This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0122460, filed on Nov. 22, 2011, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and Russian Patent Application No. 2010149285, filed on Dec. 2, 2010, in the Russian Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to system and method of digital microprinting for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection of documents, and more particularly, to system and method of creation of customized and personalized micro-pictures and printing on consumer printing devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The microprinting is widely used for protection of the important documents and banknotes against fake. Professional offset printers are used for this purpose. Recently, several approaches for printing microtext or images with special microstructures on relatively cheap consumer electronics printing devices were proposed. Such methods are intended for protection of printed documents against copying by means of home copiers and multifunctional devices (MFD). Also such methods complicate the falsification of documents, which is carried out by means of standard office equipment.
US patent application publication US 20030021437 describes a method for protection of printed document by printing of additional image with special microstructure. The image is created from various elements, such as text, vector graphics, bitmaps, whose shapes vary according to color. This image is too big compared with a page and occupies a significant area on the page. However, this publication does not show a procedure for creation such images on-the-fly and also a procedure of adjusting an image view for the user.
US patent application publication US 20070252838 describes a method and system for printing of microtext. A specific microfont based on using of PostScript Type 3 font is proposed in this publication. Main drawbacks of using of this microfont are that the microfont contains only a limited set of symbols of a fixed form for several languages and also should be licensed.
The creation of microfont on-the-fly from any font is allowed to overcome above mentioned disadvantages, as described in US patent application publication 20090185210, based on the initial Russian Federation patent application 2008101807. In these publication and application, a method of creation of symbols for microprinting is described, including definition for each symbol of the image of the suitable font size, considering rules of creation of small fonts. Thus, symbol rasterization in bitmap is performed, bitmap is skeletonized, bitmap is reformatted with saving of intelligibility of the symbol, and cells of halftoning are formed from the reformatted bitmap. These application and publication may relate to the present general inventive concept.
However, since each microfont contains only a limited set of symbols, it is difficult to provide printing an arbitrary image using a conventional method. Theoretically it may be possible, but demands require considerable efforts and high user qualification. That is, a user has few possibilities or options for creation of the customized original protective elements, and destroying them at copying on consumer copying devices at usage of the microtext.
As described above, it is necessary to provide a more effective method for protection of printed documents against copying by means of home copiers in using the microtext.
The present general inventive concept provides a more effective and efficient system and method of creating and adjusting an image to form a micro-picture for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.
The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a system and method of printing automatically created and adjusted micro-pictures on a printing medium in consumer printing devices for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection.
The method of micro-pictures printing may include a method of creating a micro-picture from a random image provided by a user.
The system may performs the method of micro-picture printing for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection by creating of the micro-picture from a random image provided by a user.
The system of printing of micro-pictures for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection may include an image registration module to register at least one image provided by a user and to output the registered image, a parameters adjustment module to adjust micro-picture creation parameters and parameters for blending the micro-picture with printing page image and output the parameters, a micro-picture creation module to receive the image from the image registration module and to adjust the received image according to the parameters received from the parameters adjustment module to create a micro-picture and output the created image, an images blending module to blend at least one micro-picture corresponding to the created image, obtained from image registration module and according to the parameters of the parameters adjustment module, and a printing module to print the blended image.
The method of printing of micro-pictures for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection may include obtaining an image from a user, creating the micro-picture from the image obtained from the user, blending the micro-picture with an image of a printing page, and printing the blended image.
The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a system to print micro-pictures for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection may include a micro-picture selection module to select at least one micro-picture from a set of images, a parameters adjustment module to adjust parameters to blend the micro-picture and a page image, an images blending module to blend the page image and at least one micro-picture, corresponding to the selected image obtained from the micro-picture selection module and according to the parameters of the parameters adjustment module, and a printing module to print the blended image.
The system and method of printing of micro-pictures for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection may include obtaining a micro-picture, blending the micro-picture with a printed page image, and printing the blended image.
The method of creation of micro-picture from random may include detecting edges, and transforming the detected edges to the micro-picture that has dimensions less than several millimeters as a line-drawing picture.
The methods and system may allow a user to create a micro-picture from a random image and to print the created micro-picture blended with a printed page image. Such a micro-picture may be customized and personalized mark, which image worsens irrevocably at a document copying operation to be performed on consumer copying devices.
The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus to print one or more micro-pictures for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection of an original image, the image forming apparatus including a security mark acquisition unit to receive an image as a security mark, a processing unit to adjust and blend the security mark and a page image to form a blended image, and an output unit to print the blended image.
The above and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept while referring to the figures.
The matters defined in the description, such as detailed construction and elements, are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the exemplary embodiments. Thus, it is apparent that the exemplary embodiments can be carried out without those specifically defined matters. Also, functions or elements known in the related art are not described in detail since they would obscure the exemplary embodiments with unnecessary detail.
In the exemplary embodiment the claimed general inventive concept is realized in a printer: laser or ink-jet printer or multi-functional printer (MFP).
A method of micro-picture printing for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection of
A method of micro-picture printing for anti-counterfeiting and copy-protection of
The above-described methods may include a method of creation of a micro-picture as illustrated in
I=0.3r+0.6g+0.1b;
I=(r+g+b)/3;
I=max(r,g,b),
where r, g, b color channels of an original image, and I is an intermediate image.
Although these methods are applicable, a method using I=max(r,g,b) may be explained below as an example.
A grayscale image is resized to sizes in pixels of an intermediate image at operation S702. Dimensions of the intermediate image may be 3 times greater than a micro-picture. Any interpolation technique can be applied during a resizing operation. However, a bilinear interpolation may be used as an example to provide a good effectiveness between image quality and computational complexity.
A contrast enhancement is performed at operation S703 so that a micro-picture can be recognizable even for low-contrast bitmaps.
A low boundary of a range for contrast adjustment is calculated according to the expression:
where H0, C0 and T are threshold values to histogram level, histogram area and histogram intensity, respectively. Threshold T is applied to avoid excessive image darkening.
A high boundary of the range for contrast adjustment is defined as follows:
where H1 and C1 are threshold values for histogram intensity and area correspondingly, respectively.
After computation of the ranges for contrast adjustment low and high, a global contrast enhancement is performed:
I(x,y)=255×(I′(x,y)−low)/(high−low),
where (x,y)—pixel coordinates of intermediate bitmap, I′ and I are intermediate images before and after contrast adjustment, respectively.
Edges are detected on an intermediate bitmap at operation S704. Several known conventional methods of detection of edges can be applied. Diffrence-of-Gausians (DoG) filter with subsequent thresholding is explained below as an example to be applied to this embodiment:
where I is an intermediate bitmap of contrast adjustment, E is an image of edges, T is a threshold, and * designates convolution. Difference-of-Gaussians filter parameters σ1, σ2 and threshold T depend on a type of a printing device and a printing resolution.
An image of edges is downscaled to a micro-picture with M dimensions, i.e., in 3 times at operation S705. For this purpose an image E is divided on 3 by 3 non-overlapped blocks, and a following rule is applied for each block: if a sum of pixels in a block is greater than 4, then a corresponding pixel in a micro-picture M is equal one, otherwise pixel in micro-picture M is zero.
At operation S706, isolated pixels on a micro-picture M is removed:
At operation S707, morphological filter of dilation is applied to a micro-picture. This operation is necessary for high printing resolution, because too thin regions may not be printed on printing devices during high-resolution printing. Parameters of the morphological filter of dilation, such as aperture (structure element, mask) and number of iterations, are dependent on a type of a printing device and printing resolution. Operations S705 to S707 of
Although the above-described system and method are illustrated as examples, the present general inventive concept is not limited thereto. It is possible that the system and method can be applied to another electronic apparatus, and the components and operations of the system and method can be replaced, modified, or changed to substantially perform the function thereof.
Referring to
The image forming apparatus 1000 may be connected to an external device, has a function of outputting document data, and can be embodied in various forms such as printer, scanner, digital copier, facsimile, or multi-function peripheral (MFP) embodying two or more of the above functions in combination by a single device.
The control unit 1010 controls functions of the image forming apparatus 1000. Accordingly, the control unit 1010 can control a variety of components equipped in the image forming apparatus 1000. Here, the control unit 1010 can be embodied as a central processing unit (CPU).
Further, the control unit 1010 may provide a parameter or a preset parameter for image blending in the image process unit 1030. Here, the preset parameter may be at least one parameter among parameters for the number and a location of a security mark on a page to be printed, a size of the security mark, a color ink for printing the security mark, a line thickness of the security mark, and a blending mode of the security mark and the page to be printed.
It is possible that the control unit 1010 may provide a parameter for generating a security mark in a security mark acquisition unit (not illustrated).
Here, the security mark can be embodied as a micro-picture described above.
The image reader unit 1020 performs a function of reading pages to be printed using an image sensor. Further, the image reader unit 1020 can perform a function of scanning a specific image to acquire an image corresponding to a security mark.
Meanwhile, the image reader unit 1020 can be embodied as a scan module (not illustrated) which performs a scanning operation.
The scan module (not illustrated) performs a scanning operation according to the control of the control unit 1010, and includes an image sensor unit (not illustrated), a motor unit (not illustrated), a location sensor unit (not illustrated), and a scan control unit (not illustrated).
The image sensor unit (not illustrated) may include a CMOS image sensor (CIS, not illustrated) to obtain an RGB pixel value corresponding to an image which is sensed, and sends the RGB pixel value sensed from each location through CIS to the scan control unit (not illustrated).
The motor unit (not illustrated) transfers a document in a scanning direction so as to sense an RGB pixel value corresponding to an image formed in the document line by line.
The location sensor unit (not illustrated) senses a location of a document placed in the image forming apparatus 100, and sends the sensed location to the scan control unit (not illustrated). The scan control unit (not illustrated) controls the image sensor unit (not illustrated), the motor unit (not illustrated), and the location sensor unit (not illustrated) so as to perform a scanning operation according to a scan command received from the control unit 1010.
In other words, the scan control unit (not illustrated) combines RGB pixel values sensed by the image sensor unit (not illustrated) and generates image data corresponding to an image formed in a document. Since other elements and operations of the image reader unit 1020 are well known, detail explanations thereof are omitted.
The image process unit 1030 has a function of carrying out an image process for input data according to the control of the control unit 1010.
The image process unit 1030 can process image blending of a page to be printed, which is scanned in the image reader unit 1020, for example, and a security mark acquired in the security mark acquisition unit (not illustrated), for example. In this case, the image process unit 1030 can perform the image blending using a preset parameter provided in the control unit 1010.
The output unit 1040 performs a printing operation of printing data, which is image-processed by the image process unit (not illustrated) according to the control of the control unit 1010, on a recording medium and outputting the data. It is possible that the output unit 1040 can output an image on a page to be printed in the image process unit 1030 and an image blended with a security mark. In this case, only one selected ink can be used to print micro-pictures. For example, printing by a yellow toner among a plurality of color toners can generate a copy protection mark which may be unnoticeable.
The user interface unit 1050 may include an operation key (not illustrated) in which is input a user's command to control operations of the image forming apparatus 1000 and a display window (not illustrated) such a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying a status of the image forming apparatus. Further, the user interface unit 1050 can be embodied as a device which embodies input and output simultaneously such as touch screen display, and the like.
The user interface unit 1050 can display various information provided in the image forming apparatus 1000, a status of a job in progress in the image forming apparatus 1000, and the result thereof. Users can confirm various print jobs in the image forming apparatus 1000 through the user interface unit 1050, and manage and control the print jobs.
The user interface unit 1050 can provide a user interface to adjust one or more parameters, for example, positions and sizes of micro-pictures on a page to be printed, and a user interface to select one or more micro-pictures.
In such a case, an original image can be input to the image forming apparatus through the communication interface unit 1070 to correspond to a page or an image corresponding to the security mark. Here, the communication interface unit 1070 may have a unit to provide data communication with an external device (not illustrated) via network. For example, the communication interface unit 1070 can be embodied in a form of a wired or wireless communication module which can support DLNA network, local system, LAN (Local Area Network), and internet network, and the like. Further, the external device (not illustrated) may be a host device such as personal computer (PC), a server unit, an external image forming apparatus, etc.
The original image may be an image read from a memory card through a card reader unit (not illustrated).
Further, a hard copy of the original image can be scanned by the image reader unit 1020.
Meanwhile, the original image can be stored in the storage unit 1060. An image corresponding to the security mark can also be stored in the storage unit 1060
Here, the storage unit 1060 can be embodied as a storage medium such as memory or HDD in the image forming apparatus 1000 and an external storage medium, for example a storage medium connected to a removal disk including a USB memory and host, and a web server via network.
It is possible that the storage unit 1060 can store a program code which can generate binary micro-pictures from the original image.
It is also possible that the storage unit 1060 can store a plurality of security marks which is preset, and in this case, the security mark acquisition unit (not illustrated) can select at least one of the plurality of security marks to acquire the selected security mark.
Meanwhile, the control unit 1010 can control the image process unit 1030 so that an image on a page to be printed is blended with a security mark by using at least one of an operation of replacing a preset portion of the image on a page to be printed with the security mark, an operation of replacing a preset portion of the image on a page to be printed with an inverted security mark, an operation of performing a by-pixel logical OR operation for portions corresponding to a security mark and an image on a page to be printed, an operation of performing a by-pixel logical AND operation for portions corresponding to a security mark and an image on a page to be printed, and an operation of performing a by-pixel logical XOR operation for portions corresponding to a security mark and an image on a page to be printed.
Accordingly, the control unit 1010 can generate binary micro-pictures from the original image by executing a program code stored in the storage unit 1060.
The data bus 1080 can support data transmission between system modules of the image forming apparatus 1000.
Meanwhile, in the exemplary embodiment, it is explained that the functions of generating micro-pictures is controlled by the components equipped in the image forming apparatus 1000. However, this is merely an exemplary embodiment, the present general inventive concept is not limited thereto, and the functions described above can be controlled by a printer driver (not illustrated) or an application (not illustrated) equipped in a host device (not illustrated) connected to the image forming apparatus 1000.
Meanwhile, according to the exemplary embodiment, it may include a storage medium including a program as computer-readable codes for performing a printing method of the image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment as described above, i.e. a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all sorts of recording media storing data which can be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, and optical data storage device, and so on. The computer-readable recording medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computers systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.
Although the invention has been shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is not to be construed as limiting the specific embodiments and will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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RU2010149285 | Dec 2010 | RU | national |
10-2011-0122460 | Nov 2011 | KR | national |