IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20080231906A1
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: SHIMMOTO, Takafumi
• Granted Patent: US 8,031,376 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/3.28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00838 Preventing unauthorised reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00848 by detecting a particular original
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0087 with hidden additional data, e.g. data invisible to the human eye
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3222 of processing required or performed, e.g. forwarding, urgent or confidential handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3242 of processing required or performed, e.g. for reproduction or before recording H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence

Abstract

A disclosed image processing apparatus enables input of various documents, addition of various types of embedded information, and implementation of various behaviors associated with embedded information detection results. Information embedded in input document data is detected, and an image processing associated with a detection result is carried out. The image processing apparatus includes a document input mechanism, an embedded information analysis mechanism, a behavior determination mechanism, a document output mechanism, and an image management mechanism. In one embodiment, an interface via which the document input mechanism and the embedded information analysis mechanism are connected, and another interface via which the document input mechanism and the image management mechanism are connected are fixed, so that the document input mechanism can be replaced with a new document input mechanism that inherits from those fixed interfaces, without affecting the other mechanisms.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus in which embedded information in input document data is detected and an image processing is carried out in accordance with a result of detection of the embedded information, the image processing apparatus comprising:

a document input mechanism;

an embedded information analysis mechanism connected to the document input mechanism via a first interface;

a behavior determination mechanism connected to the embedded information analysis mechanism via a second interface;

a document output mechanism connected to the behavior determination mechanism via a third interface; and

an image management mechanism connected to the document output mechanism via a fourth mechanism and to the document input mechanism via a fifth interface;

wherein two of the interfaces associated with any one of the mechanisms are fixed.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and fifth interfaces are fixed, whereby the document input mechanism can be replaced with another document input mechanism that conforms to the first and fifth interfaces during image processing, without affecting the other mechanisms.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second interfaces are fixed, whereby the embedded information analysis mechanism can be replaced with another embedded information analysis mechanism that conforms to the first and second interfaces during image processing, without affecting the other mechanisms.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second and third interfaces are fixed, whereby the behavior determination mechanism can be replaced with another behavior determination mechanism that conforms to the second and third interfaces during image processing, without affecting the other mechanisms.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the third and fourth interfaces are fixed, whereby the document output mechanism can be replaced with another document output mechanism that conforms to the third and fourth interfaces, without affecting the other mechanisms.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the document input mechanism comprises a fixed portion consisting of an extraction of common control portions for various document data supplied from various input sources, whereby a program that is developed such that it inherits from the fixed portion can be dynamically added.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the embedded information analysis mechanism comprises a fixed portion consisting of an extraction of common control portions for various information embedding techniques, whereby a program that is developed such that it inherits from the fixed portion can be dynamically added.

8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the behavior determination mechanism comprises a fixed portion consisting of an extraction of common control portions for various behaviors associated with various embedded information detection results, wherein a program that is developed such that it inherits from the fixed portion can be dynamically added.

9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the document output mechanism comprises a fixed portion consisting of an extraction of common control portions for various document outputs to various output destinations, wherein a program that is developed such that it inherits from the fixed portion can be dynamically added.

10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a program that is utilized upon application of a behavior associated with an embedded information detection result, or a program that is utilized upon document output to an output destination can be dynamically and individually added.

11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a program for a behavior associated with an embedded information detection result and a program that is utilized upon application of such behavior, or a program for a document output to an output destination and a program that is utilized upon such document output can be individually and dynamically added at once.