Patent Application
20060265332
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to document handling, and, more particularly, to a method for providing document traceability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many customer environments, security and traceability of documents are critical, and at times may be required to satisfy privacy mandates, such as for example, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). However, once a document has been printed to paper, the ability to trace the existence of duplicates becomes a security and/or privacy issue. A traditional method of protecting the authenticity of a printed document is through watermarks that identified the author of the document if a duplicate is made (e.g. a photocopy). While this may indicate whether a given document is the original, it does not give any indication of traceability; that is, it does not show which individuals were involved in creating the duplicates.
The present invention provides a method for providing document traceability. For example, it may be desirable to trace the history of a paper document, including who performed a duplication of a document and when the document was duplicated, in any form, by an imaging apparatus, such as a multifunction printer (MFP). The duplicate of the paper document may be, for example, a copy, a fax, or a scan stored to memory.
The invention, in one exemplary embodiment, is directed to a method for providing document traceability. The method includes providing a document having an integral data storage mechanism containing prior document usage information; providing current user information relating to current processing of the document; and appending the current user information to the prior document usage information in the integral data storage mechanism of the document.
The invention, in another exemplary embodiment, is directed to a method for providing document traceability with an imaging apparatus. The method includes providing a first document having an integral data storage mechanism containing prior document usage information; providing current user information to the imaging apparatus; and appending the current user information to the prior document usage information in the integral data storage mechanism of the document.
An advantage of the present invention is that the processing of a document, such as an original, can be traced with an indication of the processing being placed on the document itself.
Another advantage is that if a first duplicated document, i.e., a document duplicated from an original, is itself being duplicated to form a second duplicated document, then new current user information associated with the present duplication process is appended to the prior document usage information on the first duplicated document, and both the prior document usage information and the new current user information is added to the second duplicated document.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
Referring now to the drawings and particularly to
Imaging apparatus 12 can be, for example, an ink jet printer and/or copier, an electrophotographic printer and/or copier, a thermal printer and/or copier or an all-in-one (AIO) unit that includes a print engine, a scanner, and possibly a fax unit. An AIO unit is also known in the art as a multifunction printer (MFP). For example, as shown in
Controller 18 includes a processor unit and associated memory 30, and may be formed as one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC). Memory 30 may be, for example, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and/or non-volatile RAM (NVRAM). Alternatively, memory 30 may be in the form of a separate electronic memory (e.g., RAM, ROM, and/or NVRAM), a hard drive, a CD or DVD drive, or any memory device convenient for use with controller 18. Controller 18 may be a printer controller, a scanner controller, or may be a combined printer and scanner controller. In the present embodiment, controller 18 communicates with print engine 20 via a communications link 32. Controller 18 communicates with scanner 24 via a communications link 34. Controller 18 communicates with radio frequency identification (RFID) module 26 via a communications link 36. User interface 28 is communicatively coupled to controller 18 via a communications link 38. Controller 18 serves to process print data and to operate print engine 20 during printing, as well as to operate scanner 24 and process image data obtained via scanner 24. In addition, controller 18 operates RFID module 26 during a write or read operation associated with an RFID device.
In the context of the examples for imaging apparatus 12 given above, print engine 20 can be, for example, an ink jet print engine, an electrophotographic print engine or a thermal transfer engine, configured for forming an image on a substrate 40, such as a sheet of paper, transparency or fabric. As an ink jet print engine, for example, print engine 20 operates printing cartridge 22 to eject ink droplets onto substrate 40 in order to reproduce text and/or images. As an electrophotographic print engine, for example, print engine 20 causes printing cartridge 22 to deposit toner onto substrate 40, which is then fused to substrate 40 by a fuser (not shown), in order to reproduce text and/or images.
Scanner 24, in some embodiments, may be a conventional scanner, such as for example, a sheet feed or flat bed scanner. As is known in the art, a sheet feed scanner transports a sheet to be scanned past a stationary sensor device. In a flat bed scanner, the sheet or object to be scanned is held stationary, and a scanning bar including a sensor is scanned over the stationary sheet or object. In other embodiments, scanner 24 may be, for example, a simple scanning sensor of the type typically used when aligning printheads in an ink jet print engine.
RFID module 26 is configured to read and program RFID devices which may be embedded in each page of a document. RFID module 26 may be formed using technology well known in the art, and for brevity, will not be described herein except for how it is applied in some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, such an RFID device may be embedded, for example, in substrate 40. In the context of the present invention, substrate 40 may be used to form an original document generated by print engine 20, or may be used to form a copy of another document (e.g., an original or prior copy), for example, using scanner 24 (e.g., a flatbed scanner) and print engine 20. Such RFID devices may also be formed in staples or paper clips attached to a document. It is contemplated that RFID module 26 may be combined with another functional unit of imaging apparatus 12, such as for example, with scanner 24.
Host 14, which may be optional, may be, for example, a personal computer, including memory 42, such as RAM, ROM, and/or NVRAM, an input device 44, such as a keyboard, and a display monitor 46. Host 14 further includes a processor, input/output (I/O) interfaces, and at least one mass data storage device, such as a hard drive, a CD-ROM and/or a DVD unit.
Host 14 includes in its memory a software program including program instructions that function as an imaging driver 48, e.g., printer/scanner driver software, for imaging apparatus 12. Imaging driver 48 is in communication with controller 18 of imaging apparatus 12 via communications link 16. Imaging driver 48 facilitates communication between imaging apparatus 12 and host 14, and may provide formatted print data to imaging apparatus 12, and more particularly, to print engine 20, to print an image. In addition, software for operating RFID module 26 may be included in imaging driver 48.
In some circumstances, it may be desirable to operate imaging apparatus 12 in a standalone mode. In the standalone mode, imaging apparatus 12 is capable of functioning without host 14. Accordingly, all or a portion of imaging driver 48, or a similar driver, may be located in controller 18 of imaging apparatus 12 so as to accommodate printing, scanning, and/or RFID operations being handled by imaging apparatus 12 when operating in the standalone mode.
At step S100, a document, such as exemplary document 50 (see
The prior document usage information may include, for example, an identifier representing the document creator, the identifier of any user who has processed the document, the type or types of processing performed on the document, and the date, time and place of any such processing.
In one embodiment of the present inventions, referring to
In another embodiment of the present invention, referring to
At step S102, current user information relating to a current processing of the document, e.g., document 50 or 52, is provided. The current user information may be provided, for example, to imaging apparatus 12. The current user information includes, for example, a user identifier such as the user's name, or the user's identification number.
The user information may further include information relating to the type of process being performed, such as for example, the duplicating of the document by scanning. The scanning may be, for example, a scan to memory operation, a copying operation, or a faxing operation. The user information may further include information relating to the place where the process is being performed, and the date and time when the process is occurring. If the document is copied, for example, the user information may include the number of copies of the document requested by the user, the place where the copying occurred, and the date and time when the copying occurred. If the document is faxed, for example, the user information may include the fax number of each recipient, the place where the faxing occurred, and the date and time when the faxing occurred.
At step S104, the current user information is appended to the prior document usage information in integral data storage mechanism 54 of the document.
In one embodiment, referring to
Alternatively, the prior indicia 56 and the additional indicia 60 may be interleaved.
As a further alternative, additional indicia 60 may be located on document 50 at a location remote from prior indicia 56, such as for example, in another margin of the printed page, or on the opposite side of the page.
The combined indicia 62 thus formed on document 50 may later be read by the user or by machine, thus providing tracking of document 50. The size of prior indicia 56 and additional indicia 60 shown in
In the RFID embodiment, the act of appending includes storing the current user information in RFID device 58 of document 52, along with the prior stored prior document usage information.
At step S106, a duplicate of the document, such as document 50 or document 52, is generated to form a duplicated document. The duplicate may be, for example, a copy, a fax, or a scan to memory.
As an extension of the method steps described above, in one embodiment, the additional indicia 60 may become part of the duplicated document created from document 50. For example, the duplicated document also includes both the prior indicia 56 and additional indicia 60, i.e., the combined indicia 62. The practical result is that if the first duplicated document, e.g., a document duplicated from document 50, is itself duplicated to form a further (second) duplicated document, a new current user information indicia associated with the present duplication process is appended to combined indicia 62 to be printed on the first duplicated document, and both combined indicia 62 and the new current user information is printed on the second duplicated document.
Similarly, in the RFID embodiment, the RFID device 58 embedded in the duplicated document that was duplicated from document 52 also stores a combination of the current user information and the prior document usage information, and if it is itself duplicated, the new current user information associated with the duplication process would be stored in RFID device 58 as well.
While this invention has been described with respect to embodiments of the invention, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
