Method for protecting content of a fax confirmation sheet

• US 8,687,212 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2009
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Ray, Elton T., Robson, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Rudolph, Vincent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Riley, Marcus T
• Application Number:
  US12/391,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20100214590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,862 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 358/1.14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32112 in a separate computer file, document page or paper sheet, e.g. a fax cover sheet H04N1/32122 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/448 Rendering the image unintelligible, e.g. scrambling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0093 Facsimile machine H04N2201/0094 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0094 Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3218 of a confirmation, acknowledgement or receipt
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3271 Printing or stamping

Abstract

What is provided are a system, method, and computer program product for protecting information displayed on a fax confirmation page. Several embodiments are provided. In one embodiment, for example, a Gaussian kernel is used to blur the digitized image to be printed on the confirmation page. In one method, a large enough blur kernel is selected so that text of a certain size will be rendered illegible. A method is also provided wherein a copy of the first page of the faxed document used to provide the content to be displayed on the confirmation page of the faxed document is stored on a storage device. A character sequence which references the stored original content on the storage media is printed on the confirmation page. A new confirmation page can be reconstructed and printed if it is desirable to have the altered content made visibly legible. Various other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for protecting content printed on a fax confirmation sheet which contains an image of a first page of a faxed document, the method comprising:

receiving a digital image of a fax document;

identifying content in a first page of said digital image to be displayed on a fax confirmation page;

modifying, selectively, one or more characters of said identified content, within a given text size with other visible markings, such that said one or more characters with said substituted visible markings is no longer visibly legible by blurring said identified content using a Gaussian blur function with a value of sigma, where sigma is selected based on said given text size for each row of text;

obtaining a template of said fax confirmation page for said fax document;

combining said modified content with said retrieved fax confirmation page template, said combination comprising said fax confirmation page, said modified content being combined with said fax confirmation page template in a manner which preserves a spatial relationship of content as it appears on said first page; and

providing said fax confirmation page to an output device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying at least a portion of said detected text comprises any of:

replacing at least some characters of said detected text with other characters and symbols;

deleting some words of said detected text; and

drawing blank vertical lines through characters of said detected text.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a copy of said identified content to a storage device before modifying said content; and

printing on said confirmation page a character sequence which references said copy of said identified content on said storage device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising reconstructing said confirmation page by:

receive a digital image of said confirmation page containing said character sequence;

retrieving said character sequence from said digital image of said confirmation page;

referencing said stored content using said retrieved character sequence;

retrieving said identified content from said storage device;

obtaining a new template of a fax confirmation page for said fax document;

combining said retrieved content with said new fax confirmation template; and

providing said new confirmation page to an output device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing said digital image into rows of text;

determine a row'"'"'s text size for each of said rows of text; and

drawing blank lines through each of said rows of text with a frequency of blanking based on that row'"'"'s text size.

5. A system for protecting content printed on a fax confirmation sheet which contains an image of a first page of a faxed document, the system comprising:

a memory and a storage medium for storing data; and

a processor in communication with said storage medium and said memory, said processor executing a machine readable instructions for performing;

receiving a digital image of a fax document;

identifying content in a first page of said digital image to be displayed on a fax confirmation page;

modifying, selectively, one or more characters of said identified content, within a given text size with other visible markings, such that said one or more characters with said substituted visible markings is no longer visibly legible by blurring said identified content using a Gaussian blur function with a value of sigma, where sigma is selected based on said given text size for each row of text;

obtaining a template of said fax confirmation page for said fax document;

combining said modified content with said retrieved fax confirmation page template, said combination comprising said fax confirmation page, said modified content being combined with said fax confirmation page template in a manner which preserves a spatial relationship of content as it appears on said first page; and

providing said fax confirmation page to an output device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein modifying at least a portion of said detected text comprises any of:

replacing at least some characters of said detected text with other characters and symbols;

deleting some words of said detected text; and

drawing blank vertical lines through characters of said detected text.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

storing a copy of said identified content to a storage device before modifying said content; and

printing on said confirmation page a character sequence which references said copy of said identified content on said storage device.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising reconstructing said confirmation page by:

receive a digital image of said confirmation page containing said character sequence;

retrieving said character sequence from said digital image of said confirmation page;

referencing said stored content using said retrieved character sequence;

retrieving said identified content from said storage device;

obtaining a new template of a fax confirmation page for said fax document;

combining said retrieved content with said new fax confirmation template; and

providing said new confirmation page to an output device.

14. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

dividing said digital image into rows of text;

determine a row'"'"'s text size for each of said rows of text; and

drawing blank lines through each of said rows of text with a frequency of blanking based on that row'"'"'s text size.

9. A non-transitory computer program product for protecting content printed on a fax confirmation sheet which contains an image of a first page of a faxed document, the non-transitory computer program product comprising

a non-transitory computer readable media for storing-instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform:

receiving a digital image of a fax document;

identifying content in a first page of said digital image to be displayed on a fax confirmation page;

modifying, selectively, one or more characters of said identified content, within a given text size with other visible markings, such that said one or more characters with said substituted visible markings is no longer visibly legible by blurring said identified content using a Gaussian blur function with a value of sigma, where sigma is selected based on said given text size for each row of text;

obtaining a template of said fax confirmation page for said fax document;

combining said modified content with said retrieved fax confirmation page template, said combination comprising said fax confirmation page, said modified content being combined with said fax confirmation page template in a manner which preserves a spatial relationship of content as it appears on said first page; and

providing said fax confirmation page to an output device.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein modifying at least a portion of said detected text comprises any of:

replacing at least some characters of said detected text with other characters and symbols;

deleting some words of said detected text; and

drawing blank vertical lines through characters of said detected text.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

storing a copy of said identified content to a storage device before modifying said content; and

printing on said confirmation page a character sequence which references said copy of said identified content on said storage device.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising reconstructing said confirmation page by:

receive a digital image of said confirmation page containing said character sequence;

retrieving said character sequence from said digital image of said confirmation page;

referencing said stored content using said retrieved character sequence;

retrieving said identified content from said storage device;

obtaining a new template of a fax confirmation page for said fax document;

combining said retrieved content with said new fax confirmation template; and

providing said new confirmation page to an output device.

15. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

dividing said digital image into rows of text;

determine a row'"'"'s text size for each of said rows of text; and

drawing blank lines through each of said rows of text with a frequency of blanking based on that row'"'"'s text size.