Image forming apparatus and copy management system

• US 5,671,277 A
• Filed: 10/21/1994
• Issued: 09/23/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Kumashiro, Hideo, Ikenoue, Yoshikazu, Nakatani, Munehiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Gregory, Bernarr E.
• Application Number:
  US08/327,223
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 380/3, 380/4, 380/6, 380/7, 380/9, 380/10, 380/23, 380/49, 380/50, 380/54, 380/59
• US Class Current: 713/179
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0028 Adaptive watermarking, e.g. Human Visual System [HVS]-based watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0051 Embedding of the watermark in the spatial domain
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0064 for copy protection or copy management, e.g. CGMS, copy only once, one-time copy
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00846 based on detection of a dedicated indication, e.g. marks or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00875 Inhibiting reproduction, e.g. by disabling reading or reproduction apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32203 Spatial or amplitude domain methods H04N1/32309 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32208 involving changing the magnitude of selected pixels, e.g. overlay of information or super-imposition H04N1/32219, H04N1/32224 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32229 with selective or adaptive application of the additional information, e.g. in selected regions of the image H04N1/32213 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32251 in multilevel data, e.g. greyscale or continuous tone data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32261 in binary data H04N1/32256 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32288 Multiple embedding, e.g. cocktail embedding, or redundant embedding, e.g. repeating the additional information at a plurality of locations in the image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3242 of processing required or performed, e.g. for reproduction or before recording H04N2201/3256 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3246 of data relating to permitted access or usage, e.g. level of access or usage parameters for digital rights management [DRM] related to still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information

Abstract

Additional data useful for the management of copies of a document for an image forming apparatus is embedded in a hard copy of the document. The additional data is embedded in an inherent image of a document as pixels arranged in a prescribed format, and, preferably, the size of the pixels is such as to not be easily recognized with the naked eye. The image data for embedding the additional data can be obtained by reading a document, or by receiving data sent from a computer or read from a floppy disk. Additional data embedded in a hard copy can be extracted from the image data on the hard copy, and the production of a copy according to the image data can be controlled according to the extracted additional data. For example, if the additional data means that the source of the hard copy is a secret document, copying thereof is allowed only for a legitimate user. Additional data generated for each copy is compiled and is used to manage copies of various sources systematically.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a memory which stores image data;

an embedding device which embeds additional data into said image data stored in said memory, said additional data comprising a plurality of pixels having a density different from pixels of said image data and embedded in said image data in a prescribed format to indicate information by distances between pixels of said plurality of additional data pixels; and

an image forming device which forms an image on a paper according to said image data and said additional data embedded in said image data by said embedding device,

wherein said additional data includes data which indicates a starting position of said additional data embedded in said image data.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reader device which reads an image of a document, wherein the image data stored by said memory comprises image data reader by said read device.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an analysis device which analyzes image data received from a computer or from a floppy disk drive so as to be stored in said memory, wherein the image data stored by said memory comprises the image data received from said analysis device.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said additional data comprises a plurality of block data, each block data further comprising data to identify a respective book.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said embedding device decides the density of the additional data pixels so that the density of the additional data pixels is different from the density of pixels of the image data adjacent the additional data pixels.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of each of said additional data pixels is not so large as to be recognized easily with naked eyes.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a copy to be reproduced by said image forming device.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said additional data further comprises data to identify said image forming apparatus and a user who operates said image forming apparatus.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said additional data comprises data on the generation of a copy with respect to an original source.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a sequential number of copies obtained from a same document.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said additional data comprises data on a rank of secrecy of a document.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said embedding device embeds the same additional data at a plurality of positions.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the same additional data is embedded at a plurality of positions so that they can be read along different directions.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said additional data pixels are discretely arranged in the image data without coptacting one another.

15. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a memory which stores image data comprising data of a document and additional data embedded in the image data of the document;

an image forming device which forms an image on a paper according to said image data and said additional data; and

an extraction device which extracts said additional data from said image data,

wherein said additional data comprises a plurality of pixels having a density different from pixels of said image data and embedded in said image data in a prescribed format to indicate information by distances between pixels of said plurality of additional data pixels,

wherein said additional data further includes data which indicates a starting position of said additional data embedded in said image data.

16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a reader device which reads an image of a document, wherein the image data stored by said memory comprises image data read by said reader device.

17. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising an analysis device which analyzes image data received from a computer or from a floppy disk drive to be stored in said memory, wherein the image data stored by said memory comprises the image data received from said analysis device.

18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the density of the additional data pixels is different from the density of pixels of the image data adjacent the additional data pixels and said extraction device extracts the additional data based on the difference in density.

19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said additional data comprises a plurality of block data, each block data further comprising data to identify a respective block, and said extraction device reconstructs the additional data from the data of the blocks.

20. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said extraction device verifies the additional data with a majority decision if a plurality of the additional data is extracted.

21. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said additional data comprises a total number of pixels included in an image and said extraction device further comprises a counting device which counts the total number of pixels included in the image in the document, and wherein said image forming apparatus further comprises a decision device which decides a forged document if the total number counted by said counting device is different from that extracted by said extraction device.

22. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said extracting device decides that the document is an edited document if a plurality of additional data is extracted from the document.

23. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising a filing unit for storing image data of an image which is decided to be new according to the additional data extracted by said extraction device and the additional data.

24. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising:

a control device which controls said image forming device according to the additional data extracted by said extraction device.

25. The image forming apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said control device comprises a recovery device which recovers image data at positions used to express the additional data and said image forming device produces a copy according to the image data including the data recovered by the recovery device.

26. The image forming apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a document to be reproduced by said image forming device and data to identify a user of said image forming device;

said apparatus further comprising a decision device which decides if reproduction of the document is not legitimate from the additional data extracted by said extraction device and inhibits the reproduction of said image forming device if said decision device decides that the reproduction is not legitimate.

27. The image forming apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising a display device which displays an alarm message when said decision device decides that the reproduction of the document is not legitimate.

28. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said additional data pixels are discretely arranged in the image data without contacting one another.

29. The image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said additional data is embedded in said image data at a plurality of positions.

30. The image forming apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the additional data is embedded at a plurality of positions so that they can be read along different directions.

31. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a memory which stores image data comprising data of a document and additional data embedded in the image data of the document, said additional data including data to manage copies and comprising a plurality of pixels having a density different from pixels of said image data and embedded in said image data in a prescribed format to indicate information by distances between pixels of said plurality of additional data pixels;

an extraction device which extracts said additional data;

a generation device which generates said additional data according to the extracted additional data;

an embedding device which embeds said additional data generated by said generation device into said image data stored in said memory, said additional data including data which indicates a starting position of said additional data embedded in said image data; and

an image forming device which forms an image on a paper according to said image data.

32. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data comprises data on generation and copy number, and wherein said generation device generates data on the generation and the copy number.

33. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a copy to be reproduced by said image forming device.

34. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify said image forming apparatus and a user thereof.

35. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data generated by said generation device comprises data on the generation of a copy with respect to an original source.

36. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data generated by said generation device comprises data to identify a sequential number of copies obtained from a same document.

37. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data pixels are discretely arranged in the image data without contacting one another.

38. The image forming apparatus according to claim 31, wherein said additional data is embedded in said image data at a plurality of positions.

39. The image forming apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the additional data is embedded at a plurality of positions so that they can be read along different directions.

40. A copy management system comprising:

a printer for producing a copy; and

a management device which manages a situation of copies produced by said printer;

said printer comprising;

an image reader which reads a copy of a document, the copy being formed of data including image data of the document and additional data embedded in the image data of the document, the additional data comprising a plurality of pixels having a density different from pixels of said image data and embedded in said image data in a prescribed format to indicate information by distances between pixels of said plurality of additional data pixels, said additional data including data which indicates a starting position of said additional data embedded in said image data;

an extraction device which extracts the additional data from the image data read by said image reader; and

an image forming device which forms an image according to the image data read by said image reader,

said management device storing the additional data extracted by said extraction device and managing said printer according to the additional data.

41. The copy management system according to claim 40, wherein said management device further comprises a device which sums a total number of copies derived from each original document.

43. The copy management system according to claim 40, wherein said additional data pixels are discretely arranged in the image data without contacting one another.

44. The copy management system according to claim 40, wherein said additional data is embedded in said image data at a plurality of positions.

45. The copy management system according to claim 44, wherein the additional data is embedded at a plurality of positions so that they can be read along different directions.

46. An image forming apparatus comprising:

an image reader which reads an image of a document in order to provide image data;

an image forming device which forms an image according to image data provided by said image reader;

a receiving device which receives said image data from said image reader, said image data comprising data of a document and additional data, said additional data being embedded in the image data of the document, the additional data comprising data for managing reproduction of the document; and

a controller which controls the image forming device according to the additional data received by said receiving device.

42. The copy management system according to claim 46, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify said printer and a user, and said management device further comprises a device which analyzes a tree map on the generation of copies derived from a same original document.

47. The image forming apparatus according to claim 46, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a document to be reproduced by said image forming device and data to identify a user of said image forming device;

said image forming apparatus further comprising a decision device which decides if reproduction of the document is not legitimate from the received additional data and for inhibiting reproduction of the document by said image forming device if said decision device decides that the reproduction is not legitimate.

48. The image forming apparatus according to claim 46, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a copy to be reproduced by said image forming device.

49. The image forming apparatus according to claim 48, wherein said additional data further comprises data to identify said image forming apparatus and a user who operates said image forming apparatus.

50. The image forming apparatus according to claim 48, wherein said additional data comprises data on the generation of a copy with respect to an original source.

51. The image forming apparatus according to claim 48, wherein said additional data comprises data to identify a sequential number of copies obtained from a same document.

52. The image forming apparatus according to claim 48, wherein said additional data comprises data on a rank of secrecy of a document.

53. The image forming apparatus according to claim 46, wherein said additional data comprises additional data pixels discretely arranged in the image data without contacting one another.

54. The image forming apparatus according to claim 46, wherein said additional data is embedded in said image data at a plurality of positions.