1. Method and system that makes feasible the identification of printed documents and the information they carry upon being distributed by electronic means through the generation and printing of a cryptographic key which is generated by the use of symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms and Hashing’s function originated from data about the documents, devices, and persons involved in the process. This makes possible the identification of the aforesaid documents concerning their origin, recipient, date and time of generation and dispatch, user’s responsibility, and other information related to them through the analysis of just a portion of these documents that contains fragments of the cryptographic key in the form of a printed watermark.
2. The system of claim 1 comprises the client and server subsystems.
The server subsystem is composed of the following modules:
a) cryptographic keys-generation module, responsible for the generation of cryptographic keys based on data and predefined configurations by deploying cryptography techniques and symmetric and asymmetric algorithms alongside Hashing’s function;
b) cryptographic keys-embedding module, responsible for storing in hardware, software, and other electronic means the keys generated from structured or not structured databanks;
c) documents-printing module, responsible for the generation of printed or electronic documents with the printing of the watermark along with the cryptographic keys and other graphical elements, in accordance with predefined configurations;
d) documents repository, responsible for storing electronic documents to be processed, and those already processed by the system;
e) data repository, responsible for storing data concerning generated electronic documents, including data on the generated cryptographic key, documents access password, configuration used, devices involved, and other processing data;
f) system-configuration module, responsible for the configuration of the system from data and information inputted in the user device interface (cell phone, personal computer, personal digital assistant etc);
g) monitoring and event notification module;
h) user authentication module, responsible for the authentication of a system user from data and information inputted in the user device interface (cell phone, personal computer, personal digital assistant etc);
i) security module for information and electronic documents confidentiality assurance by the use of cryptographic techniques;
j) configuration repository, responsible for storing data and information about the configuration system and personalized configuration taking into account the organization, the organizational unit, and the corresponding user;
k) search module, responsible for conducting searches in the keys and electronic documents repository based on established search parameters, and also responsible for results exhibition.
The client subsystem is composed of the following modules:
a) user data-capture module, responsible for gathering user authentication information inputted in the user device interface (cell phone, personal computer, personal digital assistant, portable computer etc);
b) module for capturing the system configuration inputted in the user device interface (cell phone, personal computer, personal digital assistant, portable computer etc) responsible for gathering information and system configuration data;
c) processing follow-up module, responsible for the exhibition of the information being processed;
d) processing configuration module, responsible for the definition of documents and parameters to be used in the processing;
e) monitoring and event notification module;
f) search module, responsible for defining search parameters to be used in electronic documents and cryptographic keys searches.
3. The communication method of claims 1 and 2, characterized by the transmission of one or more electronic documents in varied formats such as PostScript, TIFF, GIF, JPG, DOC, PNG, RTF, PDF, among others, from a costumer device (cell phone, personal computer, personal digital assistant, portable computer etc) to the server subsystem that initially identifies the user and his security data, comprising the following steps:
a) If the user data are validated by the server subsystem or client subsystem, the user access to the system will be granted. Afterwards, the system authenticates the user, and an interface requesting the processing parameters will be exhibited;
b) If the user data are not validated, the system will request the user to inform the security access data again for as many times as predefined by the configuration system. In case the number of authorized entries is exceeded, the user access will be blocked by the system.
c) if the documents are sent from a client device, the system will store temporarily or definitively the documents for processing and then the documents will be printed or electronically generated along with the cryptographic keys in watermark format, in accordance with the configuration system;
d) if the documents are obtained through a temporary or definitive preexisting repository, the system will read the repository of origin concerning the documents to be processed and afterwards they will be printed or electronically generated along with the cryptographic keys in watermark format, in accordance with the configuration system;
4. The Cryptographic keys generation method of claim 1, 2, and 3, characterized by the application of symmetric or asymmetric cryptographic algorithms or Hashing’s function over data and information related to electronic documents, devices, and persons involved in the process, in accordance with the configuration and processing parameters established by the user.
5. The generation of printed or electronic documents method of claim 1, 2, 3, and 4, characterized by the generation of documents in varied formats such as PostScript, TIFF, GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, DOC with the generated cryptographic key as a watermark, and other information in accordance with the configuration used and the established processing parameters.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An optical scanning apparatus, comprising:
a light source which emits a light beam;
a first through an N-th deflection mirror surfaces (where N is a natural number satisfying N\u22672) which are disposed for free pivoting about main scanningdeflection axes which are independent of each other; and
a mirror driver which drives the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces pivot about the main scanningdeflection axes,
wherein the light beam from the light source impinges upon the first deflection mirror surface, and after deflected at least once or more times by each one of the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces, the light beam is emitted from one of the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces toward a surface-to-be-scanned, and
wherein with one of the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces serving as a reference deflection mirror surface, the mirror driver drives the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces to pivot such that each deflection mirror surface except for the reference deflection mirror surface deflects the light beam in a predetermined direction when the deflection angle of the light beam deflected by the reference deflection mirror surface in the predetermined direction becomes the maximum deflection angle.
2. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mirror driver drives the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces in such a manner that each one of the first through the N-th deflection mirror surfaces pivots in a sinusoidal waveform which is expressed by the angle of rotation \u0398i(t) appearing in the formula below, while the A-th deflection mirror surface (where A is a natural number satisfying 1\u2266A\u2266N) serves as the reference deflection mirror surface:
\u0398
\u2062
\u2062
i
\u2061
(
t
)
=
\u0398
\u2062
\u2062
i
\u2062
\u2062
max
\xb7
sin
\u2062
{
2
\u2062
\u03c0
\xb7
ki
\xb7
f
\u2061
(
t
–
\u03b1
\u2062
\u2062
i
)
}
1
4
\u2062
f
+
1
2
\u2062
ki
\xb7
f
+
h
ki
<
\u03b1
\u2062
\u2062
i
<
1
4
\u2062
f
+
1
ki
\xb7
f
+
h
ki
where
t . . . time;
i . . . a natural number satisfying 1\u2266i\u2266N;
\u0398i(t) . . . the deflection angle of the light beam deflected by the i-th deflection mirror surface at the time t;
\u0398imax . . . the maximum deflection angle of the light beam deflected by the i-th deflection mirror surface
f . . . a reference pivot frequency at which the reference deflection mirror surface pivots;
ki . . . the ratio (kA=1) of the pivot frequency of the i-th deflection mirror surface to the reference pivot frequency;
\u03b1i . . . a phase difference time (\u03b1A=0) of the i-th deflection mirror surface from the reference pivot frequency; and
h . . . any desired integer.
3. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a deflector which includes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and the mirror driver, and which deflects the light beam from the light source in a main scanning direction which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanningdeflection axes; and
a transmission optical system which guides the light beam deflected by the first deflection mirror surface to the second deflection mirror surface, and
wherein the transmission optical system comprises a concave mirror which is disposed such that its reflection surface faces against the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces, and as the concave mirror surface reflects the light beam deflected by the first deflection mirror surface toward the second deflection mirror surface, the light beam is emitted toward the surface-to-be-scanned from the second deflection mirror surface.
4. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 3, wherein the mirror driver drives the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces pivot in the opposite phases to each other but at the same frequency.
5. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 3, wherein the concave mirror surface is an ellipsoidal surface which is formed by rotating an ellipsoid, whose focal points are an approximately central position of the first deflection mirror surface and an approximately central position of the second deflection mirror surface, about a virtual line which passes through the two central positions.
6. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces are arranged side by side in a direction parallel to the main scanning direction.
7. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces are arranged side by side in a sub scanning direction which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanning direction.
8. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 3, wherein at least one of the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces is approximately conjugated relative to the surface-to-be-scanned in a sub scanning plane which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanning direction.
9. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 3,
wherein the deflector comprises: a first movable member which has the first deflection mirror surface; a second movable member which has the second deflection mirror surface; a support member which supports the first and the second movable members so that the first and the second movable members can freely pivot about the main scanningdeflection axes extending in a direction which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanning direction; and the mirror driver, and
wherein the mirror driver makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces deflect the light beam while pivoting about the main scanningdeflection axes.
10. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the movable members and the support members are formed integral with each other by processing one substrate.
11. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 10, wherein the substrate, the movable members and the support members are made of single crystals of silicon.
12. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the mirror driver drives the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces pivot about the main scanningdeflection axes, using electrostatic adsorption force.
13. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the mirror driver drives the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces pivot about the main scanningdeflection axes, using electromagnetic force.
14. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a deflector which includes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and the mirror driver, and which deflects the light beam from the light source in a main scanning direction which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanningdeflection axes; and
a transmission optical system which transmits the light beam between the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces,
wherein the transmission optical system comprises a first transmission lens, which is disposed such that its front focal point approximately coincides with an approximately central position of the first deflection mirror surface, and a second transmission lens which is disposed such that its front focal point approximately coincides with the rear focal point of the first transmission lens and its rear focal point approximately coincides with an approximately central position of the second deflection mirror surface, and
wherein the light beam deflected by the first deflection mirror surface toward the first transmission lens is guided to the second deflection mirror surface via the first and the second transmission lenses, the second deflection mirror surface deflects the light beam toward the second transmission lens, the light beam is guided to the first deflection mirror surface via the second and the first transmission lenses, and the light beam is deflected by the first deflection mirror surface once again and emitted toward the surface-to-be-scanned.
15. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 14, wherein the mirror driver drives the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces pivot in the same phase with each other and at the same frequency.
16. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first deflection mirror surface is approximately conjugated relative to the surface-to-be-scanned in a sub scanning plane which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanning direction.
17. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 14,
wherein the deflector is comprised of two deflecting elements each comprising: a movable member which has a deflection mirror surface which deflects the light beam; a support member which supports the movable member such that the movable member can freely pivot about the main scanningdeflection axis which extends in a direction which is approximately perpendicular to the main scanning direction; and the mirror driver, and
wherein the deflection mirror surface of one of the two deflecting elements is the first deflection mirror surface and the deflection mirror surface of the other deflecting element is the second deflection mirror surface.
18. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 17, wherein the movable members and the support members are formed integral with each other by processing one substrate.
19. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 18, wherein the substrate, the movable members and the support members are made of single crystals of silicon.
20. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 17, wherein the mirror driver drives the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces pivot about the main scanningdeflection axes, using electrostatic adsorption force.
21. The optical scanning apparatus of claim 17, wherein the mirror driver drives the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces and makes the first and the second deflection mirror surfaces pivot about the main scanningdeflection axes, using electromagnetic force.
22. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a latent image carrier;
an exposure unit which has the same structure as the optical scanning apparatus of claim 1, makes the light beam scan a surface of the latent image carrier, and accordingly forms an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier; and
a developer unit which develops the electrostatic latent image with toner, thereby forming a toner image.