JPH01316783A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent paper money, securities, etc., from being forged by deciding that an original to be read is inhibited from being duplicated and converting read image information according to the decision result. CONSTITUTION:This processor is equipped with a read means 1 which reads the image information out of an original, an image forming means 2 which forms an image of the read image information on a recording medium, a decision means 52 which decides that the original to be read is inhibited from being duplicated, and a conversion processing means 22 which converts the read image information according to the decision result. Therefore, when the image of paper money, securities, etc., which are inhibited from being duplicated is formed, the information is converted and the formed image changes. Consequently, the paper money, securities, etc., are prevented from being forged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image processing device that reads an image on a document and records it on a recording medium, and particularly to a color copying device that can make color copies of the document image. It is suitable for application.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, an image processing apparatus has read an image on a document placed on a document table or the like and faithfully performs a recording (copying) operation in response to instructions from an operator.

On the other hand, recent advances in copying technology, combined with color image recording technology, have made it possible to output copied images that closely resemble original images.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, in the conventional device, it is possible to place an item whose reproduction such as money or securities should be prohibited on the manuscript table by abusing it or by “mischief”. Even if a copy is made, the copy is made according to the operator's instructions, which may easily lead to forgery and cause a major social problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing device that can prevent counterfeiting of money or securities.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To this end, the present invention provides a reading means for reading image information from a document, an image forming means for forming the unread image information on a recording medium, and a document for reading the document. It is characterized by comprising a determination means for determining that copying is prohibited, and a conversion processing means for performing a conversion process on the read image information in accordance with the determination.

[Function] According to the present invention, when an image is formed on a banknote, securities, etc. whose duplication is prohibited, a conversion process is performed on the information to change the formed image.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic internal configuration of a digital color image processing system as an embodiment of the present invention. This system has a digital color image reading device (
It has a digital color image printing device (hereinafter referred to as a color printer) 2 at the bottom thereof. This color reader 1 reads color image information of a document for each color using color separation means and a photoelectric conversion element such as a CCD, which will be described later, and converts it into an electrical digital image signal. The color printer 2 is an electrophotographic laser beam color printer that reproduces a color image in each color according to the digital image signal and records the image by transferring it to a recording medium multiple times in the form of digital dots. .

First, an overview of the color reader section 1 will be explained.

3 is a document, 4 is a platen glass on which the document is placed, and 5 is a rod lens for condensing the reflected light image from the document that has been exposed and scanned by a halogen exposure lamp 1O and inputting the image to the 1-magnification full color sensor 6. An array of 5, 6, 7 .
10 are integrated as a document scanning unit 11 as indicated by arrow A.
Exposure scans in one direction. The color separation image signals read line by line without exposure scanning are amplified to a predetermined voltage by the sensor output signal amplification circuit 7 and then sent to the signal line 50.
1, the signal is processed manually by a video processing unit 12, which will be described later. Details will be described later. Note that the signal line 501 is a coaxial cable to ensure faithful signal transmission.

Reference numeral 502 is a signal line that supplies drive pulses for the full-color sensor 6 of the same magnification type, and all necessary drive pulses are generated within the video processing unit 12. Reference numeral 8.9 denotes a white plate and a black plate used for white level correction and black level correction of image signals, and by irradiating them with a halogen exposure lamp 10, signal levels of predetermined densities are obtained, and these are used as video signals. Can be used for white level correction and black level correction.

13 is a control unit having a microcomputer, which is connected to the operation panel 2 via a bus 508.
0, key manual control, control of the video processing unit 12 and control of the banknote/securities feature extraction circuit 52, position sensor S1. Detection of the position of the document scanning unit 11 by S2 via signal lines 509 and 510;
Stepping motor 14 for moving the scanning body 11
0N10FF control of the halogen exposure lamp 10 by the exposure lamp driver 21 via the signal line 504, light amount control, and digitizer via the signal line 505. 16, internal keys, display section, and all other controls of the color reader section 1.

The color image signal read by the above-mentioned exposure scanning unit 11 during document exposure scanning is inputted from the amplifier circuit 7 to the video processing unit 12 via the signal line 501.
The image is subjected to various processes described later in this unit 12 and sent to the printer section 2 via the interface circuit 56.

Next, an outline of the color printer 2 will be explained.

711 is a scanner, which includes a laser output unit that converts the image signal from the color reader 1 into an optical signal, and a polyhedron (for example, 8
It includes a polygon mirror 712 (face piece), a motor (not shown) for rotating this mirror 712, an f/θ' lens (imaging lens) 713, and the like. 714 is a reflecting mirror that changes the optical path of the laser beam, and 715 is a photosensitive drum. The laser beam emitted from the laser output section passes through the polygon mirror 712.
The light is reflected by a lens 713 and a mirror 714, and linearly scans (raster scan) the surface of the photosensitive drum 715, forming a latent image corresponding to the original image.

In addition, 717 is a primary charger, 718 is a full exposure lamp,
723 is a cleaner section that collects residual toner that has not been transferred; 724 is a pre-transfer charger; these members are arranged around the photosensitive drum 715.

726 is a developing unit that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 715 by laser exposure;
731Y, 731J, 731C, and 7318 have a developing sleeve 730 that directly performs development in contact with the photosensitive drum 715.
Y, 730M, 730G, and 7308 are toner hoppers that hold spare toner; 732 is a screw that transports the developer; and these sleeves 731Y to 73
18k, )-ner hoppers 730Y to 7308 and the screw 732 constitute a developing unit 726, and these members are arranged around the rotation axis P of the developing unit. For example, when forming a yellow toner image, yellow toner development is performed at the position shown in this figure, and when forming a magenta toner image, the developing unit 726
is rotated about the axis P in the figure, and the developing sleeve 731M in the magenta developing device is disposed at a position in contact with the photoreceptor 715. Cyan and black development is performed in the same manner.

Further, 716 is a transfer drum that transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 715 onto paper, 719 is an actuator plate for detecting the moving position of the transfer drum 716, and 720 is a drum that is in close proximity to this actuator plate 719. 725 is a transfer drum cleaner, 728 is a static eliminator, and 729 is a transfer charger, and these members 719, 720, 725
, 727, 729 are arranged around the transfer roller 716.

On the other hand, 735 and 736 are paper feed cassettes that store paper (sheets of paper) as recording media, 737 and 738 are paper feed rollers that feed paper from the cassettes 735 and 736, and 739
Reference numerals 740 and 741 are timing rollers that take the timing of paper feeding and conveyance, and the paper fed and conveyed via these is guided to a paper guide 749 and wrapped around the transfer drum 716 while its leading edge is supported by a gripper. Shift to image formation process.

Further, 550 is a drum rotation motor, and the photosensitive drum 7
15 and the transfer drum 716 are rotated synchronously.

750 transfers the paper to the transfer drum 7 after the image forming process is completed.
742 is a conveyor belt that conveys the removed paper, 743 is an image fixing unit that fixes the paper conveyed by the conveyor belt 742, and the image fixing unit 743 includes a pair of thermal pressure rollers 744 and It has 745.

Furthermore, 700 is a printer controller that controls each part of the printer section 2, and has a PWH circuit 778 that performs pulse width modulation on image information transferred from the reader section 1 and supplies it to the scanner 711.

Next, details of the control section 13 of the Lee woman section 1 according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG.

(Control unit) The control unit 13 is a CP in the form of a microcomputer.
A lamp driver 2 for exposure and scanning as well as control of video signal processing to obtain the desired copy.
1. Stepping motor driver 15, digitizer 1
6. The control of the operation panel 20 is controlled by a signal line 508 (
This is performed organically according to the stored contents of the program ROM 23, RAM 24, and RAM 25 via buses), 504, 503, 505, etc. In addition, RAM25 is connected to battery 3.
It is assumed that non-volatility is guaranteed by 1. 505
is a commonly used signal line for serial communication, and C
The operator performs manual input from the digitizer 16 according to the protocol between the PU 22 and the digitizer 16. That is, signal line 5
Reference numeral 05 denotes a signal line for manually inputting coordinates, area instructions, copy mode instructions, magnification ratio instructions, etc. when editing a document, for example, when performing movement and compositing. The signal line 503 is connected to the motor driver 15.
Scanning speed and distance from Pt122.

This is a signal line for instructing forward movement, backward movement, etc., and the motor driver 15 inputs a predetermined pulse to the stepping motor 14 according to an instruction from the CPt 122 to give the motor rotation operation. Serial interface (1/F) 29
．． 30 is a serial I such as Intel 8251
/F LSI, etc., and although not shown, the digitizer 16. The motor driver 15 also has a similar circuit.

Further, St, 52 is a sensor for detecting the position of the original exposure scanning unit (numeral 11 in FIG. 1), and St is the home position, at which the white level correction of the image signal is performed. S2 is a sensor that detects the presence of the original exposure scanning unit at the leading edge of the image, and this position becomes the reference position of the original.

(Printer interface) Signals ITOP, BD, VCLK, V in Figure 2
IDEO.

H5YNC and SRCOM (511 to 516) are interface signals between the color printer section 2 and the reader section 1 in FIG. 1, respectively. The image signal VIDEO 514 read by the reader section 1 is all sent to the color printer section 2 based on the above signals. ITOP is a synchronization signal in the image forwarding direction (hereinafter referred to as the sub-scanning direction), and is 1
This occurs once for sending out the screen, that is, once for each of the four color images (yellow, magenta, cyan, and Bk), for a total of four times.
The leading edge of the transfer paper wrapped around the photosensitive drum 715
When receiving the toner image transfer at the contact point with the transfer drum 716., the transfer drum 716. It is synchronized with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 715, is sent to the video processing unit in the reader 1, and is further input as an interrupt to the CPU 22 in the controller 13 (signal 511).
).

The CPU 22 performs image control in the sub-scanning direction for editing and the like based on the ITOP interrupt. B[1512 is a synchronization signal in the raster scan direction (hereinafter referred to as the main scan direction) that is generated once per rotation of the polygon mirror 712, that is, once per raster scan, and is a synchronization signal in the raster scan direction (hereinafter referred to as the main scan direction).
The image signal read by B is read one line at a time in the main scanning direction.
The D flaw signal is sent to the printer unit 2 in synchronization with the flaw signal. VCLK
Reference numeral 513 denotes a synchronization clock for sending an 8-bit digital video signal 514 to the color printer section 2, and for example, as shown in FIG.
Video data 514 is sent out via the .

H5YNC515 uses VCLK513 from BD signal 512
B is a main scanning direction synchronization signal generated in synchronization with B.
Strictly speaking, the VIDEO signal 514 is sent out in synchronization with the H5YNC 515, having the same period as the D defect signal. This is B
Since the D signal 512 is generated in synchronization with the rotation of the polygon mirror, it contains a lot of jitter from the motor that rotates the polygon mirror 712. If the BD scratch signal is synchronized as it is, image jitter will occur, so we calculated the jitter based on the 80 signal. No V
This is because H5YNC515, which is generated in synchronization with CL, is required.

SRCOM is a signal line for half-duplex bidirectional serial communication, and as shown in Figure 3(c), the 8-bit serial clock SCL is connected between the synchronization signals CBUSY (command busy) sent from the reader section. A command CM is sent out in synchronization with
Status ST is returned in synchronization with the 8-bit serial clock between Y (status busy). All instructions from the soda section to the printer section, such as color mode, cassette selection, etc., and printer section status information, such as jam, paper out, weight, etc., are all exchanged through this communication line S.
This is done via RCOM.

FIG. 3(a) shows a timing chart for transmitting one four-color full-color image based on ITOP and 115YNc. ITOP511 is one rotation of transfer drum 716,
Or, it is generated once every two rotations, and the image data of yellow image at time point ■, magenta image at time point ■, cyan image at time point ■, and Bk image data at time point ■ is sent from the reader section 1 to the printer section 2, and the four colors are superimposed. A full color image is formed on the transfer paper.

For example, if the image density in the feeding direction is 16 pel/mm for an A3 image of 420 mm in the longitudinal direction, H5YNC is 4
It will be sent 20×16=6720 times. At the same time, a clock is input manually to a timer circuit 28 in the controller circuit 13, and after a predetermined number of counts, an interrupt HINT 517 is applied to the CPU 22. Thereby, the CPU 22 performs image control in the feeding direction, such as control of sampling and movement.

(Banknote/Securities Feature Extraction Circuit) The operation of the banknote/security feature extraction circuit 52 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the video processing unit 12 including the banknote/securities feature extraction circuit 52. As shown in FIG. The color image signal read by the exposure scanning unit 11 shown in the first diagram is input from the amplifier circuit 7 to the video processing unit 12 via line 18 501. wood unit 1
2, the input is received by a video receiver circuit 60, and then a video preprocessing circuit 61 detects pixel shift in each color,
The shading is corrected and output as r, g, and b signals.

The preprocessed video signal is sent to the banknote/securities feature extraction circuit 5.
2, the luminance signal is converted into a density signal in the LOG conversion circuit 62, and then masking and OCR (undercolor removal) processing is performed in the masking IIcR circuit 63. Next, italic/mirror image processing circuit 64, color balance circuit 65, color conversion circuit 66, magnification conversion circuit 67, texture processing circuit 68, edge emphasis smoothing circuit 6
9, the signal is sent to the color printer 2 via the video signal synthesis circuit 70 and the video driver circuit 71, and via the signal line Video8.

Each processing circuit within the video processing unit 12 is connected to an internal bus VU.
It is coupled via BUS and further coupled to CPU 22 via CPt1 path transceiver 72 and signal line 508.

In the banknote/securities feature extraction circuit 52, the r
, g, and b signals, it is determined whether or not they match with the preset characteristics of banknotes/securities, and V[
The determination result is returned to the CPt 122 via JBUS. C.P.
The U22 makes a final judgment as to whether or not it is a banknote or securities based on the judgment results for several characteristics, and if the judgment is affirmative, it sends a message to a specific processing circuit via VIIBIIS to create a document that is faithful to the original image. Set conversion parameters such that no image formation is performed.

The matching determination process carried out by the banknote/securities feature extraction circuit 52 is performed by comparing the color spectrum distribution of the document with data registered in advance in a ROM etc. for the manually input signals r, g, and b. The general image pattern of a part or the entire document may be registered in advance in a ROM, etc., and compared with pattern data to make a judgment, or furthermore, such processing may be performed in combination. You can also do that. Additionally, in addition to feature extraction performed on the content of the read image data, a circuit that identifies the size of the document, magnetic pattern, watermark pattern, etc. is added, and data from these is sent to the CPU 22. , appropriate processing can be performed.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a parameter conversion processing procedure performed by the CPt 122 based on several feature determinations obtained by the feature extraction circuit 52 as described above. This procedure can be stored in the ROM 23.

First, in step Sl, various determination results are manually input from the circuit 52 described above and others. Next, in step S3, it is finally determined whether the evaluation is banknotes or securities. Then, in step S5, conversion parameters are set in the processing circuit 63 and the like according to the calculation result.

Next, an example of parameter conversion contents will be described.

The following equations (a) to (d) are examples of changing the color when it is determined that it is a banknote or securities, and this is done by changing the masking/tlcH parameters for the masking/OCR processing circuit 63.

Equation (a) is an example of normal masking, and by changing the matrix [m, J] as shown in equation (b), the colors are converted and output, so the colors are completely different from the original. Records recorded from then on can no longer be used as banknotes or securities. However, the contents of securities can be recorded.

Further, formula (C) is an example in which printing is performed in a specific color. Furthermore, equation (d) is an example in which printing is done in black and white.

(Second example) FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment.

Reference numeral 50-2 denotes a banknote/securities recognition circuit, which in this example has a configuration including a CPU for performing control according to the determination of banknotes, etc.

80 is a signal that controls the color output to the masking/OCR processing circuit. Other functions are similar to those in FIG. 3.

When performing a normal copying operation, as shown in FIG.
Masking/OCR processing circuit 6 so that o8 is switched
However, if the banknote/security recognition circuit 50-2 determines that the document is a banknote or security, the printing is performed by shifting the color switching order as shown in FIG. 7(b). Change the color of the image.

In this way, by directly controlling the masking/OCR processing circuit from the banknote/securities recognition circuit 50-2, the CPI
Since color changing processing can be performed independently of I22, CP
The IJ22 program does not become complicated, and 11:PU22
Counterfeiting can be more reliably prevented even if the program is changed.

(Third example) FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment of the invention.

Here, 81 is a bus switching signal for controlling the path transceiver with the CPU bus 508, and the banknote/securities recognition circuit 50-3 operates independently of the CPU 22 and always receives the video signals r, g, and b. Monitor. If it is determined that the document is a banknote or securities, the CPU path transceiver 72
For example, by closing VUBIIS and writing specific parameters to the italic/mirror processing circuit 64,
It can be printed in italics as shown in Figure (a).

By forcibly performing such conversion, a printed image that is clearly distinguishable from the genuine article is output, so that counterfeiting can be prevented.

FIGS. 9(b) to 9(c) are other examples in which processing is forcibly performed.

FIG. 9(b) is an example of controlling the italic/mirror image processing circuit 64 to output a mirror image, FIG. 9(C) is an example of controlling the magnification processing circuit 67 and outputting a reduced image, and FIG. 9(d) is an example of outputting a reduced image by controlling the magnification processing circuit 67. Magnification processing circuit 67
An example of controlling and outputting vertically and horizontally independent magnification is shown in (e) in which the video signal synthesis circuit 70 and character pattern generation circuit 73 are controlled to add the character "copy" and output it. This is an example.

In addition, the color balance processing circuit 65 may be controlled to drastically change the color balance before output, or the color conversion circuit 66
may be controlled to output a specific color (monocolor), or the color conversion circuit 66 may be controlled to output a monotone image. Furthermore, the texture processing circuit may be controlled to output a mosaic-like texture, or the edge enhancement/smoothing processing circuit 69 may be controlled to eliminate thin lines by filtering or perform blurring processing and output. Additionally, the LOG conversion circuit 62 may be controlled to perform negative/positive conversion and output.

By configuring the video processing unit 12 to perform counterfeit prevention processing in this way, counterfeit prevention can be made more difficult to defeat.

(Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 10 shows an example in which a forgery prevention device is provided on the printer 2 side as a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Here, 50-4 is a banknote/security recognition circuit provided in the printer controller 700, which monitors the video signals that are input in sequence, and if it is determined to be a banknote or security in the same way as above, it converts the video signal. The circuit 51 is controlled. Then, you can thin out the image, make it thinner or thicker,
By performing appropriate processing such as shading or adding text, the printed image can be significantly different from the original.

FIG. 11 shows a video conversion circuit 51 that performs thinning.
Here is an example. Here, 801 is a selector, and 802 is an AND gate. Reference numeral 803 denotes a J- flip-flop, which performs thinning by selecting each pixel.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a video conversion circuit 51' for thinning (or thickening) lines. Here, 810°, 811 and 813 are D-type flip-flops, and 812 is a selector. 814 is a comparator, and selector 81
By selecting the smaller (or larger) value of 2, it is possible to make the line thinner (or thicker) in the main scanning direction.

Although an example of a processing circuit for the shading process is not shown in the drawings, a fine pattern on a banknote or the like may be caused to have moiré by subjecting the video image to a dot reduction process.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by incorporating an anti-counterfeiting device into the printer side, it is possible to effectively prevent counterfeiting even when reading is performed with a reader that is not equipped with an anti-counterfeiting device.

It goes without saying that the circuit for identifying banknotes and securities is not limited to the above-mentioned circuits, and may be of any type. Further, the printer section is not limited to the electrophotographic type as in the above example, but may be of various types.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Counterfeiting of banknotes and securities can be effectively prevented.

(2) Even if it is determined that the document is a banknote or securities, it is possible to make a copy that is not faithful to the original but is sufficient to show the contents of the document, so a record of the contents of the document can be preserved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a control section provided in the reader section, and FIGS. 3(a) to (c) ) is an explanatory diagram for explaining its operation, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a banknote/securities recognition circuit, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of an image change processing procedure according to a recognition result, Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the banknote/securities recognition circuit, Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the mode of image change by the configuration of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the banknote/securities recognition circuit. A block diagram showing still another example of the configuration of the recognition circuit. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the mode of image modification by the configuration shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is an image processing according to another embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the video conversion circuit in FIG. 1O, and FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing another example of the configuration of the video conversion circuit in FIG. 10. 12... Video processing unit, 50-2 to 50-4... Banknote/securities recognition circuit, 51
. . . Video conversion circuit, 52 . , 64...Italic/mirror image conversion circuit, 65...Color balance conversion circuit, 66...Color conversion circuit, 67...Magnification conversion circuit, 68...Texture conversion circuit, 69...Edge circuit・Smoothing circuit, 70...
Video synthesis circuit, 71... Video driver circuit, 73... Character/pattern generation circuit. Kusanobu No. S Buj゛・Torihijjba ( ) diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A reading means for reading image information from a document, an image forming means for forming the read image information on a recording medium, and the document to be read is one whose reproduction is prohibited. An image processing device comprising: a determination unit that determines that there is an image; and a conversion processing unit that performs a conversion process on the read image information in accordance with the determination. 2) The reading means and the image forming means have a form capable of processing color images, and the conversion processing means performs color conversion on the read image information. The image processing device according to item 1. 3) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conversion processing means performs a process of changing the shape of an image to be formed. 4) The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conversion processing means performs image formation by adding a predetermined pattern.