Print Structure, Printing Method and Reading Method for Medium Surface with Print-Formed Dot Pattern

• US 20080088860A1
• Filed: 10/15/2004
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kenji Yoshida
• Original Assignee: Kenji Yoshida
• Inventors: Yoshida, Kenji
• Granted Patent: US 7,876,460 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.8
• CPC Class Codes: B41M 3/144 using fluorescent, luminescent or iridescent effects
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 25/29 Securities; Bank notes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding

Abstract

With the aim of realizing an easy and inexpensive method of realizing a “stealth” dot pattern, whose presence on a medium surface is not visually recognizable, merely through minor improvements in the existing printing technology, the present invention provides dots which form a dot pattern by printing these dots using an ink of any color reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range on a medium surface on which a dot pattern is to be formed, for use with a dot pattern reading system that irradiates infrared or ultraviolet light on a medium surface having a dot pattern provided thereon, recognizes the dot pattern by reading the reflections of the light with an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data.

Claims

1. A medium surface on which a dot pattern is formed for use with a dot pattern reading system that irradiates infrared light on a medium surface having a dot pattern provided thereon, recognizes the dot pattern by reading the reflections of the light by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, wherein

dots forming said dot pattern are a print structure provided by the printing process on said medium surface by use of an ink of any desired color reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range.

2. A medium surface on which a dot pattern is formed for use with a dot pattern reading system that irradiates infrared light on a medium surface having a dot pattern provided thereon, recognizes the dot pattern by reading the reflections of the light by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, wherein

dots forming said dot pattern are a print structure provided by the printing process on said medium surface by use of an ink that is similar in color to said medium surface and that is reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range.

3. A medium surface on which a dot pattern is formed for use with a dot pattern reading system that irradiates infrared light on a medium surface having a dot pattern provided thereon, recognizes the dot pattern by reading the reflections of the light by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, wherein

dots forming said dot pattern are a print structure provided by the printing process on said medium surface by use of an ink that is reactive in the infrared wavelength range, and a normal print layer is formed above these dots by use of an opaque ink of a similar color to that of said medium surface or any other desired color.

4. A method of printing a dot pattern for use with a dot pattern reading system that reads a dot pattern formed on a medium surface by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, said method comprising:

superpose-printing dots in a concentric fashion by use of an ink that is reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range and that is of a single color or multiple colors identical or approximate to the color(s) of the image located at such dot positions;

adjusting the color having the highest halftone value among all the colors of said dots (the “

highest-halftone color”

) to have the same diameter as the diameter of each dot read by the optical reading means; and

determining the diameter of each dot in a target color by first dividing the amount of halftone dots in that color by the amount of halftone dots in the highest-grade color, then obtaining a square root value of the resultant value, and finally multiplying the square root value by the diameter of said highest-grade color.

5. A method of printing a medium surface containing a dot pattern, said method comprising:

calculating the C, M and Y values of an original image respectively;

generating a drawing print data by excluding at least part of the achromatic regions where said C, M and Y values are respectively common;

calculating the K (black) component of said excluded part of the achromatic regions; and

print-forming a dot pattern generated in advance based on the input information on said medium surface by use of the K ink (black) that is optically distinguishable from the remaining part of the achromatic regions in the visible light range.

6. A method of reading a printed surface containing a dot pattern, for use with a system that reads a dot pattern formed on a medium surface by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, said method comprising:

when reading the RGB data obtained from an original image,

searching the pixels of the read original image to find a pixel having the minimum sum of the R, G and B values, and, using these R, G and B values as correction reference values, deducting said correction reference values from the other RGB values of each of the other pixels;

obtaining an average of the maximum and minimum values of the RGB data of each of the other pixels after deduction;

determining a specific region a by calculating from the average;

judging whether or not all the RGB values are contained in said region a;

if not contained, determining that the gray scale is white (100%); and

if contained, when converting said average into a gradation value,

setting said region a to have a smaller width if the gray scale value determined based on said average is higher and setting said region a to have a larger width if the gray scale value determined based on said average is lower, thereby allowing a dot pattern in the K ink (black) to be optically identified in the visible light range in a region where such dot pattern coexists with a normal printed portion.

7. A method of printing a medium surface containing a dot pattern, for use with a dot pattern reading system that reads a dot pattern formed on a medium surface by use of an optical reading means capable of reading in the visible light range, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, said method comprising:

generating a drawing print data by excluding at least part of the achromatic regions where said C, M and Y values are respectively common;

calculating said K (black) component of said excluded part of the achromatic regions; and

defining information in a dot pattern generated based on the pre-input information by displacing the individual dots forming the original halftone dots according to a pre-determined logic through use of the K ink (black) that is optically distinguishable from the remaining part of the achromatic regions in the visible light range.

8. A method of printing a medium surface containing a dot pattern, for use with a dot pattern reading system that irradiates infrared or ultraviolet light on a medium surface containing a dot pattern that is reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range, recognizes the dot pattern by reading the reflections of the light by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, said method comprising:

forming a dot pattern that shares dots with halftone dots in one of the colors C, M, Y and K in an original image, and superpose-printing a dot pattern within said halftone dots by use of an ink of said one selected color that is reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet range.

9. A method of printing a medium surface for use with a reading system that irradiates infrared light on dot patterns, text, symbols, graphics and so forth formed on a medium surface and recognizes said dot patterns, text, symbols, graphics by reading the reflections of the light by use of an optical reading means, said method comprising:

setting up a region in an original image to be recognized by the system as a dot pattern, text, symbol, graphic, etc., as a mask region;

printing the regions other than said mask region by use of an ink not reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range; and

printing said mask region by use of an ink reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range,

thereby enabling said mask region to be recognized when a medium surface is read by said optical reading means.

10. A method of printing a medium surface containing a dot pattern, for use with a dot pattern reading system that reads a dot pattern formed on a medium surface by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, said method comprising:

respectively for the C, M, Y and K color components in an the original image, forming FM screening dots in such a manner that identically-shaped color dots are disposed randomly;

among said FM screening dots for said color components, printing those FM screening dots located at the positions at which dots based on a dot pattern will be disposed, by use of inks reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range and of colors that are respectively identical or approximate to the color components in the original image; and

printing the rest of said FM screening dots by use of inks not reactive in the infrared or ultraviolet wavelength range.

11. A method of printing a medium surface containing a dot pattern, for use with a dot pattern reading system that reads a dot pattern formed on a medium surface by use of an optical reading means, converts the dot pattern into the corresponding data, and outputs the text, voice, images and so forth contained in the data, said method comprising:

during the process of generating FM screening dots in which identically-shaped color dots are randomly disposed,

dividing the print area by the number of dots to obtain an area per dot, and generating a drawing print data which consists of FM screening dots by excluding at least part of the achromatic regions where the C, M and Y pixels contained in such area per dot are respectively common;

calculating the K (black) component of said excluded part of the achromatic regions; and

disposing a dot pattern generated based on the pre-input information on the drawing print data by use of the pixels of said K (black) component which are optically distinguishable from the remaining achromatic regions in the visible light range.

12. A method of inputting and replaying voice data associated with a dot pattern on a medium surface by use of a cellular phone terminal provided with the photograph and imaging function and the voice input function, comprising the steps of:

inputting a voice message through a microphone provided on the cellular phone terminal;

photographing a medium surface having a dot pattern printed thereon through a camera provided on the cellular phone terminal;

generating association information by associating the dot code number acquired from said photographed image of the dot pattern with said voice data;

storing said dot code number, said voice data and said association information in a storage means; and

when the dot pattern on said medium surface is photographed using the camera of said cellular phone terminal, searching the association information in said storage means, based on the dot code number acquired from the photographed image of said dot pattern, reading from said storage means, and replaying the voice data associated by the association information.

13. The method of inputting and replaying voice data associated with a dot pattern on a medium surface according to claim 12, wherein said storage means is a memory of said cellular phone terminal or a flash memory removably mounted on said cellular phone terminal.

14. A method of inputting and replaying voice data associated with a dot pattern on a medium surface, by use of a cell-phone terminal provided with the photograph and imaging function and the voice input function, comprising the steps of:

inputting a voice message through the microphone provided on a first cell-phone terminal;

photographing a medium surface having a dot pattern printed thereon through a camera provided on said first cell-phone terminal;

generating association information by associating the dot code number acquired from the photographed image of said dot pattern with said voice data;

storing said dot code number, said voice data and said association information in the storage means of said first cellular phone terminal;

transferring said dot code number, said voice data and said association information from the storage means of said first cellular phone terminal to the storage means of a second cellular phone terminal; and

when the dot pattern on said medium surface is photographed using said camera of the second cellular phone terminal, searching the association information in storage means of said second cellular phone terminal, based on the dot code number acquired from the photographed image of said dot pattern, reading from said storage means, and replaying the voice data associated by the association information.

15. A method of inputting and replaying voice data by using a photo sticker photographing unit that prints a photo sticker having a dot pattern printed thereon, said method comprising the steps of:

photographing a subject using the camera of a photo sticker photographing unit;

said photo sticker photographing unit receiving a dot code number issued by a dot code number management server connected via a network;

printing out in the form of a photo sticker a dot pattern containing said photographed image and said dot code number resulting from conversion according to a pre-determined logic, from the printing unit of the photo sticker photographing unit;

adding an ID to the voice data which has been input at the reception of the voice input from the user through the microphone of said photographing unit, and registering such voice data in the voice management server via the network;

registering in said dot code management server the association information that associates the ID of said voice data with said dot code number;

reading the dot pattern printed on said photo sticker by using a photographing means;

said photographing means transferring the imaged data of the dot pattern, and the information processing terminal converting the imaged data into a dot code corresponding to said dot pattern;

accessing said dot code number management server from the information processing terminal, based on the dot code acquired from the photographed image of the dot pattern read in the previous step; and

searching said association information in said dot code number management server to retrieve the ID of the voice data associated with said dot code number, and downloading such voice data from a voice management server, based on such ID, to said information processing terminal for replay.

16. A method of inputting and replaying voice data through a photo sticker having a dot pattern printed thereon, said method comprising the steps of:

downloading a dot pattern image data containing a dot pattern from a server to an information processing terminal;

said information processing terminal storing the voice data input via a voice input means in association with said dot pattern;

said information processing terminal synthesizing a photo image photographed by use of a photographing means with said dot pattern image;

a printing means, capable of communication with said information processing terminal, printing on sticker paper a synthesis of said photo image and said dot pattern image received from said information processing terminal; and

said information processing terminal, or another information processing terminal which has received the voice data associated with said dot pattern from said information processing terminal, replaying said voice data associated with said dot pattern immediately after receiving the photographed image from the photographing means which has photographed the dot pattern printed on said sticker paper.

17. A printing unit that reads via an optical reading means a medium having print parameters provided thereon as a dot pattern and controls the printing process through such print parameters, comprising:

an optical reading means for reading a medium surface;

a dot pattern reading means for reading out a dot pattern from an image of the medium surface read by the optical reading means;

a conversion means for converting the read dot pattern into print parameters; and

a print control means for controlling the printing process based on the resultant print parameters.

18. A printing unit that optically reads an original document, generates a print data corresponding to the read image, and prints the generated print data onto a medium surface, comprising:

a means for designating a specific region within an image which has been optically read from said original document;

a means for assigning a specific dot pattern to the designated specific region; and

a print control means for printing a dot pattern at said specific region when printing the print data onto said medium surface.

19. A printing unit according to claim 18, wherein a dot pattern assigned to said specific region is a content of voices, still images, moving images or other signals, a code associated therewith, or confidential information in such document.