

[0004] Here, the "photo processing order information" specifically includes a processing number for designating service contents (printing, post card creation, etc.), an image number for designating a photo, a print size, the number of prints, and a print surface quality. (Glossy, non-glossy), paper thickness, photo processing contents, trimming designation information, etc.

[0005]

In such a system, copyrighted image data carrying a copyrighted image such as a popular talent having a portrait right or a copyright or a specific character is used by a CD-ROM or the like. To provide customers with the ability to view the copyrighted images, and to provide services such as receiving print orders from customers and printing them out in the lab, In this case, the copyrighted image data is disclosed only to users who are permitted to view the copyrighted image,
In some cases, it may be necessary to restrict the use of the image by encrypting the image data with copyright so that other users cannot view the image.

[0006] As described above, when performing image output processing using image data that can be used only by a specific user (hereinafter referred to as “use-limited image data”), management of the use-limited image data and For each lab, it is necessary to perform a billing process in which the customer is charged, for example, a usage fee as a price accompanying the cancellation of the usage restriction together with a print fee.

However, in the above-described conventional method of performing charge management for each lab, when a plurality of labs perform image output processing using the same use-limited image data,
It is necessary to manage the release key for releasing the usage restriction for each lab, and it is necessary to perform the billing process for each lab,
Efficient management and processing could not be performed for the entire system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has been made in consideration of the above circumstances. It is intended to provide a management system.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image output management system comprising: a database for storing a release key for releasing a use restriction of a plurality of image data whose use is restricted, in correspondence with each image data; A management device having, and a release key corresponding to the input use-limited image data obtained from the database, an image output device that outputs an image by releasing the use restriction of the image data using the release key, A management device and a plurality of image output devices are connected to a network.

An image output device of this system comprises: a judging means for judging whether or not image data inputted to the device is limited-use image data; And a release unit for releasing the restriction on the use of the image data by using the obtained release key.

[0011] Further, the database of this system has identification information for specifying the image data with restricted use, and stores a release key in correspondence with the identification information. The identification information is read from the image data input to the output device, the identification information and device information for specifying the own device are output to the management device, and the release key corresponding to the identification information is obtained from the database. be able to.

Further, it is preferable that the management device of the image output management system according to the present invention includes a charging unit that performs a charging process for the image output device that has obtained the release key from the database.

The "image output device" may be any device as long as it can output an image. For example, an "image output device" includes a soft copy device such as a CRT, It may be provided with a hard copy device.

[0014]

According to the image output management system of the present invention, a database storing a release key for releasing the use restriction of use-limited image data is connected to a plurality of image output devices via a network, and input to the image output device. When the obtained image data is limited use image data, a release key for releasing the use restriction is obtained from the database, the use restriction is released, and the image is output. By arranging them at one place on the network, management of the release key can be performed at one place, and it is not necessary to manage the release key for each lab as in the related art.

[0015] Further, since the management device performs a charging process for the image output device that has obtained the release key from the database, when the release key is output from the database to the image output device, for example, the charge is charged. If the image output device is imposed in a form such as a document, the lab can charge the customer for the fee for the print fee and the usage fee based on the bill from the management device side, for example, and the conventional method. This eliminates the need to perform individual billing processing.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image output management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system includes an image output device 10 for outputting an image such as a print output and a decryption key K1.
The image output apparatus 10 and the management apparatus 20 are connected via a network 30 such as the Internet. This system is
By exchanging information between the two devices, the image output device 10 performs an image output process and the management device performs a billing process. FIG.
In FIG. 1, only one image output device 10 is connected to the management device 20, but actually, a plurality of image output devices having the same configuration as the image output device 10 are connected.

Each image output device 10 has an image input means 12 for receiving image data D0 input to the present system and inputting the image data D0 to a judgment means 14, and a use restriction for restricting use of the input image data D0. A determination unit for determining whether the image data is image data, and a release key K1 corresponding to the image data D0 when the image data is determined to be use-restricted image data.
A release key obtaining unit 16 that obtains from the database 20 provided in the database 20 and a release unit 18 that uses the obtained release key K1 to release the use restriction of the image data D0 are provided. When the input image data D0 is use-restricted image data, the image output device 10 acquires a release key K1 corresponding to the image data D0 from the database 22 and uses the release key K1 to generate the release key K1. The use restriction is released, and if not, the LP provided in the device is not performed without performing the release processing.
(Not shown) to print out.

The management device 20 includes a database 22 for storing a release key K1 for releasing each of the use restrictions of a plurality of use-restricted image data so as to be able to correspond to each image data, and storing and reading of the release key K1. And a charging unit 26 connected to the release key management unit 24 and performing a charging process on the image output apparatus 10. The database 22 has identification information S1 for specifying use-restricted image data, and registers (stores) the decryption key K1 in association with the identification information S1.

FIG. 2 shows a decryption key K1 corresponding to the identification information S1.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a form in which is registered in a database;
The identification information S1 and the decryption key K1 are stored as a correspondence table. According to this example, the identification information S1 is GID00
The decryption key AB98EFC corresponds to the image data of
The decryption key ABXXXXXX corresponds to the image data of ID002, and the decryption key CDXXX of the image data of GID003.
XX corresponds. In addition, not limited to this example, for example,
A code that combines the identification information S1 and the corresponding decryption key (for example, “GID001AB98EF by combining the decryption key K1 with the image data whose identification information S1 is GID001”
C) may be stored, and when it is read out, it may be separated into the identification information S1 and the decryption key K1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overall image of a network photo service system to which the image output management system having the above configuration is applied.

This system includes a service center 2 for receiving service orders, a plurality of photo shops (labs) 3 having a lab server and a printer, which are one mode of the image output device 10, and a database company 4 having a management device 20. 1 and 2 exchange digital information with each other via the Internet 5 to provide a digital photo service on a network to users 1 of ordinary households and offices. The service center 2 is a database company 4
May also be used.

The operation of the image output management system according to the present invention will be described below using this example of the network photo service system. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing main processing in this system. In FIG. 4, the step numbers are indicated with ST marks, and the left side in the figure shows the processing in the image output device 10, and the right side in the figure shows the processing in the management device 20.

Input of image data with limited use to this system is performed via a CD-ROM or a network. For example, in the case of using a CD-ROM, the service center 2 encrypts a plurality of image data D0 each carrying a use-restricted image such as a copyrighted image whose use is restricted from the viewpoint of copyright. The CD-ROM 5 records an image file in which an image ID (identification information) S1 for specifying each image data D0 is added to the image data D0, and distributes the CD-ROM 5 to the laboratory 3 with usage restrictions. For example, a service center supplies low-quality image data that carries an image whose image quality has been reduced to a level that does not cause a copyright problem (for example, a low-resolution image such as a thumbnail image suitable for browsing). 2 is registered in a low-resolution image database managed by the center server 2a provided in the server 2. Further, a decryption key K1 for decrypting each of the plurality of encrypted image data D0 created in the service center 2 into original image data is used as identification information of each image data.
Along with S1, the data is transferred from the service center 2 to the database company 4 via the network 30. Database Company 4
Registers the decryption key K1 in association with the identification information S1 in the same manner as in the database 22 of FIG. At the time of the above encryption, any of a common key encryption method and a public key encryption method may be used, or image data is separated into luminance data and color data, and only the color data is encrypted. (See Japanese Patent Application No. 10-81006 by the present applicant).

The center server 2a of the service center 2 provides various digital photo services to the user 1 by publishing the thumbnail images registered in the low resolution image database on a network. This service is provided in the form of a homepage by a WWW application server managed by the center server 2a. A program necessary for using the service is provided to the user 1 in advance. This program is, for example, a plug-in for a digital photo service that enables browsing of registered images, download, order of print, etc. by being incorporated in a WWW browser. This plug-in is provided to a user and incorporated in the personal computer 6. Have been. By incorporating this plug-in into a browser such as Netscape Navigator and accessing the home page of the center server 2a,
You can browse the thumbnail images above,
Various digital photo services such as a print service can be requested for the viewed image.

For example, when a user inputs order information such as identification information S1 for specifying image data carrying an image to be printed, the number of prints, and a print size in order to request a print service, the order information is entered. Order file F2 in a predetermined data format in which is described
Is created, and the order file F2 is transferred to the application server managed by the center server 2a.

The WWW application server determines the lab in which the high-resolution image of the image is stored from the image ID described in the order file, and transfers the order file to the lab server of the lab. The lab server analyzes the contents of the order file using the order file analysis function, reads out the image data D0 to be printed from the high resolution image database, and inputs the read image data D0 to the determination means 14 of the image output device 10 (FIG. 1) (ST11). The determination means 14 determines whether the input image data D0 is encrypted image data, and when determining that the input image data D0 is encrypted image data, The effect is transmitted (ST12). Upon receiving the notification, the decryption key obtaining means 16 reads the identification information S1 added to the image data D0 (ST13), and sends the identification information S1 and the device information S2 for specifying the printer 10 to the management device 20. It transmits (ST14).

In the management device 20 which has received the identification information S1 and the device information S2, the decryption key management means 24 reads the decryption key K1 corresponding to the identification information S1 from the database 22 (S20).
T22), the decryption key K1 is transmitted to the image output device 10 (S22).
T23).

The decryption key acquisition means 16 of the image output device 10 receives the decryption key K1, inputs the decryption key K1 to the decryption means 18, and informs the management device 20 that the decryption key K1 has been received (ST15). ). The decryption unit 18 decrypts the image data D0 using the decryption key K1, performs enlargement, reduction, or other image processing on the image data as necessary, and outputs the image data to the output unit 19 (ST16). .

On the other hand, when the judging means 14 judges that the inputted image data D0 is not the encrypted image data, the judging means 14 does not decode the image data D0 without decoding Is instructed to perform enlargement, reduction, and other image processing in accordance with, and output the result to the output means 19 (ST12-NO).

The output unit 19 performs a printing process using the LP (not shown) provided in the apparatus, based on the decoded image data or the image data input if decoding is not necessary ( ST17).

In the above ST15, the decryption key obtaining means 16
When the decryption key management means 24 of the management device 20 confirms that has received the decryption key K1, the accounting means 26 performs accounting processing on the image output device 10 (ST24). This accounting process is performed when the decryption key acquisition means 16 acquires the decryption key K1, when the image data D0 is decrypted using the acquired decryption key K1, and when the printout is performed based on the decrypted image data. The timing at which the processing is performed can be appropriately selected.

As described above, according to the image output management system according to the present invention as described above, a billing contract is previously made between the database company having the management device 20 and the lab having the image output device 10. By doing so, the database company charges the lab for the usage fee of the image with limited use, and the lab that has been charged can charge the customer for the usage fee along with the print fee. Therefore, the lab does not need to perform the conventional processing related to billing, but only has to settle the payment based on billing information such as a bill processed by the database company.

Although the above description has been made on the case where the encrypted image data is used as the limited-use image data, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, a compressed image data compressed using a non-equal length encoding table such as a Huffman table, which is necessary for decompressing the original image data or image data corresponding to the compressed image data, is compressed. By providing to a specific user separately from the compressed image data, the compressed image data that does not include the decompression encoding table is used as restricted image data, and the decompression encoding table is used as the release key. (See Japanese Patent Application No. 10-59169 filed by the present applicant).

Although the above description has been made with reference to the case where the system according to the present invention is applied to a network photo service system, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a CRT display device or the like may be used as an image output device. With a soft copy device or CD-RO
The present invention can be applied to any apparatus that performs image output processing, such as an apparatus having a recording device that performs data recording on M.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image output management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a method of storing a release key in a database of the image output management system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration in which the image output management system is applied to a network photo service system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the network photo service system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Image output unit 12 Image input unit 14 Judgment unit 16 Decryption key acquisition unit (release key acquisition unit) 18 Decryption unit (release unit) 20 Management device 22 Database 24 Decryption key management unit 26 Billing unit S1 Image ID (identification information) S2 Device information

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A management device having a database for storing a release key for releasing a use restriction of each of a plurality of image data whose use is restricted so as to correspond to each of the image data.
And an image output device that acquires a release key corresponding to the input use-restricted image data from the database, releases the use restriction on the image data using the release key, and outputs an image, An image output management system, wherein a management device and a plurality of the image output devices are connected to a network. 2. An image output apparatus, comprising: a determination unit configured to determine whether image data input to the apparatus is the use-restricted image data; and a determination unit that determines that the image data is use-restricted image data. A release key acquisition unit that acquires a release key corresponding to the image data from the database, and a release unit that releases use restrictions on the image data using the acquired release key. The image output management system according to claim 1. 3. The database has identification information for specifying the limited-use image data, and stores the release key in association with the identification information. Reading the identification information from the received image data, outputting the identification information and device information for specifying the own device to the management device, and acquiring the release key corresponding to the identification information from the database. The image output management system according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management device includes a charging unit that performs a charging process on the image output device that has acquired the release key from the database. 2. The image output management system according to claim 1.