An original document is formed using a first print medium by printing a first and second monochrome patterns with a single colorant to form printed first and second regions including first and second shapes, respectively, which are devoid of the colorant. The second shapes have a smaller size and a higher frequency than the first shapes. The first and/or second regions encode information. The first and second patterns and a fluorescence of the first print medium are selected such that the first and second regions of the original document are indistinguishable to the naked eye, under both normal and ultraviolet illumination but are distinguishable, only under the ultraviolet illumination, in a copy formed by scanning the original document and printing the scanned document on a second print medium with a plurality of colorants, to reveal the encoded information.

In accordance with an embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a peripheral image acquisition section, a face detection section, a face recognition section and a printing control section. The peripheral image acquisition section acquires an image of the periphery of the image forming apparatus. The face detection section detects a face of person from the image acquired by the peripheral image acquisition section. The face recognition section calculates a matching rate indicating a matching degree of the face of person detected by the face detection section with a face of a user registered in advance. The printing control section executes a processing relating to printing of the image forming apparatus in a plurality of stages corresponding to the matching rates according to the matching rate calculated by the face recognition section and a threshold value of the matching rate.

In accordance with an embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a peripheral image acquisition section, a face detection section, a face recognition section and a printing control section. The peripheral image acquisition section acquires an image of the periphery of the image forming apparatus. The face detection section detects a face of person from the image acquired by the peripheral image acquisition section. The face recognition section calculates a matching rate indicating a matching degree of the face of person detected by the face detection section with a face of a user registered in advance. The printing control section executes a processing relating to printing of the image forming apparatus in a plurality of stages corresponding to the matching rates according to the matching rate calculated by the face recognition section and a threshold value of the matching rate.

An image formation system includes: an encoded image generation device including a first processor that generates print data from manuscript data, sets security information for controlling a print mode of the print data, and generates an encoded image from the print data and the security information; and an image formation device including a second processor that inputs the encoded image, decodes the print data and the security data from the input encoded image, determines whether an output of the decoded print data is available in accordance with the decoded security information, and outputs the decoded print data when it is determined that the output of the print data is available.

An image formation system includes: an encoded image generation device including a first processor that generates print data from manuscript data, sets security information for controlling a print mode of the print data, and generates an encoded image from the print data and the security information; and an image formation device including a second processor that inputs the encoded image, decodes the print data and the security data from the input encoded image, determines whether an output of the decoded print data is available in accordance with the decoded security information, and outputs the decoded print data when it is determined that the output of the print data is available.

A method of maintaining a classified document labeling policy of an institution. One or more documents are received and document types are determined therefor. A determination is made as to whether the documents comply with the classified document labeling policy of the institution using one or more rules. The rules embody the classified document labeling policy of the institution in a computer interpretable form and are dependent upon document type. Corrective measures for ones of the documents determined to be non-compliant are taken.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit containing a special recording material and circuitry configured to control the image forming unit to form a hardly visible image on a recording medium with the special recording material. The hardly visible image is formed of a halftone dot image comprising isolated dots in a number smaller than that of isolated dots forming a visible image having the same image area ratio as the hardly visible image.

In a first image formation mode, an image is formed with a first development contrast C1 and a specific dot pattern is formed with a second development contrast C2, which is lower than the first development contrast C1; in a second image formation mode, an image is formed with a third development contrast C3 and a specific dot pattern is formed with a fourth development contrast C4, which is lower than the third development contrast C3; and when C1 (=C2/C1) denotes a ratio between the second development contrast C2 and the first development contrast C1, and C2 (=C4/C3) denotes a ratio between the fourth development contrast C4 and the third development contrast C3, C2<C1 is satisfied.

An optical article printed on a substrate may include an organic binder; and a plurality of reflective magnetic platelets provided in the organic binder, wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are substantially aligned in accordance with at least part of a surface of revolution, and wherein the plurality of reflective magnetic platelets are aligned to cause a first reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate is rotated around a first axis and to cause a second reflective effect of the optical article when the substrate is rotated around a second axis, wherein the first reflective effect is different from the second reflective effect.

In accordance with an embodiment, an image forming apparatus comprises a peripheral image acquisition section, a face detection section, a face recognition section and a printing control section. The peripheral image acquisition section acquires an image of the periphery of the image forming apparatus. The face detection section detects a face of person from the image acquired by the peripheral image acquisition section. The face recognition section calculates a matching rate indicating a matching degree of the face of person detected by the face detection section with a face of a user registered in advance. The printing control section executes a processing relating to printing of the image forming apparatus in a plurality of stages corresponding to the matching rates according to the matching rate calculated by the face recognition section and a threshold value of the matching rate.