Image Forming Apparatus Copy Discrimination via Stamp Synthesis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for preventing illegal copying of important documents, such as embedding latent images, fail to ensure the additional image is reproduced accurately during enlargement or reduction, leading to a diminished effect in distinguishing copies from originals.
Innovation Solution
A system that reads printed materials with embedded additional images, detects a code representing the image data, and synthesizes a stamp image to overwrite the original image data when the additional image becomes unclear, ensuring the image is reproduced correctly and effectively distinguishing copies from originals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an additional image is embedded in an original to prevent illegal copying, then the psychological prevention effect is improved, but the additional image may not be reproduced accurately during enlargement or reduction
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of the additional image during the copying process, before final reproduction. By detecting the presence and characteristics of the embedded additional image in advance, the system can determine whether to prohibit copying or allow it with appropriate markings, ensuring both prevention effectiveness and accurate reproduction
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from detecting the additional image to control the copying process. The detection result feeds back to the image forming apparatus to determine whether to prohibit copying, allow copying with markings, or allow copying without markings, thereby ensuring both the prevention effect and accurate reproduction of the additional image
2Reliability
If the additional image is visualized during copying, then illegal copying is prevented psychologically, but the copy may still be difficult to distinguish from the original when the additional image is not reproduced properly
Solution Approach 1:
The detection result of the additional image provides feedback to control the copying process, ensuring that when copying is permitted, the additional image information is properly preserved and reproduced. This feedback mechanism prevents loss of additional image information while maintaining copy discrimination capability
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters of the copying process based on the detected additional image characteristics. By adjusting copying parameters according to the detected additional image, the system ensures proper reproduction of the additional image information while maintaining the ability to distinguish copies from originals
Data Source
AI summary
A printed material is read to provide an image data thereof. The printed material includes an image of an original, and an additional image not recognized or hard to be recognized with naked eyes. The additional image is to be visualized when an image is formed based on the image data with an image forming apparatus. Further, the printed material includes and a code which represents information. When the code is detected in the image data, a stamp image is synthesized with the image data based on the detected code. Then, the image data synthesized with the stamp image is provided. For example, an image is printed based on the image data.