JP6418184B2 - Document reading apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an original reading apparatus and an image forming apparatus that acquire original data by reading an original.

  In recent years, it has become possible to easily share a document among multiple users by scanning the document with a scanner and digitizing it. This prevents information leakage when scanning important documents that contain confidential information. Security measures are needed. Therefore, the document data acquired by scanning is recognized, and the access authority is automatically set based on the personal name or group name detected by the character recognition. For example, a technique for preventing an error in the distribution of manuscript data by scanning (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In addition, when the character data of the manuscript data was recognized and a specific character string such as confidential information was detected, the access permission for the file owner and the file owner group was set, and the specific character string was not detected. In such a case, a technique for setting an access right accessible to all members is known (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-143414 JP 2005-175594 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-269093

  However, in the techniques of Patent Documents 1 to 3, the important manuscript data used by the creator is also used by other users. Depending on the creator, other users may access the important manuscript data used by the user. There was a case where I hated. Therefore, there has been a demand for a technique capable of easily creating document data for another person while ensuring security separately from the document data for the principal person when the important document is scanned.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. When an important document is scanned, it is possible to easily create document data for another person while ensuring security separately from the document data for the person. The purpose is to provide.

The document reading apparatus of the present invention includes a storage unit that stores user information, a login processing unit that receives a login of a user based on the user information, and reads the document according to an instruction from the user that has received the login. A document reading unit for acquiring document data, a character recognition unit for recognizing the first page of the acquired original document data and acquiring text data, and for the user based on the acquired text data An important document determination unit that determines whether or not the document data is an important document, and the user who has received the login from the text data based on the user information when the personal document data is determined to be the important document When other users are detected, the original document data is copied to create other original data. And use data generation unit, characterized by comprising a security countermeasure for performing security measures of the document data the others created by the person data generation unit.
The security countermeasure unit may include a password setting unit that sets the password of the user detected by the other-person data creation unit in the other-person document data.
In addition, the security countermeasure unit may include an access restriction unit that stores the other manuscript data in a folder permitted to be accessed by the user detected by the other man data creating unit.
Further, the other person data creation unit detects a personal name as a user other than the user who has accepted the login from the text data, creates the other manuscript data of the detected number of individuals, and the password setting unit. May set the individual password detected by the other-person data creation unit in the other-person document data.
The other-person data creation unit detects a department name as a user other than the user who has accepted the login from the text data, creates the other-person manuscript data for the detected number of departments, and the password setting unit. May set the password of each department detected by the data creation unit for others to the manuscript data for others.
The other-person data creation unit detects both a personal name and a department name as a user other than the user who has accepted the login from the text data, and the detected individual belongs to the detected department. In this case, the manuscript data for others may be created for the number of individuals excluding the individuals belonging to the detected department + the number of departments.
The password may be a login password.
The image forming apparatus of the present invention may include the above-described document reading device.

  According to the present invention, when an important document is scanned, document data for another person can be easily created in a state where security is ensured separately from the document data for the person.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a registration example of the user information shown in FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of document reading processing of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 2. This is an example of a document read by a document reading unit.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that, in the following embodiments, the same reference numerals are given to configurations showing similar functions.

  Referring to FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is a multifunction machine having a scanning function and functions as a document reading apparatus. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a document reading unit 2, a document feeding unit 3, a main body unit 4, and an operation unit 5. The document reading unit 2 is disposed at the upper part of the main body unit 4, and the document feeding unit 3 is disposed at the upper part of the document reading unit 2. Further, on the front side of the image forming apparatus 1, an operation unit 5 for setting the image forming apparatus 1 and instructing operation is disposed.

  The operation unit 5 is provided with a liquid crystal display unit 51 and operation buttons 52. The user operates the operation unit 5 to input an instruction, thereby performing various settings of the image forming apparatus 1 and executing various functions such as image formation. The liquid crystal display unit 51 displays the state of the image forming apparatus 1, displays the image forming status and the number of copies, and accepts various settings such as functions such as double-sided printing and black-and-white reversal, magnification setting, and density setting as a touch panel. . The operation button 52 includes a start button for instructing the user to start image formation, a stop / clear button for use when stopping image formation, and various settings of the image forming apparatus 1 that are used for default settings. A reset button, a numeric keypad and the like are provided.

  The document reading unit 2 includes a scanner 21, a platen glass 22, and a document reading slit 23. The scanner 21 includes a light source 24 using an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a light receiving unit 25 including a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) line sensor, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) line sensor, and the like. The unit 3 is configured to be movable in the conveyance direction of the document MS. The document reading slit 23 is a slit formed in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the document MS by the document feeding unit 3.

  The document feeding unit 3 includes a document placement unit 31, a document discharge unit 32, and a document transport mechanism 33. The document MS set on the document placement unit 31 is sequentially fed out one by one by the document transport mechanism 33 and transported to a position facing the document reading slit 23, and then discharged to the document discharge unit 32. The document feeding unit 3 and the document reading unit 2 are connected to each other by a hinge mechanism on the back side of the image forming apparatus 1, and the document feeding unit 3 functions as a platen cover that opens and closes the upper surface of the platen glass 22. . By opening the document feeder 3 upward, the upper surface of the platen glass 22 is opened, and the document MS can be set on the platen glass 22.

  When reading of the document MS is instructed by the operation button 52 of the operation unit 5 in a state where the document MS is not set on the document placement unit 31 or in an opened state where the document feeding unit 3 (platen cover) is opened. A document MS set on the platen glass 22 is read. When reading the document MS placed on the platen glass 22, the scanner 21 is moved to a position facing the platen glass 22, and the document MS set on the platen glass 22 is moved in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. The image data is acquired by scanning while scanning from the reference line in the sub-scanning direction, and the acquired image data is output to the main body unit 4.

  When reading of the document MS is instructed by the operation button 52 of the operation unit 5 in a state where the document MS is set on the document placement unit 31, the document MS conveyed by the document feeding unit 3 is read. The document MS is set on the document placement unit 31 with the front surface (surface from which a document image is read) facing up. Then, the document MS set on the document placement unit 31 is conveyed from the left side by the document feeding unit 3, and the surface of the document MS is guided to a position facing the document reading slit 23. Further, when reading the document MS conveyed by the document feeding unit 3, the scanner 21 is moved to a position facing the document reading slit 23 and is synchronized with the conveying operation by the document feeding unit 3 via the document reading slit 23. Then, the original MS is read to acquire image data, and the acquired image data is output to the main body unit 4.

  The main body 4 includes a recording unit 6, and includes a paper feed unit 41, a paper feed roller 42, a paper transport path 43, a transport roller 44, and a discharge roller 45. The paper feed unit 41 is a paper feed cassette that stores a plurality of recording papers P. The paper feed roller 42 feeds the recording paper P from the paper feed unit 41 to the paper transport path 43 one by one. The recording paper P fed to the paper transport path 43 by the paper feed roller 42 is transported to the recording unit 6 by the transport roller 44. The recording paper P on which recording has been performed by the recording unit 6 is discharged by a discharge roller 45 into a discharge space 46 formed between the document reading unit 2 and the main body unit 4. As described above, the paper feed roller 42, the transport roller 44, and the discharge roller 45 function as a transport unit for the recording paper P.

  The recording unit 6 includes a photosensitive drum 61, a charging unit 62, an exposure unit 63, an image forming unit 64, a transfer unit 65, a fixing unit 66, and a cleaning unit 67. The exposure unit 63 is an optical unit including a laser device, a mirror, and the like. The exposure unit 63 outputs a laser beam based on image data to the photosensitive drum 61 uniformly charged by the charging unit 62 and exposes the photosensitive drum 61. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the drum 61. The image forming unit 64 is a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 61 using toner, and forms a toner image based on the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 61. The transfer unit 65 transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 61 by the image forming unit 64 to the recording paper P. The fixing unit 66 heats the recording paper on which the toner image is transferred by the transfer unit 65 to fix the toner image on the recording paper P. The toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 61 is removed by the cleaning unit 67.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. The document reading unit 2, document feeding unit 3, transport unit (feed roller 42, transport roller 44, discharge roller 45), operation unit 5, and recording unit 6 are connected to the control unit 11 and are controlled by the control unit 11. Operation controlled. In addition, an image processing unit 7, a storage unit 8, a login processing unit 9, and a communication unit 10 are connected to the control unit 11.

  The image processing unit 7 is a unit that performs predetermined image processing on the image data. For example, image improvement processing such as rotation processing, enlargement / reduction processing, gradation adjustment, and density adjustment is performed.

  The storage unit 8 is a storage unit such as a semiconductor memory or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The storage unit 8 stores image data acquired by reading the document MS by the document reading unit 2, and stores various management information. ing.

  The storage unit 8 stores user information 81 and a keyword 82 indicating an important document. The user information 81 includes a user ID 81a for identifying a user, a user name 81b, an affiliation 81c, and a login password 81d. The user name 81b includes not only a personal name but also a group name such as a department name, and the user is managed so that the user can log in to the image forming apparatus 1 with the personal name or the group name. If the user name 81b is a personal name, the department name to which the personal user belongs is registered in the affiliation 81c. In addition, the user can register any keyword indicating that it is an important document as the keyword 82, for example, registering “confidential document”, “confidential”, “confidential”, “important”, etc. Can do. A plurality of keywords 82 can be registered. An image pattern such as a company logo mark may be registered as the keyword 82.

  When the user ID 81a and the login password 81d are input, the login processing unit 9 has a function of accepting a user login by checking the input user ID 81a and the login password 81d with the user information 81.

  The communication unit 10 has a function of transmitting / receiving various data to / from the file storage device 12 via a network such as a LAN. The communication unit 10 may have a function of connecting to the Internet, and may transmit / receive various data to / from the file storage device 12 via the Internet.

  The control unit 11 is an information processing unit such as a microcomputer including a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. The ROM stores a control program for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 11 reads the control program stored in the ROM and develops the control program in the RAM, thereby controlling the entire apparatus according to predetermined instruction information input from the operation unit 5.

  Further, the control unit 11 functions as a character recognition unit 111, an important document determination unit 112, a data creation unit 113 for others, and a security countermeasure unit 116.

  The character recognition unit 111 performs OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing on the first page of document data (personal document data) read via the document reading unit 2 and acquires text data by character recognition. Have

  The important document determination unit 112 has a function of determining whether or not the original document data is an important document based on the text data acquired by the character recognition unit 111. Specifically, the important document determination unit 112 determines that the document is an important document when the keyword 82 is detected from the text data, and determines that the document is not an important document when the keyword 82 is not detected.

  The other person data creation unit 113 detects a user other than the login user from the text data of the original document data determined to be an important document based on the user information 81, and detects a user name 81b other than the login user. It has a function of determining that it is necessary to create manuscript data for other people and creating manuscript data for others by copying the manuscript data for the man. If the other person data creation unit 113 does not detect the user name 81b other than the login user, the other person data creation unit 113 determines that the creation of the other person document data is unnecessary, and does not create the other person document data. When a plurality of user names 81b other than the login user are detected from the text data, other manuscript data is created for each detected user. In the following description, the original document data is described as the original data when the original document data is not distinguished from the other manuscript data.

  The security countermeasure unit 116 includes a password setting unit 114 and an access restriction unit 115, and has a function of performing security countermeasures on the manuscript data for the person determined to be an important document and the manuscript data for the other person.

  The password setting unit 114 has a function of setting a login password 81d in the manuscript data for the principal and the manuscript data for the other person when it is determined that the document is an important document. The login password 81d is not set for document data that has not been determined to be an important document.

  The access restriction unit 115 has a function of saving the manuscript data for the principal and the manuscript data for the other person in a folder with access restriction of the file storage device 12 when it is determined as an important document. Document data that has not been determined to be an important document is stored in an unrestricted folder in the file storage device 12. A folder with restricted access is a folder that is allowed to be accessed only by the specified user. When the created document data is stored in a folder with restricted access, the access restriction unit 115 sets a login user who is a creator of document data in a folder designated in advance in the file storage device 12 or a newly created folder. Set as an authorized person. When the data for others is created, the access restriction unit 115 also sets the user detected from the text data by the data creation unit 113 for others as a permitted person in the folder. The folder without access restriction is a shared folder designated in advance in the file storage device 12.

  The file storage device 12 is configured by a server or the like, and is a storage unit that accumulates document data transmitted via the communication unit 10 and document data for others. In this embodiment, an example in which the file storage device 12 is provided on a network will be described. However, the file storage device 12 may be provided in the image forming apparatus 1 or may be provided on a cloud.

  Next, the flow of image reading processing in the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the login processor 9 accepts a user login based on the input user information 81 (user ID 81a, login password 81d) (step s11).

  Subsequently, when the logged-in user sets the original MS shown in FIG. 5 and presses the start button to give an image reading instruction, the original reading unit 2 reads the set original MS and converts the original data to the original original data. (Step s12).

  When the original document data is acquired, the character recognition unit 111 performs OCR processing on the first page of the original document data (step s13). Thereby, the text data of the first page corresponding to the cover is acquired.

  Subsequently, the important document determination unit 112 determines whether the document is an important document based on the text data acquired by the character recognition unit 111 (step s14). Specifically, the important document determination unit 112 determines that it is an important document when it detects a keyword 82 (for example, “confidential document” shown in FIG. 5) registered in advance from the text data. If it is not detected, it is determined that the document is not an important document.

  If the original manuscript data is not an important document (No in step s14), the access manipulating data is kept in the state where the login password 81d is not set, and the access restricting unit 115 sets an unrestricted access folder (for example, in advance). The file is stored in the set shared folder or the like (step s15), and the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the original document data is an important document (Yes in step s14), the other person data creation unit 113 determines whether it is necessary to create the other person original data based on the text data (step s16). . Specifically, when the other person data creating unit 113 detects the user name 81b other than the login user from the text data, it determines that the other person manuscript data needs to be created (Yes in step s16), and the other person manuscript is created. By copying the data (step s17), the other manuscript data for the detected number of users is created separately from the manuscript data. This is because the names of related parties are often described on the cover of important materials, and important materials are often distributed to users whose names are described as related parties.

  For example, in the case of the document MS shown in FIG. 5, user names 81b of “first department”, “Taro Yamada”, and “Hanako Yamada” are described. When the logged-in user is “Jiro Tanaka”, the detected user is a user other than the logged-in user, so three copies of the original document data are created as the other-person original data.

  If the user name 81b other than the login user is not detected from the text data, it is determined that it is not necessary to create the other manuscript data (No in step s16), and the process proceeds to step s18 without creating the other manuscript data. move on.

  Subsequently, in the process of step s18, a dialog screen for confirming whether or not to set a password is displayed on the operation unit 5, and the user determines whether or not to set a password for the document data determined to be an important document via the dialog screen. Select (step s18). If it is instructed not to set a password via the dialog screen (No in step s18), the login password 81d setting process is not performed, and the process proceeds to step s20.

  On the other hand, when it is instructed to set a password via the dialog screen (Yes in step s18), the password setting unit 114 sets the login password 81d of each user for each of the created document data (step s19). ).

  As a result, the login password 81d of the login user is set in the personal manuscript data, and when the other manuscript data is created, the log-in of the user detected from the text data in each of the other manuscript data. A password 81d is set. For example, a login password 81d “22222” of “Jiro Tanaka” is set in the manuscript data for the person. Further, the three other manuscript data created based on the manuscript MS shown in FIG. 5 includes the login password 81d “11111” for “first department”, the login password 81d “12345” for “Hanako Yamada”, and “ A login password 81d “abcde” for “Taro Yamada” is set. Thus, by automatically setting the login password 81d as the password, it is not necessary to notify the password separately, and security can be improved. It should be noted that the user ID 81a, the user name 81b, and the like may be attached to the file name of the created document data so that the original document data and the other manuscript data can be identified.

  Next, a dialog screen is displayed on the operation unit to confirm whether to save the created document data in a location with access restrictions. The user can then access the document data that has been determined to be important via the dialog screen. It is selected whether or not to save in a place (step s20). When it is instructed to save in a place with access restriction (Yes in step s20), the access restriction unit 115 saves the document data in a folder with access restriction designated in advance in the file storage device 12 ( Step s21), this process ends. When it is instructed not to store in a place with access restriction (No in step s20), the access restriction unit 115 causes the file storage device 12 to specify a folder without access restriction (for example, a shared folder). The document data is saved (step s22), and this process ends. When the other manuscript data has been created, the control unit 11 may notify the target person of the other manuscript data by e-mail or the like when the manuscript data is saved. .

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes the storage unit 8 that stores the user information 81, the login processing unit 9 that receives a user's login based on the user information 81, and the user who has received the login. An original reading unit 2 that acquires original document data by reading an original in accordance with an instruction, and a character recognition unit 111 that acquires text data by recognizing the first page of the acquired original document data. An important document determining unit 112 that determines whether or not the document is an important document based on the text data, and detecting a user other than the user who accepted the login from the text data based on the user information 81 when the document is determined to be an important document. A data creation unit 113 for another person that creates a data for another person by copying the original data for the person, And a security countermeasure unit 116 to perform the security measures of the original data for the others that have been created by the creation unit 113. As a result, when the manuscript MS is an important document and needs to be distributed to other users, the manuscript data for the principal and the manuscript data for the other person are automatically created in a state in which security is ensured. The document data can be easily distributed to the parties concerned in a secured state. As a security measure, either or both of a password and access restriction can be set.

  In addition, as manuscript data for others, personal manuscript data and manuscript data for groups such as departments are created with security ensured, so it is easy to create important materials for personal browsing and department browsing. be able to. In addition, since each login password 81d is set for each created document data, there is no need to separately notify the password.

  In the above embodiment, the login password 81d is set in the document data. However, a dedicated password different from the login password 81d is registered in the user information 81, and the password setting unit 114 sets the dedicated password. You may use it to set a password.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been given on the assumption that the user can select whether or not to save the password in a folder with access restriction via the dialog screen. This is because if all the document data determined to be important documents are password-set and access-restricted, excessive security measures may be provided. As for the processing of the password setting unit 114 and the processing of the access restriction unit 115 when it is determined that the document is an important document, the user can set whether or not to save the password in a folder with access restriction. May be. In this case, the password setting unit 114 and the access restriction unit 115 automatically select whether or not to save the password in a folder with access restriction according to the process set by the user without displaying the dialog screen. May be processed. Further, the password setting unit 114 may set the password input by the login user instead of the login password 81d of the login user in the password setting of the original document data.

  Also, the other person data creation unit 113 detects both a department and an individual as a user other than the login user from the text data, and if an individual belongs to the detected department, the personal data belonging to the department Other manuscript data may not be created. That is, the other person data creation unit 113 creates the number of individuals excluding the individuals belonging to the detected department + the number of other person manuscript data. This is because the individual user in this case can view the other manuscript data created for the department. For example, in the case of the manuscript MS shown in FIG. 5, since “Taro Yamada” and “Hanako Yamada” belong to “first department”, only the manuscript data for others for “first department” is created. You may be made to do.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Original reading part 3 Original feeding part 4 Main body part 5 Operation part 6 Recording part 7 Image processing part 8 Storage part 9 Login processing part 10 Communication part 11 Control part 12 File storage device 21 Scanner 22 Platen glass 23 Original Reading slit 24 Light source 25 Light receiving portion 31 Document placing portion 32 Document discharge portion 33 Document transport mechanism 41 Paper feed portion 42 Paper feed roller 43 Paper transport path 44 Transport roller 45 Discharge roller 46 Discharge space 51 Liquid crystal display portion 52 Operation button 61 Photosensitive Body drum 62 Charging unit 63 Exposure unit 64 Image forming unit 65 Transfer unit 66 Fixing unit 67 Cleaning unit 81 User information 81a User ID
81b User name 81c Affiliation 81d Login password 82 Keyword 111 Character recognition unit 112 Important document determination unit 113 Data creation unit for others 114 Password setting unit 115 Access restriction unit 116 Security countermeasure unit MS Document

Claims (8)

A storage unit storing user information;
A login processing unit that accepts a user login based on the user information;
A document reading unit that reads the document in accordance with an instruction from the user who has accepted the login and obtains original document data;
A character recognizing unit for recognizing the first page of the obtained original manuscript data to obtain text data;
An important document determination unit that determines whether or not the original document data is an important document based on the acquired text data;
When it is determined that the original document data is the important document, if a user other than the user who has accepted the login is detected from the text data based on the user information, the original document data is copied and another person is copied. A data creation unit for others that creates manuscript data,
A document reading apparatus, comprising: a security countermeasure unit that performs security countermeasures on the other manuscript data created by the other person data creation unit. The security countermeasure section
The document reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a password setting unit that sets the password of the user detected by the data creation unit for others in the document data for others. The security countermeasure section
3. The document reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an access restriction unit that stores the document data for another person in a folder permitted to be accessed by the user detected by the data creation unit for the other person. . The data creation unit for others is
Detecting a personal name as a user other than the user who has accepted the login from the text data, and creating the manuscript data for the number of detected individuals,
The password setting unit
The document reading apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a password for each individual detected by the other person data creation unit is set in the other person document data. The data creation unit for others is
Detecting a department name as a user other than the user who has accepted the login from the text data, creating the other manuscript data for the number of detected departments,
The password setting unit
5. The document reading apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a password of each department detected by the other person data creation unit is set in the other person document data. 6. The data creation unit for others is
Detect both personal name and department name as a user other than the user who accepted the login from the text data, and belong to the detected department if the detected individual belongs to the detected department 6. The document reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other manuscript data of the number of individuals excluding the individual who is present + the number of departments is created. The document reading apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the password is a login password. An image forming apparatus comprising the document reading device according to claim 1.

Images