Patent ID: 7715612

Claim:
An apparatus for discriminating a reproduction printed matter from an original printed matter, the original printed matter having a first surface area including a blank substrate region having no print, and the reproduction printed matter having a second surface area including a printed region which has a print pattern that causes the printed region to appear the same as the blank substrate region, comprising: a transfer device configured to transfer one of the original and reproduction printed matters; a light source configured to project a light beam to one of the first and second surface areas to scan the one of the first and second surface areas with the light beam; a detector configured to detect an intensity of the light beam reflected from the one of the first and second surface areas to generate an output signal including an output component reflected from one of the blank substrate region and the printed region; and a discriminating unit configured to discriminate whether the one of the original and reproduction printed matters is an original printed matter or not by determining whether the one of the first and second surface areas is a first surface area having no print, or not, based on an amplitude of the output component.