Abstract:
A system for converting data of various types into color dot images to perform various basic data managements by using the color dot images. First, data of various types are represented by a color code train, a color dot is allowed to correspond to each color code in the color code train to generate a color dot image or object of an arbitrary shape to perform various basic data managements using the color dot image, the size of each dot and a dot-to-dot interval are controlled for printing and drawing on a medium of various types such as paper and recording and retaining, basic data is restored from the color dot image in a computer, color dot images recorded and retained on a medium of various kinds are read with a scanner or a camera to restore them to basic data of various types.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims priority to International Application No. PCT/JP2004/001684, filed Feb. 17, 2004, published on Sep. 23, 2004. Publication No. WO/2004081851 A1 in the Japanese language and claims, priority to Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2003-108382, filed Mar. 10, 2003; 2003-180279, filed May 22, 2003 and 2003-435990, filed Nov. 27, 2003. The entire disclosure of the prior applications are considered as being part of the disclosure of the Present application and are hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention discloses to a color dot code system relating to a method for converting documents, audio data, and other types of data into images and managing in a computer the original data based on those images, and printing the images on paper etc., recording to store the original data in a form differing to that of electronic methods such as floppy disks or CDs, reading the recorded and stored images using a scanner or a camera, and restoring the original data. The present invention also relates to a method whereby various types of data such as documents and audio data are converted to corresponding color codes and are represented by color code trains, arbitrarily shaped color dot images are generated to have arbitrarily sized dots based on the color code trains, and using those color dot images the original data are managed in a computer based on those images, or the color dot images are recorded to store in various types of media such as paper, cloth, glass, plastics and stones. When recording to store the images on the various media, the method according to the present invention makes it possible to decrease or increase the size of the recorded color dots and dot-to-dot interval corresponding to quality of the recording medium, quality of the recording device and quality of the reading device, and then records and stores the color dot images on the various types of media, reads the recorded and stored color dot images using a reading means suitable for the media on which the color dot images are recorded and stored, inputs them into a color code processing device, and restores the various types of original data such as documents and audio data from the color dot images by the color code processing device. Furthermore, the present invention also makes it possible to treat the color dot images as indirect data corresponding to direct data directly comprehensible by humans through sight, to mix the direct data and the indirect data, to manage them as one file or as a group of data in a computer, to print the direct data and indirect data on the same surface of paper when recording and storing on media such as paper, and to enable restoring the original data from the portion of indirect data by an indirect data restoration device, when necessary.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Nowadays, as computers and networks have become so widespread, a wide range of different types of data are managed in computers in the form of files. Accordingly, management of data files has become burdensome. Furthermore, as important data may be increasingly leaked or stolen from networks, data are increasingly stored in encrypted forms. However, encrypted data seems no more than a list of meaningless symbols through human eyes, and generates an unpleasant impression for human, therefore the encryption is undesirable for daily use of computers.  
         [0004]     Meanwhile, in accordance with the popularization of bar-code systems and their application to all kinds of products, cash-registers in supermarkets and such like input the price of goods by reading the bar-codes applied to the products. The bar-codes applied to a product represent data describing the product in question using black and white lines. In addition to bar-codes of a single dimension, two-dimensional bar-codes have also been realized. However, the bar-codes can represent extremely small amount of information.  
         [0005]     On the other hand, as photocopying technologies etc. has highly developed recently, it has now become extremely easy to counterfeit personal seals of approval and the like. Therefore, it is no longer easily determinable whether or not contracts or other printed documents were actually executed by the person indicated. In addition, many documents to be commonly referred by several people may have a part of the content which should be protected as personal information for preventing it from being referred by any other party. As for postcards, it is often desirable to conceal the content thereof from anybody other than the intended recipient, and for this reason, such postcards are in common use that maintain privacy by the method wherein two sheets of paper are stuck each other and then peeled apart when necessary. However, such postcards are complicated and expensive, and there remains a worry that they might be peeled off intentionally.  
         [0006]     Meanwhile, all the data contained in a computer is digital in nature and there are many cases where this type of electronic data becomes no longer useable as time goes by. For example, the number of laptop computers provided with floppy disc drives has significantly decreased in recent years, leading to the state of affairs wherein data previously stored on floppy discs can no longer be read. It is now almost impossible to read data from 8″ floppy discs, 5″ floppy discs of the recent past, and even 3.5″ discs of 1.2 Mb version. On the other hand, pictures can always be viewed, even if they were made hundreds of years ago. This is because pictures are direct data. However, as music and voice data are recorded and stored in the form of electronic data, it is becoming increasingly difficult to playback such data stored on older media using modern devices.  
         [0007]     Accordingly, objects of the present invention are to provide a system capable of converting various kinds of data into color dot images and then use those color dot images to manage data in computers, to provide a recording and storage system capable of converting a large volume of data, binary data, and other non-visible data into visible color dot images which can be easily recorded onto paper, wood, and other normal media, and capable of flexibly supporting different qualities of media and reading devices, to provide a system capable of creating printed documents of which counterfeit copies cannot be created, and to provide a system capable of reading the recorded and stored color dot images into a computer using a scanner or a camera and then restoring the various types of original data.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The color dot code system of the present invention is comprising of a first means for representing various types of data such as documents, audio data etc. into a color dot train, for generating a color dot image of an arbitrary shape by relating the color dots to the color codes of the color dot train and then for managing various types of the original data in a computer using the color dot image; a second means for controlling size of each dot and interval between the dots, for recording and storing them through picturing, printing, or engraving of the image on various media such as paper, wood in cases of recording and storing on various medium such as paper, and for constructing an object corresponding to the color dot image using glass or stone balls having colors corresponding to each color dot; a third means for mixing direct data comprehensible by humans through direct expression such as written words, etc. with indirect data in the form of the color dot images, for managing them as the same file data in a computer, and for printing and recording the mixed direct data and indirect data on the same sheet in cases of using printing and recording medium such as paper; a fourth means for restoring the original data from the color dot image in a computer; and a fifth means for restoring a various kind of original data by reading into a color code processing device the color dot images recorded and stored on various medium such as paper using a scanner or some other reading devices or through photographs using a camera or the like.  
         [0009]     In accordance with the above structure, the various forms of data stored in a computer can be converted into color dot images and the original various forms of data then managed in a computer using the color dot images, thus realizing a simple unified management of data. Furthermore, encrypted data and the like which can generate an unpleasant impression in humans, compressed data and other invisible data in its original form can be converted to visible data, and such environment is easily realized that humans can handle data more easily and data management becomes simpler in terms of usage of computers. In addition, even a large volume of data can be converted into color dot images, and furthermore, the color dot images are made readily acceptable to humans with an arbitrary shape having each dot of arbitrary size and dot-to-dot interval of arbitrary distance, and the color dot images are recorded and stored in normal media as paper, etc. What is more, fashion accessories, etc. can be constructed by rendering the color dot images using colored glass or stone balls, and the original various forms of data can be easily restored by reading them through the use of a normal computer peripheral scanner, etc.  
         [0010]     The type of basic colors for the color code train is preferably selected to be appropriate to quality of the printer for recording and storing, quality of the recording media, and precision of the device for reading the color dot images recorded on the media. For example, when printing and recording on paper using printing ink or the like, the four primary colors of the printing ink, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are used, alternatively, blue is used instead of cyan (C) and red is used instead of magenta (M). Furthermore, when the printing paper, printer, and reading device have high qualities, a multiplicity of colors such as 8 colors or 16 colors are used in addition to augment the 4 colors. And when data is managed in the computer, the kind of colors suitable for favorable display of images are used.  
         [0011]     Wherein the means for representing various types of data by the color code train represents the colors by binary data used in the computer or the like corresponding to the number of the colors to be used, so that when the above-described four colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) are used, the four colors are represented by every 2-bit expression.  
         [0012]     The means for recording and storing the color dot images by printing or drawing on the various recording media such as paper, wood, glass, fabric, and plastic preferably determines size of the color dots and the do-to-dot intervals in response to quality of the media and precision of the recording device for the media. When a current inkjet printer for personal computers prints out on a printer paper, for example, in consideration of the printer paper quality and the printing precision of the ink iet printer, it is adequate for the size of the printing color dot to be set to, for example, no less than 0.05 mm in height and no less than 0.05 mm in width, and for the dot-to-dot interval to be set to, for example, no less than 0.05 mm in the transverse direction (i.e., the scanning direction of the printer head) and no less than 0.05 mm in the lateral direction (i.e., the direction of paper feed).  
         [0013]     The means for reading the color dot images recorded and stored on various media such as paper is preferable of contact type including a scanner, a hand-held scanner or the like used as a peripheral device of a personal computer, or non-contact type including a digital camera, a video camera, or a mobile shone or a hand-held terminal attached with a camera, or magnifying type using a lens system.  
         [0014]     The color dot code system of the invention may be a mixture system recording both of direct data comprehensible by humans and indirect data in the form of the color dot images converted from various types of data.  
         [0015]     For example, when a printing material such as a contract document is prepared, color (including monochrome) dot images as indirect data converted with the above mentioned method from an electronic certificate for verifying the genuineness of the contract or cipher texts encrypted by secret key of the contractor may be printed in mixture with agreement contents as direct data, so as to record them as a merged system of direct data and indirect data.  
         [0016]     The merged system can authenticate the printed matter such as a contract document being genuine by reading the color (including monochrome) dot image corresponding to the indirect data using a camera, a scanner, or the like, decoding the read indirect data, performing conversion thereof to direct data, and restoring the electronic certificate or the encrypted document.  
         [0017]     The color dot code system of the Present invention may have a means for protecting a secret section through the color dot images in printed matters or in internal computer data to be referenced by a multiplicity of people intended to be referenced by concerned parties only and not by third parties. Furthermore, it may have a means for encrypting a secret section within printed matters using the public key of the owner or the object person or the common key of a group section, and representing the encrypted data as indirect data using the color dot image, in which the secret section is intended to remain confidential within printed matter that may possibly be readily exposed to or referenced by third parties. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of the method of a color dot code system according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the color dot processing device.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating the method for representing document data by a color code train.  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating the method for representing a color code train by a color dot image.  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating the method for printing and recording a color dot image on printing paper.  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  is a process flowchart showing the document data restoration process from color dot images in the color dot code processing device.  
         [0024]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram showing the real-time picture reading and restoring device.  
         [0025]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram showing the real-time card reading and authentication device.  
         [0026]      FIG. 9  is a block diagram showing the mixing system of direct data and indirect data.  
         [0027]      FIG. 10  is a diagram showing an example of a contract realized through recording and printing of direct data and indirect data on a single sheet of paper.  
         [0028]      FIG. 11  is a block diagram of the system for creating stickers and fashion accessories.  
         [0029]      FIG. 12  is a diagram showing an example of method for generating color dot images of an arbitrary shape from various types of data. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0030]     Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail referring to the attached drawings.  
         [0031]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a color dot code system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention whereby various types of data such as documents and audio data are rendered in the form of color dot images, and the various types of data such as documents and audio data are stored by recording these color dot images onto a medium such as paper or wood, and furthermore, the original various types of data are restored by reading the color dot images recorded and stored on the various types of medium using a camera or a scanner and processing thereof using a color dot code processor.  
         [0032]     First of all, the text data D 1 , voice data D 2 , and various other types of data are represented in the form of a color code train D 3 . In terms of the color code employed, when printing by an ink jet printer and the like with printing paper, for example, the primary colors of the printing ink, C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black), etc. are used. Next, a color dot image D 4  relating its color dots to the respective color codes is generated from the color code train D 3 . Following this, the color dot image D 4  is recorded on one of various types of media such as paper using a method such as printing, thus recording and storing the various types of data such as documents and audio data as recorded images D 5  on the media. Accordingly, in order to restore the original text data D 1  or voice data D 2  from the color dot images D 4  recorded and stored on various types of media such as paper by the above-described method, the color dot image D 5  is read into a color dot code processor F 2  built by a personal computer or the like through a reading device F 1  such as a scanner, and by performing restoration processing in the color dot code processor, the original text data D 1   a  and voice data D 2   a  are restored.  
         [0033]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the color dot code processor F 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the color dot code processor F 2  is comprised of a color dot image input processing section P 1 , a pixel to color code conversion processing section P 2 , a color dot code train generation processing section P 3 , a binary data generation processing section P 4 , a binary data to color dot code train generation processing section P 5 , a color dot image generation processing section P 6 , a color dot image output processing section P 7 , and a data managing section P 8  for managing various data using color dot images. The color dot image recorded and stored on a medium as paper is input into the color dot code processor F 2  via the color dot image input processing section P 1 , and by processing in steps by the pixel to color code conversion processing section P 2 , the color dot code train generation processing section P 3 , and the binary data generation processing section P 4 , the original various types of data D 6  are restored.  
         [0034]     Furthermore, the original various types of data D 6  such as documents and audio data are processed in steps by the binary data to color dot code train generation processing section P 5 , the color dot image generation processing section P 6 , and the color dot image output processing section P 7 , and are recorded and stored on a medium such as paper as color dot images.  
         [0035]     In addition, the data managing section P 8  for managing various data using color dot images manages the various types of data through use of the color dot images generated by the color dot image generation processing section P 6 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 3  is an explanatory diagram concerning the method for representing document data by a color dot code train. In  FIG. 3 , the text data D 7  is represented in binary data format D 8 , for example, as the internal data format in a personal computer or other computing device. Accordingly, 2-bit representation is available when 4 types of color codes consisting of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) are used as the color codes. Therefore a correspondence chart D 9  is obtained for bit information and color codes relationship, for example, wherein 00 corresponds to K (black), 01 corresponds to C (cyan), 10 corresponds to M (magenta), and 11 corresponds to Y (yellow). Therefore, the text data D 7  converted to the binary data format D 8  is applied with the correspondence chart D 9  for performing indexing D 10 , then the color dot code train D 11  is created.  
         [0037]      FIG. 4  is an explanatory diagram relating to the method for representing a color dot code train by a color dot image. In this diagram, the color codes of C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) are represented by color dots D 12  having the corresponding color. Using these color dots D 12 , the color dot code train D 11  for the text data is represented by a color dot image D 13 .  
         [0038]      FIG. 5  is an explanatory diagram relating to the method for printing and recording a color dot image on paper using a printer. As shown in this diagram, the color dot code processor F 2  such as a PC controls size of each dot and horizontal and vertical intervals between the dots of the color dot image D 13 , and a printer F 3  generates a record or storage of the color dot image D 14 .  
         [0039]      FIG. 6  is an explanatory diagram dealing with the method for restoring the original data from the color dot image read into the color dot image processing device using a scanner. As shown in this figure, the read color dot image D 15  is converted into color codes corresponding to each pixel thereof using the pixel to color code conversion processing section P 2  of the color dot code processor F 2 , and is stored as C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) representation D 16  of the color dot image. Next, the color code train D 11  is generated using the color dot code train generation processing section P 3  of the color dot code processor. Following this, the original document D 7  is restored from the color code train D 11  using the binary data generation processing section P 4  of the color dot code processor.  
         [0040]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram showing the real-time picture reading and restoration device. As shown in this diagram, the color dot image displayed on a display device F 5  such as a TV display is captured in real time into the processing device F 7  of a picture reading and restoration device using a camera F 6 . Next, the color dot image data captured into the processing device F 7  is restored in real time to the original data using the processing device F 7 , and the original data can be stored in a database device F 8 , transferred to a remote location via a network F 9 , output through a speaker F 4  when the original data is audio data, etc., printed through a printer F 3  when the original data is documents, etc.; furthermore, color dot images from the ever-changing display of the display device F 5  such as a TV display are processed in real time so as to acquire various types of data in real time from the display device F 5  such as a TV display.  
         [0041]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram showing the real-time card reading and authentication device. As shown in this diagram, a color dot image is captured using a camera F 6  or a scanner F 1  into the processor F 11  of the real time card reading and authentication device from a card F 10  on which a color dot image of various types of data specific to the user thereof has been recorded. Then, using the processor F 11 , the various types of information specific to the card&#39;s user are restored in real time from the color dot image data captured in the processor F 11 . Following this, the processor F 11  obtains a data specific to the user from a database F 8  of a server F 12  via a network F 9  and performs cross-checking with the restored data specific to the user. In accordance with whether or not the user is authenticated by the results of cross-checking, the processor F 11  issues an instruction for controlling the device F 14  to the device controller F 13 , then the device F 14  is got operable. For example, in the case where the card F 10  is an access permit, etc., the device F 14  corresponds to an access gate.  
         [0042]      FIG. 9  is a block diagram of the mixing system of direct data and indirect data whereby direct data representing characters etc. of which expression are directly comprehensible by humans and indirect data constituted by a color dot code image converted from various types of data are mixed and are recorded and stored by printing on various types of media such as printing paper, wood, etc. and the color dot code image of the indirect data recorded and stored on the various types of media is read using a camera or a scanner, decoded, and converted into direct data. As shown in this diagram, image data D 17  is used in the current form thereof to constitute direct data, text data D 18  and voice data D 19  are converted into dot images D 20 , D 21  to constitute indirect data, and they are recorded and stored in a medium such as paper through printing etc. as the form of a medium D 22  wherein the direct data and indirect data are mixed. The text data&#39;s indirect data portion D 20   a  and the voice data&#39;s indirect data portion D 21   a  within the medium D 22  are read into a dot code processor F 2  as a PC through a reading device F 1  as a scanner, and by performing restoration thereof to direct data in the dot code processor, the original text data D 18   a  and voice data D 19   a  are restored.  
         [0043]      FIG. 10  is a diagram showing another example of a medium such as paper whereon mixture of direct data and indirect data are recorded and stored. In this diagram, the medium D 23  such as paper recording and storing mixture of direct data and indirect data is a document such as a contract, which records the contract details D 23   a  including the contracted price, the signature and authorization seal D 23   c  as the direct data, and a dot image D 23   b  comprising the main part of the contract content and signature encrypted using the private key of a public-key encryption system or the common key of a common key encryption system as the indirect data.  
         [0044]      FIG. 11  is a block diagram of the system for creating stickers and fashion accessories. As shown in the diagram, a dot image D 24  is generated having an arbitrary shape using dots of arbitrary sizes. Furthermore, the various types of data D 25  are converted to a color code train D 26 . Next, each color code of the color code train D 26  is indexed with each dot of the dot image of an arbitrary shape D 24  through mapping processing P 9 . An arbitrarily-shaped color dot image D 27  corresponding to the various types of data is generated by this mapping processing P 9 . Next, the arbitrarily-shaped color dot image D 27  is printed as the sticker image D 28  by controlling the size of the dots and the dot-to-dot interval through printing control P 10 . Furthermore, using the arbitrarily-shaped color dot image D 27 , glass or stone balls of various colors are indexed with each dot thus a fashion accessory D 29  is created.  
         [0045]      FIG. 12  is a diagram showing an example of method for generating color dot images of an arbitrary shape from various types of data by mapping color code train to arbitrarily-shaped color dot image. As shown in this diagram, by performing mapping processing P 9  on the arbitrarily-shaped color dot image D 30  and the color code train D 31  for text data and indexing the colors of the color code train with each dot of the arbitrarily-shaped color dot image D 30 , a color dot image D 32  of an arbitrary shape is generated for various types of data.  
       INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY  
       [0046]     As described above, a color dot code system according to the present invention is composed so as to have a means for converting various types of data into a color code train, a means for generating color dot images by indexing the converted color codes with color dots, and a means for printing and recording color dot images corresponding to various types of data on normal media such as paper, and by reading the printed and recorded color dot images into a computer using a scanner or a camera, etc., for restoring the original various types of data; it is possible to realize the consolidated management of direct data such as written characters and indirect data constituted by color dot images by converting various types of data into color dot images in a computer, and managing the original various types of data in the computer using the converted color dot images; to realize an easily manageable environment facilitating the easy usage of encrypted data and other data generating an unpleasant impression in humans, compressed data, and other data not visible in its unprocessed form by conversion thereof to visible data; to realize the construction of fashion accessories and the like from colored glass and stone balls in the form of arbitrarily-shaped color dot images readily acceptable to humans by conversion of various types of data; and to realize, by controlling the dot size and dot-to-dot interval of the color dot image and recording and storing thereof on a normal media such as paper, restoration of the original data of various types through reading using scanners, cameras, or other peripherals of normal PCs etc.