| Title of Invention | METHOD OF SECURELY TRANSFERRING AN ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT |
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| Abstract | ABSTRACT In this invention a method is provided where a paper document can be scanned and printed in an encrypted format and the document can be scanned back and the original document can be printed. Also the encryption and decryption is tightly coupled with a specific user entered numeric keyword. The same keyword should be used while printing original document from the encrypted document. In this invention a method is provided for encrypting and decrypting. It works on the basis of juggling the rows and column of pixel in the scanned image data. |
| Full Text | FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention, in general, relates to printing of data in a secured format. Particularly it involves data encryption and decryption performed on the data obtained from a scanner apparatus. More specifically the present invention relates to a method for encrypting and decrypting a paper document for secure transfer. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART In corporate offices, there is always this need to transfer paper documents from one person to another - between designations, up or down the hierarchy -but without disclosing its contents to unauthorized persons along the way. Existing way of doing this in prior art literature is to print the data in some encrypted form, which an intended decrypting device can only understand. But, in such cases, the intended device or a combination of device(s) and application works more as a data interpreter rather than as simple image processing devices. Prior art methods mostly employ analog signals to produce the encrypting format. For Example the patent titled 'Encryption and decryption method for scanned data' (US2006114515) details an encryption method for scanned data in a scan system comprising of a scanner for scanning a document, and a host for displaying scanned data of the document on a display device. The method includes the steps for converting a scanned image from the scanner into data having a designated data format, and transmitting the scanned data to the host. The method further comprises steps of processing each pixel value comprising the transmitted scanned data with a pre-processed pixel value. Accordingly, the driver for driving the scanner ensures that the scanned data (such as, a document) is not displayed on a monitor during the scanning process, thereby maintaining the security of the document. According to another patent titled 'Method and equipment for encrypting/decrypting physical characteristic information, and identification system utilizing the physical characteristic information' (US7200549), it describes a cryptographic method and equipment decrypting a cryptographic key by generating an auxiliary code based on a randomly determined numeric key and including a result of encryption into a cryptogram. Upon decryption, the cryptographic key is restored using the numeric key restored according to the entire cryptogram. A cryptographic method and equipment scrambles and encrypts physical characteristic information, and descrambles a result of a decryption, thereby enabling any alteration to a cryptogram to be detected because even a minor alteration thereto changes the result of the decryption In yet another prior art document titled 'Secure transmission of electronic documents' (EP1536305) - it talks about a method and apparatus for secure transmission of digital data between any of a scanner, a printer and a host computer such as a user workstation, all interconnected by a digital network. As per the invention, at the sending station, a document file is generated and a user-defined character string is inputted by an operator in the local user interface. Then, the sending station automatically forms an encryption key based on user-defined character string and encrypts document file therewith. A transmission file, including the encrypted document file, is then transmitted towards a receiving station, where the encrypted document file is decrypted using a decryption key, generated automatically by inputting in the same user-defined character string, into the original document. Even though, the prior art literature talks about several alternatives for encryption and decryption of digital documents, none of them explicitly mentions about any method for decrypting the encrypted document to produce the original document. Also, the relevance of simple image devices for encryption and decryption rather than complex designs is completely overlooked in the known literature. Based on the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, which overcomes these problems in one sweep. The present invention proposes a method for printing the data in a secured format that involves encrypting and decrypting of a paper document. It also suggests a system that comprises of simple image devices that requires no complex hardware capabilities. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore the primary object of the invention to provide a method and system for encrypting and decrypting a paper document for secure transfer, wherein encryption and decryption are tightly coupled with a specific inputted numeric keyword. It is another object of the invention to provide simple image devices for encryption and decryption that does not require any hardware complexities. It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method in which the numeric key is used for juggling the columns and rows for encryption. It is a further object of the invention to ensure that the scan settings remain unchanged during both the encryption and decryption processes. It is another objective of the invention to ensure that the data size remains the same after encryption so that the same amount of paper space only is employed for printing the encrypted document. Accordingly, the invention provides a method for secure transfer of a document privileged through encryption followed by decryption, wherein a specific user inputted numeric keyword is employed to generate the all inputs required for encryption and decryption in order to prevent unauthorised access to the contents of the document, the method comprising a) Scanning the document using preset scan parameters, which remain unaltered during both the encryption and decryption processes; b) Encrypting the scanned document by juggling the pixel columns, followed by rows in accordance with the content of numeric keyword; c) Comparing the image data with the original scanned data and prompting the user for reentering a suitable numeric keyword incase both image data and scanned data are the same, and printing the document only after ensuring the image data does not replicate the scanned data; d) Scanning the encrypted document with the same preset scan parameters; and e) Decrypting the scanned data by juggling the rows and columns strictly according to the contents of the said numeric keyword to reproduce the original document. The invention also provides for a system for the encryption and decryption of scanned document, the system being comprised of simple image devices devoid of any complex hardware capabilities. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore the details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting but merely as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make or use the invention. The present invention details about a method for decrypting the encrypted document to produce the original document by using a simple image devices for both encryption and decryption. It is achieved by the method of encryption juggling the column and rows of the pixel using a numeric key. Juggling is performed again on the scanned data and once the new image data is formed it is printed. In the decryption process for getting the original image data, the columns and rows of the pixels are again juggled by using the same numeric key as parameter. The data will be printed and the resultant image data will be same as the original document scanned data only if the numeric key is the same one which was used during the encryption process. Scan settings used are maintained unaltered the processes, viz. encryption and decryption so as ensure the reproduction of the same image data that was printed while encrypting the document. Let us start describing the current invention by considering an original document of A4 size. Then, its width will be 210 MM and height will be 297 MM. If the said document is scanned with a resolution of 200 pixels per MM, then it will have pixel grid with rows (297*200=59400) and columns (210*200=42000). This implies that the user can enter any numeric key between 1 & 42000. For example, if the user enters the key as 1268, then it can be calculated that the column index will be 10 (2+8) and row index will be 7(1+6). Encryption method 1) All columns will be shifted by 1268 in the left direction. It means that the 1269'^ column will become the first row and the existing 1®^ column becomes the 40732"*^ (42000 -1268) column. 2) Now rows (in the resultant pixel grid from the first step) will be shifted by 1268 in upward direction. So, the 1269'*^ row will now become the 1®' row, and the current 1^' row becomes the 58132"'^ (59400-1268) row. For the above example, the Decryption method can be described as follows (assuming the user enters the key correctly as 1268). 1. All rows will be shifted by 1268 in down direction. So 1*' row will become 1269'' row and 58132"'^ row becomes the 1"' row. 2. Now, all columns will be shifted in right direction by 1268. So, the 1®' column will be come 1269'*^ column and 40732"'^ column becomes the ^^According to this invention, the document is first scanned with the user set scanning parameters. The same scanning parameters are to be used while decrypting the document. The scanned data is always presented in a sequence of pixels forming a rectangular area. In other words, the scanned image is represented in terms of number of rows and column. The memory space required for one pixel depends on the type of scanning whether it is monochrome or color, and the number of pixels generated depends on the set scanning resolution. The column and rows of pixels will then be juggled in a predefined method (called as encryption method onwards). This encryption method uses the user entered numeric key for juggling the rows and column. After juggling, the obtained image data is compared with the original scanned data. If both are still the same, the user will be asked to reenter the numeric key, and the juggling is performed again on the scanned data. Once the new image data is formed, it is printed in a printer. The new printed data shall look quite different from the original document, and shall be in a format that cannot be deciphered by an ordinary person, with his naked eyes. For reproducing the original document, the encrypted document will be scanned again. User will have to enter the same numeric key, which was entered during the encryption process. Now, again the columns and rows of the pixels will be juggled in a predefined method (called as decryption method) and the original image data will be produced. The decryption method takes the user entered numeric key as a parameter for performing this operation. The resultant image data will be same as original document scanned data. This image data is again printed. While decrypting, if the user enters the wrong key due to some reason, then the result will not be the same as the original document scanned data. Instead, it'll be some format that is totally incomprehensible to both the printer and one's naked eyes. It is also important that the scan settings used are same in both processes. A different scan setting also could result in an unreadable forniat. In the encryption process, the rows and columns are shifted on the basis of the user keyword. The direction of shift also depends on this figure. That is, all the even digits of the numeric key will be added to form the column index, while the odd digits sums up to form the row index. This throws open two scenarios: 1. The column index being odd or even. 2. The row index being odd or even. If the column index is odd, then the columns will be shifted in the right direction, and vice versa if it is even. On the other hand, if the row index sums up to be an odd number, then the rows will be shifted in the up direction and in the downward direction otherwise. Here, it must be noted that it is the columns that are shifted first, followed by the rows. It is not a simultaneous process. While decrypting, user will have to enter the numeric key again. Again, the even digit of the numeric key will be added to form a column index while the odd digits sum up to form the row index. If the row index is odd, then the rows will shifted in down direction, and othenwise, in the upward direction. After that, the columns will be shifted according to the user-inputted keyword. If the column index is odd, the columns will be shifted in left direction and in the right direction othenwise. So, in the decryption process as well, first, the rows are shifted and then columns. In other words, the decryption method is just the opposite of the encryption method. If in numeric key is of single digit, then it will be both even and odd digit, and hence it will form both the column and row index. This encryption-decryption method ensures that data size remain same to enable that the same amount of paper space is used for printing the encrypted document. In fact, there are some known encryption and decryption methods known in the prior art. They ensure that the data size after encryption and decryption is same or less as input data size. But, the main point of the present invention is to use simple image devices for encryption and decryption without requiring any special hardware capabilities. Small image processing is sufficient. Although, the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart there from. We Claim 1) A method for secure transfer of a document privileged through encryption followed by decryption, wherein a specific user inputted numeric keyword is employed to generate all the inputs required for encryption and decryption in order to prevent unauthorised access to the contents of the document, the method comprising a) Scanning the document using preset scan parameters, which remain unaltered during both the encryption and decryption processes; b) Encrypting the scanned document by juggling the pixel columns, followed by rows in accordance with the content of numeric keyword; c) Comparing the image data with the original scanned data and prompting the user for reentering a suitable numeric keyword incase both image data and scanned data are the same, and printing the document only after ensuring the image data does not replicate the scanned data; d) Scanning the encrypted document with the same preset scan parameters; and e) Decrypting the scanned data by juggling the pixel rows followed by columns strictly according to the contents of the said numeric keyword to reproduce the original document. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the numeric keyword size is dependent on the paper width and height, and is defined when the original document is first scanned. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the juggling is done by shifting the columns and rows in the right-left and up-down directions respectively, depending on whether the column and row indices are odd or even 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the column and row indices are obtained by adding the even digits and odd digits of the numeric key respectively. 5. A system for the encryption and decryption of scanned document for its secure transfer, the system being comprised of simple image devices devoid of any complex hardware capabilities. 6. A method for secure transfer of a document privileged through encryption followed by decryption, wherein a specific user inputted numeric keyword is employed to generate all the inputs required for encryption and decryption in order to prevent unauthorised access to the contents of the document, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. |
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| Patent Number | 271165 | ||||||||
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| Indian Patent Application Number | 2348/CHE/2007 | ||||||||
| PG Journal Number | 07/2016 | ||||||||
| Publication Date | 12-Feb-2016 | ||||||||
| Grant Date | 05-Feb-2016 | ||||||||
| Date of Filing | 16-Oct-2007 | ||||||||
| Name of Patentee | SAMSUNG R&D INSTITUTE INDIA-BANGALORE PRIVATE LIMITED | ||||||||
| Applicant Address | #2870 ORION BUILDING BAGMANE CONSTELLATION BUSINESS PARK OUTER RING ROAD DODDANEKUNDI CIRCLE MARATHAHALLI POST BANGALORE 560037 | ||||||||
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| PCT International Classification Number | H 0 4 Q 0 7/00 | ||||||||
| PCT International Application Number | N/A | ||||||||
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