Image forming apparatus configured for identifying user who left printed document in the output tray

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9444953-B2
Application number	US-201514810503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2015
Priority date	Jul 31, 2014
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

An image forming apparatus has an image reading unit which reads an image, a photographing unit, a storing unit, a printing unit, a detecting unit, a notifying unit, an extracting unit, and a displaying unit. When the detecting unit detects untaken printed paper, the notifying unit notifies a user to promote reading of the image of the untaken printed paper by the image reading unit. The extracting unit extracts the data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit from the image of the printed paper read by the image reading unit. The displaying unit displays the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user extracted by the extracting unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image reading unit which reads an image;
a photographing unit which photographs an image of at least one part other than a face of a whole body of a user who prints an image;
a storing unit which stores data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit;
a printing unit which forms an image including the data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit, and then prints the image on paper;
a detecting unit which detects that printed paper, which is printed by the printing unit, is untaken;
a notifying unit which, when the detecting unit detects untaken printed paper, notifies a user to promote reading of the image of the untaken printed paper by the image reading unit;
an extracting unit which extracts the data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit from the image of the printed read by the image reading unit; and
a displaying unit which displays the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user extracted by the extracting unit.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:
a mode switching unit which switches a mode between a first mode having a first authority of operating the image forming apparatus and a second mode having a second authority higher than the first authority, wherein
the photographing unit photographs a face image of the user, and
the displaying unit which, when the mode is switched to the first mode by the mode switching unit, subjects the face image of the user to mosaic processing, and displays the mosaic-processed face image.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the displaying unit which, when the mode is switched to the second mode by the mode switching unit, displays the face image of the user.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:
a judging unit which, when the detecting unit detects untaken printed paper, lets the photographing unit photograph an image of the user, and then judges whether or not the photographed image is in agreement with the image of the user stored in the storing unit.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the printing unit forms an image including the data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit by electronic watermarking.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the storing unit eliminates the image data after a predetermined period passes.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the photographing unit contains a camera which photographs a front side of the image forming apparatus.

8. An image forming system comprising:
an image reading unit which reads an image;
a photographing unit which photographs an image of at least one part other than a face of a whole body of a user who prints an image;
a storing unit which stores data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit;
a printing unit which forms an image including the data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit, and then prints the image on paper;
a detecting unit which detects that printed paper, which is printed by the printing unit, is untaken;
a notifying unit which, when the detecting unit detects untaken printed paper, notifies a user to promote reading of the image of the untaken printed paper by the image reading unit;
an extracting unit which extracts the data of the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user photographed by the photographing unit from the image of the printed paper read by the image reading unit; and
a displaying unit which displays the image of at least one part other than the face of the whole body of the user extracted by the extracting unit.

Assignees

• Kyocera Document Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Sakashita Fumiya

Classifications

• H04N1/00042

  Monitoring, i.e. observation (H04N1/00029 - H04N1/00039 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04N1/32149

  Methods relating to embedding, encoding, decoding, detection or retrieval operations · CPC title

• H04N1/00076

  locally · CPC title

• H04N2201/0094

  Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception · CPC title

• H04N1/00251

  with an apparatus for taking photographic images, e.g. a camera · CPC title