In a scanning system including a web application cooperating with a message sharing system and an image processing apparatus provided with a scanner, the web application holds card information acquired from a scanning request source and a destination of scan data in association with each other in response to a scanning request from a user account belonging to the message sharing system. An image processing apparatus transmits the scan data generated based on scanning and the card information that has been read to the web application. The web application specifies a destination associated with the card information that has been received from the image processing apparatus and posts the scan data that have been transmitted from the image processor to the message sharing system.

Methods and systems for rendering a transparent pantograph pattern. A background path and a foreground path for a pantograph pattern can be determined. An intersection internal to the background path and external to foreground path that is to be marked can be defined. Areas to be masked can be defined with respect to the pantograph pattern. The pantograph pattern can be then rendered as a transparent vector pattern pantograph by writing a background based on the background path and a foreground based on the foreground path and the areas defined as masked.

Examples disclosed herein relate to displaying, in a user interface, a list of available print jobs, wherein at least one of the available print jobs comprising a secured print job is displayed as a placeholder entry instead of an identifying entry, receiving a selection of the placeholder entry requesting an authentication for the secured print job, and displaying the identifying entry of the secured print job upon verification of the authentication.

A management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus for managing usage of the image forming apparatus is disclosed. The management apparatus includes a user data storage part for storing user identification data and use restriction data corresponding to the user identification data, and a use restriction data acquiring part for acquiring the use restriction data corresponding to the user identification data.

A method is provided of digitally imaging a secure portion and a non-secure portion of scratch-off-coating protected documents of at least one game using middleware. The method includes: (a) generating the secure variable indicia in non-vector raster format; (b) generating vector graphics to be imaged on physical document locations; (c) assigning the secure variable indicia in a non-vector raster format to documents in and shuffling the documents throughout a print run; and (d) linking via middleware the secure variable indicia in the non-vector raster format to associated vector graphics variable indicia to be digitally imaged on the documents and to generate vector graphics-formatted data for each document in the print run. The secure variable indicia assignment and shuffling are executed by non-vector raster game generation software output that is reinterpreted by the middleware to produce related vector graphic output for the secure variable indicia.

An image forming apparatus that dynamically and suitably switches login processing between a user who selects an icon and a user who is identified by reading of a card. The image forming apparatus searches user information of a user who logs in by selecting a user icon displayed on a display unit and a user who logs in using a card, and performs the login processing on a searched user.

A method of encrypting at least a portion of PostScript vector language, where the PostScript vector language includes a cleartext portion and a ciphertext portion, the method including: (a) encrypting at least a part of the PostScript cleartext portion via an encryption algorithm with a generated encryption key resulting in at least a part of the ciphertext portion and overwriting the PostScript cleartext portion with the resulting at least part of the ciphertext portion; (b) saving the encryption key in a file separate from a file containing the PostScript vector language; (c) linking both the encryption key file and the PostScript file in an image processor interpreting the PostScript vector language to display or print PostScript graphics; (d) decrypting the at least part of the ciphertext portion resulting in decrypted PostScript cleartext; and (e) executing the resulting decrypted Postscript cleartext to produce an image on a document or screen.

A printing apparatus can print an encrypted document. The printing apparatus includes a scanner to scan a print medium, an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the scanner to convert analog scan data digital scan data, a hardware pixelization circuit to generate a sequence of pixels from the digital scan data, an encryptor to encrypt the sequence of pixels to generate a sequence of encrypted pixels prior to storing of the digital scan data, a data storage device to temporarily store the sequence of the encrypted pixels, and a printing subsystem to print the stored sequence of the encrypted pixels.

An image forming apparatus that dynamically and suitably switches login processing between a user who selects an icon and a user who is identified by reading of a card. The image forming apparatus searches user information of a user who logs in by selecting a user icon displayed on a display unit and a user who logs in using a card, and performs the login processing on a searched user.

A printing apparatus management server manages a plurality of printing apparatuses, obtains, in response to a request from a voice device management server, information of a predetermined printing apparatus registered, from the plurality of printing apparatuses, as a printing apparatus to be used in the printing apparatus management server, transmits, to the voice device management server, the obtained information of the predetermined printing apparatus, obtains remaining amount information transmitted from the predetermined printing apparatus, and transmits the obtained remaining amount information to the consumable item management server. Voice notification to a user is performed, via a voice device configured to communicate with the voice device management server, based on the obtained remaining amount information, and processing for placing an order for the consumable item is performed based on a voice instruction from the user accepted by the voice device.