Image management system, image management method, and program

Abstract

To provide an image management system that improves the traceability of digitized documents and the like.SOLUTION: An image management system includes an image reading device that generates image data, and a reading management device connected to the image reading device. The reading management device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires the image data generated by the image reading device; and a writing unit that writes information indicating that the image data is generated by the image reading device into a block chain in association with the image data acquired by the acquisition unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an image management system, an image management method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an information processing system that executes a process of registering, outside a block constituting a blockchain, a key for specifying one of a series of a plurality of transactions and transaction identification information corresponding to the key in a computer that records a transaction using the blockchain, and registering, in the block, trace information indicating the content and order of the plurality of transactions or a hash value of the trace information, the key, a key indicating the immediately preceding transaction and / or transaction identification information indicating the immediately preceding transaction.

[0003] Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a document system in which a user terminal 12 authenticates a scanner 13 or the like using an authentication device 11 or the like, and when the scanner 13 acquires image data of a paper document, generates electronic watermark data, embeds the electronic watermark data in the image data, the scanner 13 performs hash calculation on the image data, generates an electronic document including the obtained hash value, the scanner 13 generates an electronic certificate, attaches the generated electronic certificate to the electronic document, the user terminal 12 transmits the electronic document generated by the scanner 13 to an authenticity guarantee storage device 2 via a LAN 9, and the original management DB 22 stores the electronic document attached with the electronic certificate.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Provided is an image management system that improves the traceability of electronic documents and the like.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0006] The image management system according to the present invention includes an image reading device that generates image data, and a reading management device connected to the image reading device. The reading management device includes an acquisition unit that acquires the image data generated by the image reading device, and a writing unit that writes information indicating that the image data has been generated by the image reading device, in association with the image data acquired by the acquisition unit, to a blockchain.

[0007] Preferably, the reading management device further includes a user identification unit that identifies a user of the image reading device and the writing unit writes, in association with each other, at least one of the date and time and the location where the image reading device has operated, and identification information of the user identified by the user identification unit, to the blockchain.

[0008] Preferably, the reading management device further includes a hash value generation unit that calculates a hash value for the image data acquired by the acquisition unit, and the writing unit writes, to the blockchain, at least one of the date and time and the location where the image reading device has operated, identification information of the user identified by the user identification unit, and the hash value calculated by the hash value generation unit.

[0009] Preferably, the image reading device is a scanner, and the reading management device further includes a display unit that displays an image code including information for identifying the scanner, and is connected to the scanner by wire.

[0010] Preferably, the reading management device further includes an editing monitoring unit that monitors editing of the image data generated by the image reading device, and when the editing monitoring unit detects editing of the image data, the writing unit adds the hash value of the edited image data to the blockchain.

[0011] Preferably, it further includes a notification unit that notifies, as the original holder, the user associated with the image data based on the information written to the blockchain.

[0012] In addition, the image management method according to the present invention includes a step in which an image reading device generates image data, and a step in which a computer writes, to a blockchain, information indicating that the image data has been generated by the image reading device, in association with the image data generated by the image reading device.

[0013] In addition, the program according to the present invention causes a computer to execute a step of causing an image reading device to generate image data, and a step of writing, to a blockchain, information indicating that the image data has been generated by the image reading device, in association with the image data generated by the image reading device.

Advantages of the Invention

[0014] Improve the traceability of digitized documents and the like.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0015]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the case where the image reading device is a scanner will be described as a specific example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and a photographing device such as a digital camera may also be used. Further, in this embodiment, the case where a paper document is converted into an electronic document by the scanner 2 will be described as a specific example, but the object of digitization is not limited to documents. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of the image management system 1. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the image management system 1 includes a scanner 2 shared by a plurality of users, a user terminal (smartphone 3) operated by a user, a reading management device 4 connected to the scanner 2, a blockchain 6, a Web application server 70, a scanner cloud manager 72, and a service 74 operated by a third party. The smartphone 3, the reading management device 4, the blockchain 6, the Web application server 70, the scanner cloud manager 72, and the service 74 operated by a third party are connected to each other via the Internet 8.

[0017] The scanner 2 is an image reading device that converts a paper document into an electronic document (such as a PDF file). The smartphone 3 is a mobile terminal operated by a user and has a function of reading a QR code. The reading management device 4 is a computer terminal connected to the scanner 2. For example, the reading management device 4 is a computer terminal directly wired to the scanner 2, and performs authentication of the user of the smartphone 3, control of the scanner 2, transfer of scan data, and reference and writing to the blockchain 8. Note that the wired connection between the scanner 2 and the reading management device 4 is realized by, for example, a USB cable. The blockchain 6 is an open and distributed ledger.

[0018] The Web application server 70 is a web server that receives a scanner usage request from the smartphone 3. Further, the Web application server 70 performs verification of electronic documents and editing monitoring in response to requests from users. The scanner cloud manager 72 is a cloud-based service that manages image data (scan data) transferred from the reading management device 4, and transfers the image data to, for example, a service 74 operated by a third party. The service 74 operated by a third party is a third-party web service provided on the Internet. For example, it is a service that stores image data such as receipts and supports accounting processing. The third-party service 74 may be a service that stores and manages electronic data of business cards.

[0019] In the above image management system 1, when a paper document is converted into an electronic document, the ease of copying and editing changes. For example, copying an electronic document is easier than copying a paper document, and even if an electronic document is additionally edited, it is difficult to find and distinguish the traces of the additional editing. Therefore, it becomes difficult to identify the holder of the original paper document. Also, since highly detailed editing of electronic documents is relatively easy, it becomes difficult to distinguish whether it is the scanned electronic document itself or an electronic document edited after scanning. Therefore, the reading management device 4 of the present embodiment writes information related to the scanning process by the scanner 2 (for example, user, scanning date and time, scanning location, etc.) to the blockchain 6, enabling verification of the fact that the scanning process has been performed.

[0020] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the reading management device 4. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the reading management device 4 includes a CPU 400, a memory 402, an HDD 404, a network interface 406 (network IF 406), a display device 408, and an input device 410, and these components are connected to each other via a bus 412. The CPU 400 is, for example, a central processing unit. The memory 402 is, for example, a volatile memory and functions as a main memory device. The HDD 404 is, for example, a hard disk drive device and stores a computer program (e.g., the reading management program 5 in FIG. 3) and other data files as a non-volatile recording device. The network IF 406 is an interface for communicating wired or wirelessly and realizes, for example, communication with the scanner 2 and connection to the Internet 8. The display device 408 is, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD panel). The input device 410 is, for example, a touch panel.

[0021] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of the reading management device 4. As illustrated in FIG. 3, in the reading management device 4 of this example, the reading management program 5 is installed and operates. The reading management program 5 is stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, for example, and is installed in the reading management device 4 via this recording medium. The reading management program 5 includes a user authentication unit 500, a control unit 510, a writing unit 520, a display unit 530, an image transfer unit 540, a hash value generation unit 550, and an editing monitoring unit 560. Note that part or all of the reading management program 5 may be realized by hardware such as an ASIC, or may be realized by borrowing part of the functions of an OS (Operating System).

[0022] In the reading management program 5, the user authentication unit 500 authenticates the user with respect to the image reading device that digitizes the document. For example, the user authentication unit 500 authenticates the user based on the usage right information written in the blockchain 6. The user authentication unit 500 in this example verifies whether the user has the usage right of the scanner 2 based on the signature data received from the user's smartphone 3 and the license information written in the blockchain 6.

[0023] The control unit 510 controls the image reading device (scanner 2) in accordance with the authentication result by the user authentication unit 500, and acquires the image data read by the image reading device. The control unit 510 is an example of an acquisition unit according to the present invention. For example, the control unit 510 operates the scanner 2 in accordance with the usage authority and acquires the electronic document read by the scanner 2 only when the user authentication unit 500 determines that the user has usage authority.

[0024] The writing unit 520 writes information indicating that the image reading device (scanner 2) has operated under the control of the control unit 510, in association with the image data, into the blockchain 6. For example, when the control unit 510 operates the scanner 2 in response to a user request, the writing unit 520 writes at least one of the date, time, and location at which the scanner 2 operated, and the user's identification information, in association with the hash value of the image data, into the blockchain 6. In this example, the writing unit 520 writes the date and time (year, month, day, hour, minute, and second) at which the scan by the scanner 2 was completed, the ID information of the scanner 2, the ID information of the user, and the hash value of the scanned image data, in association with each other, into the blockchain 6.

[0025] In addition, when editing of an electronic document is detected by the editing monitoring unit 560, the writing unit 520 adds the editing date and time, the editor's ID information, and the hash value of the edited image data to the blockchain 6 for the edited image data.

[0026] The writing unit 520 may write to the blockchain 6 that the image data has been transferred to a server of another service by the image transfer unit 540. That is, the writing unit 520 may write to the blockchain 6 the other service 74 to which the image data scanned by the scanner 2 is to be distributed. This makes it possible to trace the distribution destination of the electronic document.

[0027] The display unit 530 displays an image code including information for identifying the scanner 2. In this example, the display unit 530 causes the display device 408 to display a QR code including the ID of the reading management device 4 (i.e., ID information of the scanner 2) and the URL of the Web application server 70.

[0028] The image transfer unit 540 transfers the image data scanned by the scanner 2 to the server of another service provided on the network. In this example, the image transfer unit 540 transmits the image data scanned by the scanner 2 to the scanner cloud manager 72, and transfers the image data to a third-party service 74 via the scanner cloud manager 72.

[0029] The hash value generation unit 550 calculates a hash value of the image data scanned by the scanner 2 . Furthermore, when the editing monitoring unit 560 detects that the image data has been edited, the hash value generating unit 550 calculates a hash value of the edited image data.

[0030] The editing monitoring unit 560 monitors editing of the image data generated by the scanner 2, and when editing of the image data is detected, it causes the hash value generation unit 550 to calculate the hash value of the edited image data and causes the writing unit 520 to write the hash value of the edited image data to the blockchain 6.

[0031] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of the Web application server 70, focusing on the part related to editing monitoring. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an outline of editing monitoring. As illustrated in FIG. 4, a server program 700 is installed and operates in the Web application server 70 of this example. The server program 700 includes an editing monitoring unit 702, a hash value generation unit 704, a writing unit 706, and a notification unit 708. Note that the editing monitoring unit 702, the hash value generation unit 704, and the writing unit 706 of the server program 700 are substantially the same as the editing monitoring unit 560, the hash value generation unit 550, and the writing unit 520 of the reading management program 5. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the editing monitoring unit 702, the hash value generation unit 704, and the writing unit 706 of the server program 700 monitor the editing of image data, and when an editing (update) of the image data is detected, calculate the hash value of the edited image data and append the calculated hash value to the blockchain 6. In FIG. 5, when the image data is revised (version 01 → version 02), the hash value 02 is written to the blockchain 6.

[0032] The notification unit 708 notifies, in response to a request, the user associated with the image data as the original holder based on the information written to the blockchain 6. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the notification unit 708 of this example verifies whether the image data has been tampered with based on the hash value written to the blockchain 6.

[0033] FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the digitization process of a document centering on the operation of the reading management device 4. As shown in FIG. 6, in step 100 (S100), the display unit 530 (FIG. 3) of the reading management device 4 causes the display device 408 (LCD panel) to display a QR code (including the URL of the Web application server 70 and the ID of the connector device). The user operates the smartphone 3 to read the displayed QR code and access the Web application server 70. In response to the access, the Web application server 70 starts an application on the smartphone 3 and instructs it to transmit authentication information (signature data) to the reading management device 4.

[0034] In step 110 (S110), the user authentication unit 500 receives the user's authentication information (signature data) from the smartphone 3. In step 120 (S120), the user authentication unit 500 verifies the license information written in the blockchain 6 based on the received signature data. In step 130 (S130), when the verification by the user authentication unit 500 is successful, the reading management program 5 proceeds to the process of S140, and when the verification by the user authentication unit 500 fails, the process ends.

[0035] In step 140 (S140), when the user authentication unit 500 notifies the Web application server 70 of the success of the verification (that is, the user has the right to use the scanner 2), the Web server 70 displays a list of services available to the user on the user's smartphone 3 and allows the user to select the service to be used.

[0036] In step 150 (S150), when the user sets the original document on the scanner 2 and selects the service to be used, the control unit 510 of the reading management device 4 controls the scanner 2 to start the scanning operation. In step 160 (S160), the hash value generation unit 550 calculates the hash value of the image data (scan data) scanned by the scanner 2. In step 170 (S170), the image transfer unit 540 transfers the image data (scan data) generated by the scanner 2 to the Web application server 70 and allows the scanned image data to be confirmed on the smartphone 3. When the user confirms that there is no problem with the image data, the image transfer unit 540 transfers the image data to the scanner cloud manager 72.

[0037] In step 180 (S180), when the image transfer unit 540 transfers the image data, the writing unit 520 writes the scan completion date and time of the scanner 2, the ID information of the scanner 2 (i.e., the ID information of the reading management device 4), the user's ID information, and the hash value calculated by the hash value generation unit 550 in association with each other to the blockchain 6. Also, in response to an instruction from the image transfer unit 540, the scanner cloud manager 72 sends the transferred image data to a third-party service 74 (such as an accounting service) to realize service cooperation.

[0038] As described above, according to the image management system 1 of the present embodiment, the reading management device 4 connected to the scanner 2 controls the operation of the scanner 2 and writes the fact of scanning in association with the scan data to the blockchain 6, so that the facts (user, date and time, location, etc.) at the time of generating the scan data can be managed in a highly transparent state. In addition, by presenting these ID information (QR codes) in a state where the reading management device 4 is wired to the scanner 2, the relationship with the used scanner 2 can be made clear to the user.

[0039] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described, the above embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The above embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. The above embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and its equivalent scope.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0040] 1 Image management system 2 Scanner 4 Reading management device 5 Reading management program

Claims

1. An image reading device that generates image data, and A reading management device connected to the image reading device Including, The reading management device is An acquisition unit that acquires the image data generated by the image reading device, A hash value generation unit that calculates a hash value for the image data acquired by the acquisition unit, A writing unit that writes information indicating that the image data has been generated by the image reading device, in association with the image data acquired by the acquisition unit, to a blockchain, An editing monitoring unit that monitors editing of the image data generated by the image reading device, Having, When the editing monitoring unit detects editing of image data made outside the editing monitoring unit without using the blockchain, the writing unit adds the hash value of the edited image data to the blockchain An image management system.

2. The reading management device is A user identification unit that identifies the user of the image reading device Further having, The writing unit writes, in association with each other, at least one of the date and time and the location where the image reading device operated, and the identification information of the user identified by the user identification unit, to the blockchain The image management system according to claim 1.

3. The writing unit writes, to the blockchain, at least one of the date and time and the location where the image reading device operated, the identification information of the user identified by the user identification unit, and the hash value calculated by the hash value generation unit The image management system according to claim 2.

4. The image reading device is a scanner, The reading management device is A display unit that displays an image code including information for identifying the scanner Further having, Wired-connected to the scanner The image management system according to claim 3.

5. A notification unit that notifies, as the original owner, the user associated with the image data based on the information written to the blockchain The image management system according to claim 2, further including.

6. A generation step of causing the image reading device to generate image data, The computer An acquisition step of acquiring the image data generated by the image reading device, A calculation step of calculating a hash value for the image data acquired in the acquisition step, a writing step of writing information indicating that the image data was generated by the image reading device into the blockchain in association with the image data acquired in the acquisition step; an editing monitoring step of monitoring editing of the image data generated by the image reading device; Including, The writing step adds a hash value of the edited image data to the blockchain when the editing of the image data performed in a step different from the editing monitoring step is detected in the editing monitoring step without using the blockchain. Image management methods.

7. a generating step of causing the image reading device to generate image data; an acquiring step of acquiring image data generated by the image reading device; a calculation step of calculating a hash value for the image data acquired in the acquisition step; a writing step of writing information indicating that the image data was generated by the image reading device into the blockchain in association with the image data acquired in the acquisition step; an editing monitoring step of monitoring editing of the image data generated by the image reading device; on the computer, The writing step adds a hash value of the edited image data to the blockchain when the editing of the image data performed in a step different from the editing monitoring step is detected in the editing monitoring step without using the blockchain. program.

Images