JP2003228463A - Document management method, program for executing the method and information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To permit document retrieval from print related information and to facilitate input operation for a print output instruction for achieving high- performance, in a system capable of providing the print output instruction for a management document, from a document management system side. <P>SOLUTION: The document management system 10 side is permitted to provide a print output instruction for an accumulated document of a document DB 13 through an instruction input part 11. A printer driver 20, that receives a print instruction generates a print job to a designated printer 30 and outputs the print related information on a print condition, an output printer, a print date and time and the like, that have been set at that time as a print instruction attribute file to the document management system 10. The file is combined with a relevant document (to make it as a section of the combined document) or is registered with the document DB as a single document, so as to enable retrieval by the print related information concerning the combined document, and the setting described in the file is made applicable to own document or other documents, when a next print instruction is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document management method, and more particularly, to a document management method in which print instructions and print attribute information for a document are converted into a file and used for document management. The present invention relates to a program to be executed and an information processing device equipped with the program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, document information generated by using a computer's document creation function (depending on an application such as a word processor or chart creation) or reading an original image with an image scanner must be saved for reuse. The stored document information is managed so that it can be retrieved when needed. As a management form, a file created in document units is given a name, registered in the document DB, and a required document is searched from the document DB by the file name at the time of use. By the way, when a document stored in the document DB and managed is retrieved and used, it is common to print out and use the document. Therefore, the document management system side registers and manages the document. Printing can be executed for existing documents. At this time, the print condition is set together with the document information and an instruction is given so that desired printing is performed on the designated document. After this, this print instruction actually receives the print job and forms an image (drawing).
Since it is necessary to adapt to the function of a printing device such as a printer that performs processing, this is performed for the printer driver of the designated printing device, and then a print job that can be processed by the printing device is created. Therefore, when requesting print execution for a document managed by the document management system, take out the document to be printed out by the file name,
After this document is designated as a document for which printing is requested, a printing device as an output destination is designated and a printing condition setting screen linked to the printer driver is called. When performing this procedure, some existing applications store the previous print condition settings, and the same application is used to perform printing with the same settings for a plurality of documents retrieved from the document DB. It is an effective method when it is a situation.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional document management system, there is no idea that the information related to the printout is used as the management information, and the document is searched based on the information related to the printout. It does not meet the demands of users who find it convenient to do so. Also,
In the above-described conventional document management system, the setting of the printing conditions according to the print execution request made from the document management system basically depends on the application on the printing system side (the printer driver of the output destination printing apparatus). However, under the control of the document management system, it is not possible to perform operations such as diverting the settings made in the past or the settings made in other documents for the specified document, so it takes a lot of time to set, especially, In a document management system that manages a plurality of application files as one document (FIG. 1), the difficulty becomes even greater. The present invention is
The document registered in the document DB can be searched by the management information attached to the document, and it is made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional art in the document management system that can give a printout instruction to the searched document. The purpose is to enable the use of information related to printout as the management information of the registered document, realize a document search that could not be done before, and reuse management information related to printout. By doing so, it is possible to facilitate the instruction of print output and to improve the performance of the document management system, and a highly convenient document management method, a program for causing the computer to execute the method, and a computer equipped with the program. It is to provide an information processing device (system) provided with.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a step of registering a document associated with management information in a document DB, a step of retrieving a document registered in the document DB by the management information, and a step of retrieving the document in the document DB A step of issuing a print job in accordance with a print instruction for a specified document; a step of acquiring attribute information of a printing device that processes the print job; print instruction information for the document for which a print instruction is given and a printing device for the same document And a step of associating the created print instruction attribute file with the relevant document as the management information, the document managing method.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the document management method according to the first aspect, when a document is designated and a print instruction is issued, the print instruction attribute file is associated with the designated document as management information. And a step of instructing the creation of the print job in the print setting of the print instruction attribute file when it is determined that the print instruction attribute file is associated with the print instruction attribute file. It is a method characterized by executing.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the document management method according to the first or second aspect, the print instruction attribute file associated with the document is copied or the print instruction attribute file associated with the document is copied. Cut out,
The method is characterized by executing a step of newly creating a print instruction attribute file and a step of individually registering the created print instruction attribute file in a document DB so that it can be used for a print instruction.

The invention of claim 4 is the document management method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the print instruction attribute file is in a structured text file format. Is.

The invention of claim 5 is a program for causing a computer to execute each step of the document management method according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

The invention of claim 6 is an information processing apparatus comprising a computer on which the program according to claim 5 is installed.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described based on the following embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. First, an information processing apparatus (system) to which the document management method of the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 1 shows an example of a document to be managed. As shown in the figure, the files created by using different applications such as word processing, spreadsheet software files, and image files are combined into one document, and the combined document is used as a management unit. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of an information processing apparatus (system) having a document management function capable of managing such documents. As shown in the figure, the system configuration is such that a client machine CM in which a user operates a document,
Server machines S1 and S2 that manage documents and printers P1 and P2 that output documents according to print instructions are connected on a network. In the system of FIG. 2, the client machine CM attaches management information such as a file name to the document information generated using an application such as a word processor or a chart, and instructs the server machines S1 and S2 to perform registration. In the server machines S1 and S2 instructed to register the document, the document is registered and stored in the document DB, and the document can be retrieved and retrieved from the document DB based on the management information such as the file name when used. Manage. Further, when a document managed by the server machines S1 and S2 is printed out, the printer P is printed by the document management software of the server machines S1 and S2 according to an instruction from the client machine CM.
1, to issue a print execution command to P2. At that time, a document is designated, and printing conditions are set together with the document information and an instruction is given so that desired printing is performed there. Since this print command needs to be adapted to the functions of the printers P1 and P2 that actually receive a print job and perform image forming (drawing) processing, the print command is issued to the printer driver of the designated printers P1 and P2, where , Create a print job that can be processed by the specified printer. In the system of this example, the printer driver is the server machines S1 and S2.
To be installed in.

An embodiment relating to the document management method of the present invention applied to the information processing system exemplified above will be described. [First Embodiment] According to the present invention, when a document management method is adopted in which a printout command can be issued to a document under management, the management information of the registered document is printed when a printout command is issued previously. The purpose is to improve the search performance of documents under management by adding output related information. In the present embodiment, the print instruction contents such as sort and stapling that the user has set in the command input to the printer driver at the time of printing, and the print designation time that can be acquired by the print instruction and the print attributes such as the print destination printer are the print instruction attributes. By outputting as a file and storing it in association with the registered document in the document management system, it becomes possible to search for the document by print output related information such as the print instruction content, print time, print destination printer, etc. To achieve the above objectives. 3 and 4 are block diagrams related to the document management system operating in the "first embodiment". 3 and 4
3 shows the components necessary for the operation when the user gives an instruction to print out the document managed by the document DB 13 of the document management system 10 and the flow of information during the operation. At the time, FIG. 4 shows the operation of registering the combined document (including the print instruction attribute file) after the printing process is completed.
In the document management system 10 in the figure, the components other than the document DB 13, the instruction input unit 11, and the print processing unit 1 are included in the document management system 10.
2. The capture processing unit 14 is provided. In addition, the printer driver 20 and the printer 30 are provided as elements necessary for executing printing.
Equipped with.

An embodiment of the document management method executed in association with the print command in the system of FIGS. 3 and 4 will be described. FIG. 5 is a chart showing an execution flow of the document management method of this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, a document under the control of the document management system 10 (that is, the document DB 1
For the document selected by the user from the document group registered in No. 3, when the print instruction is issued through the instruction input unit 11 by the input operation, the document management system 10 is used to select the printer to execute the printing. A list of printers registered in the machine is displayed (S11). here,
When the user selects a printer to execute printing, the setting input screen of that printer driver is displayed so that detailed operating conditions related to printing (sorting, stapling, number of copies, double-sided printing, etc.) can be set for that printer. Yes (S12). In the document management system 10, the setting data (print instruction data) of the print processing by the user's input operation on the setting input screen is passed to the print processing unit 12, and the designated document data and the print instruction data retrieved from the document DB 13 there. Is sent to the printer driver 20 with a print job creation command, and the process is sent to the printer driver 20.
Then, it is received as a print instruction input (S16). After that, the printer driver 20 creates a job of print data in a format that can be processed by the printer 30 instructed by the print instruction input (S17), and issues an instruction to execute the print job of the created print job to the printer 30 (step S17). S1
8).

Thereafter, the printer driver 20 performs a process for adding information related to the executed print output to the document as management information used by the document management system 10. It is intended to improve the search accuracy by using the added print output related information as a search key when searching the corresponding document. In this example, the format of the print instruction attribute file created to provide the management information at this time is a structured text file format. To mention the reason for adopting this method,
The printer driver has various print settings for color, black and white, and the type of printer, so if you try to manage these settings as one item in the database of the document management system, a new printer driver will be installed. There is a problem that the document management program needs to be changed every time. Therefore, here, a common print instruction attribute in which the printer driver describes print instructions such as sort and staple input by the user at the time of printing and print designation time and print destination printer in text in a predetermined format. File (eg XM
The file is output as a file whose format is determined by using the L language, and is stored in association with the document in the document management software. This is because if the print instruction attribute file is output, a new printer driver can be supported without changing the document management program itself. Figure 6
Shows an example of a print instruction attribute file described in text of a predetermined format. This file has print attributes such as <print date><outputdestination>
<Printer name>, <Type>, <Location>, <Print range>, and as a print instruction, for example, <Original size><Magnification><Originaldirection>
<Copies><Combined / Enlarged Continuous Shooting><Duplex / Bookbinding><Sort>
Describe <staple>, <punch>, and <print quality>. According to the flow of this example, the print instruction attribute file is created by
This is performed by the step of writing out the print instruction attribute file (S19). The written print instruction attribute file is output to a predetermined location and stored (S20). In this example, the storage unit of the printer driver 20 is used as the storage location.

Next, the print instruction attribute file created on the printer driver 20 side is fetched on the document management system 10 side, and processing for adding it to the document as management information is performed. The document management system 10 performs a process of attaching a print job creation command to print instruction data and designated document data by a user's input operation on the displayed printer driver setting input screen and sending the print job data to the printer driver 20, and then the printer driver 20 side. The end of the printing process in S1 is monitored (S1
3). This is detected by the print processing unit 12 receiving a print end notification notified at the end of the writing of the print instruction attribute file performed by the printer driver 20.
When the print processing unit 12 detects the end of printing and notifies the capture processing unit 14 of the completion of printing, the capture processing unit 14 that receives the print processing captures the print instruction attribute file (S14). The capture of the print instruction attribute file is performed by transferring the file from the storage unit of the printer driver 20 determined as the write-out location of the file to the capture processing unit 14. After this, the capture processing unit 14
The print instruction attribute file taken in is registered in the document DB 13 (S15). This is a section of the document selected at the time of printing (that is, the document retrieved from the document DB 13 in step S12 and the print instruction is issued), and this document and the print instruction attribute file are combined, and the combined document data is stored in the document DB 13. This is performed by the process of re-registering.

As described above, when performing a document search in the document management system 10 that stores the print instruction attribute file as a section of the document in association with the document,
Data written to the print instruction attribute file (for example,
It is possible to search for documents based on search conditions based on <print date> 2001/07/31, <punch> ON, etc.). FIG. 7 shows an example of a processing flow in such a document search. Referring to FIG. 7, at the time of search, first, a search dialog having a format in which data as a search condition can be input to the item of the print instruction attribute file is displayed, and the data as the search condition (for example, <print date> 20
01/07/31, <Punch> ON etc.) is input (S2
1) Then, a document in which the print instruction attribute files are combined is searched for by this input (S22). Next, the contents of the print instruction attribute file stored as one section of the document are analyzed using the data of the search condition as a key (S23), and the document having the item data that matches the condition is further searched (S2).
4) The list of hit documents is displayed to the user as a search result (S25).

[Second Embodiment] According to the present invention, it is possible to issue a print output command to a document under management, and as described in the above "first embodiment", as management information of a registered document, In a document management method that can be used by adding print output related information (print instruction attribute file) when a print output is instructed, a print output related to a document selected when a user gives a print instruction By using the information (print instruction attribute file), the input operation is facilitated and the convenience is improved. Further, in the present embodiment, when a print instruction is given to a document in which the print instruction attribute files are combined as one section of the document, a method of directly applying the print instruction data included in the print instruction attribute file and a print instruction data It is possible to adopt a method of changing and applying, and in the case of the former method, a procedure that does not require a user's input operation on the printer driver setting input screen enables a quicker and simpler instruction. FIG. 8 shows a block diagram relating to the document management system operating in the "second embodiment". FIG. 8 shows the components necessary for the operation when the user gives an instruction to print out the document managed by the document DB 13 of the document management system 10 and the flow of information during the operation. And the registration operation of the combined document (including the print instruction attribute file) after the print processing is finished. Document management system 10 in the figure
In addition to the document DB 13, the instruction input unit 11 and the print processing unit 12 are provided as its constituent elements. Further, the printer driver 20 and the printer 3 are provided as elements necessary for executing printing.
Equipped with 0.

An embodiment of the document management method executed in association with the print command in the system of FIG. 8 will be described. 9 and 10 are charts showing the execution flow of the document management method of this embodiment. Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, a user selects an instruction from a document managed by the document management system 10 (that is, a document group registered in the document DB 13) and designates the specified document by an input operation. When a print instruction is issued through 11, the section in the document is identified by referring to the specified document data,
When a file exists in the section holding the print instruction attribute file, the file is taken out from the section (S3
1). Next, the print instruction item held in the acquired print instruction attribute file is analyzed (S32), and the print instruction data obtained as the analysis result is set in the printer driver as the current setting data. In the present embodiment, it is possible to select a method of directly using the settings of the print instruction attribute file combined with the document in this setting and a method of changing the settings of the print instruction attribute file and using the selected method. The operating condition of the printing process is set and the printing instruction is given. The setting method may be selected at the same time as the input operation for giving a print instruction to the document designated by the user in step S31.

In the flow of this example, the process flow is branched according to the method of setting the print process conditions. That is, when the method of using the setting of the print instruction attribute file as it is in this setting is selected, the user's input operation to the printer driver setting input screen (which enables detailed setting) is omitted, that is, the printer driver setting input The processing procedure of not displaying the screen is adopted (S33-None). In this case,
With the setting of the print instruction attribute file as the current setting, the set data (print instruction data) of the set print processing is passed to the print processing unit 12, and the designated document data and the print instruction data retrieved from the document DB 13 are sent to the print job. And send it to the printer driver 20 (S3
9). On the other hand, when selecting the method to use by changing the setting of the print instruction attribute file, the printer driver setting input screen of the printer driver setting input screen is displayed so that the user can perform input operation on the printer driver setting input screen (enables detailed setting). A processing procedure for displaying is adopted (S33-Yes). In this case, the setting data of the print instruction attribute file analyzed in the previous step is prepared as an initial value (S34), and the printer selected this time for printing is set. The printer driver of is displayed (S35). Here, the user changes detailed operating condition settings related to printing (sorting, stapling, number of copies, double-sided printing, etc.), and sets the print processing setting data (print instruction data) to the print processing unit 12. When the specified document data and the print instruction data retrieved from the document DB 13 are sent to the printer driver 20 with a print job creation command attached thereto, the printer driver 20 receives this as a print instruction input (S41). After that, the printer driver 20 creates a job of print data in a format that can be processed by the instructed printer 30 according to the print instruction sent by any setting method (S
42), the printer 30 is instructed to print the created print job (S43).

Here, the printer driver 20 performs a process of creating and outputting information related to the executed print output as management information used in the document management system 10. Here, in the print instruction step according to the flow of this example, if the method of directly applying the print instruction data of the print instruction attribute file is used, a new file is not registered or managed. Therefore, only when the setting of the print instruction attribute file is changed and the print instruction is given, the process of adding the print instruction attribute file to the corresponding document is executed. According to the flow of this example, after issuing the print execution command to the printer 30, the printer driver 20 checks whether or not the print instruction setting has been changed (S4).
4) Depending on the result, the process branches depending on whether the print instruction attribute file required for registration and management of a new file is created or not. The above-mentioned check is determined according to the method of setting the print instruction selected by the user. If the print instruction settings have not been changed (S44-
None), the print end notification is sent to the document management system 10 without creating the print instruction attribute file. The document management system 10 that receives the print end notification monitors the arrival of this notification (S40), and ends the processing flow when the notification is received. On the other hand, when the setting of the print instruction is changed (S44-Yes), the print instruction attribute file is created by the step of writing the print instruction attribute file (S45). In this example, the written print instruction attribute file is stored in the storage unit of the printer driver 20 (S46). Further, at the time of writing, a print end notification is given to the document management system 10 side.

Next, the print instruction attribute file created on the printer driver 20 side is fetched on the document management system 10 side, and processing for adding it to the relevant document as management information is performed. The document management system 10 issues a print instruction by the user's input operation on the printer driver setting input screen displayed in step S35, and the printer driver 2
After being sent to 0, the end of the printing process on the printer driver 20 side is monitored (S36). This monitoring continues until a print end notification is sent from the printer driver 20 when the print instruction attribute file is written. When the print completion notification is received, the print instruction attribute file created on the printer driver 20 side is loaded (S3).
7). The print instruction attribute file is taken in by the printer driver 20 which is determined as the writing location of the file.
The file is transferred from the storage unit to the document management system 10 side. Thereafter, on the document management system 10 side, the fetched print instruction attribute file is stored in the document DB 13
The process of registering with is performed (S38). In this example, the original print instruction attribute file is replaced with the print instruction attribute file of this time that has been set and applied, that is, the document selected at the time of printing (that is, the document DB 13 is searched in step S31 to issue a print instruction). As one section of the document), the combined print instruction attribute file is updated by the file fetched in step S37 and reregistered.

[Third Embodiment] In the present invention, it is possible to issue a print output command to a document under management, and further, as shown in the above-mentioned "first embodiment" and "second embodiment", In the document management method in which the print output related information (print instruction attribute file) used when the print output is previously instructed can be added and used as the management information, when the print instruction is given to the document selected by the user, It is also possible to use the print output related information (print instruction attribute file) applied to the document, to easily issue a print instruction, and to improve convenience. In the present exemplary embodiment, as in the above-described “first exemplary embodiment”, when the print instruction attribute file is created by the printer driver and the created print instruction attribute file is loaded into the document management system, it is simply associated with the document at the time of printing. Instead, the print instruction attribute file is independently registered as a print instruction attribute document in the document management system. In addition, a print instruction can be issued by issuing a copy or takeout instruction to a portion of the print instruction attribute file from a registered document that is already associated with the print instruction attribute file (using the copy and takeout function of the section in the document). The attribute file is independently registered in the document DB as a print instruction attribute document.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram relating to the document management system operating in the "third embodiment". FIG. 11 shows a combination of a combined document (including a print instruction attribute file) and an independent print instruction attribute document in the document DB after the print processing instructed for the document managed by the document management system 10 is completed.
13 shows the components necessary for the operation registered in 13 and the flow of information. The document management system 10 in the figure includes the print processing unit 1 outside the document DB 13 as components.
2. The capture processing unit 14 is provided. It should be noted that the components related to the printing process can be implemented by the same configuration as in the "first embodiment", and therefore the description regarding FIG. 3 is referred to.

In the system of FIG. 11, an embodiment of the document management method of the present invention for registering a document related to the print processing after the print processing is completed by the document management system 10 will be described. FIG. 12 is a chart showing an execution flow of the document management method of this embodiment. The processing flow will be described with reference to FIG. 12. In the flow of this example, the processing proceeds in accordance with the same processing flow as that shown in “Embodiment 1” (FIG. 5). That is, the document management system 10 issues a print instruction to a document selected by the user, and the printer driver 20 which receives the instruction creates a print job in accordance with the print instruction and instructs the printer 30 to execute the print operation. The process of outputting the print instruction attribute file in which the information related to the performed printing to the document management system 10 is performed (steps S11 to S14 and S16 to S20 in the flow of the "first embodiment" of FIG. Step S51 in the flow of this embodiment of FIG. 12 respectively
Up to S54, S61 to S65), the processing up to this point remains unchanged. Therefore, for the details of this same step, refer to the above description of the “first embodiment”, and the description thereof is omitted here.

The steps involved in the registration processing of the print instruction attribute document that characterizes this embodiment will be described. In this example, as this step, in order to use the print instruction attribute file created and held by the printer driver 20 in the previous steps S64 and S65 as management information in the document management system 10, this file is registered in the document DB 13. Perform processing to At the beginning of this process, a process of importing the print instruction attribute file into the document management system 10 is performed. The import processing is performed by the import processing unit 14 when the print processing unit 12 receives a print end notification notified from the printer driver 20 at the end of writing the print instruction attribute file (S54). After this, the capture processing unit 1
The print instruction attribute file fetched in No. 4 is registered in the document DB 13, but in the present embodiment, two documents including the print instruction attribute file in the content are registered. First, the print instruction attribute file is combined with the document selected at the time of printing (that is, the document that has been retrieved from the document DB 13 in step S52 and the print instruction has been issued), and registered as one document. This registration process is
According to a procedure of combining a print instruction attribute file as a section of a registered document including the document with the print instruction extracted from the document DB 13 by the import processing unit 14 and re-registering the combined document data in the document DB 13 (S5
5). In the other, the print instruction attribute file is independently registered as the print instruction attribute document (that is, without being combined with the original document for which the print instruction is given). In this registration processing, only the print instruction attribute file imported by the import processing unit 14 is newly registered in the document DB 13 as a registration document (S5).
6). Although the method of registering the print instruction attribute document based on the print instruction attribute file created by the printer driver 20 at the end of the print process has been described above, another method of registering a single print instruction attribute document is described. , Document DB13
A merged document that has already been registered in is equipped with a copy / extract function for that section, and by using that function to issue a copy / extract instruction to a section of the print instruction attribute file, the print instruction attribute file can be used independently. The method of registering in the document DB 13 as the print instruction attribute document can be used. The print instruction attribute document registered as described above has a processing procedure for combining it with another registered normal document to be printed, and the combined document already registered by the combining processing (print instruction The document data similar to the document in which the print instruction attribute file is combined with the document can be configured. When a print instruction is issued to the combined document together with a combination instruction of another normal document already registered by the user and the print instruction attribute document, "second embodiment" is performed on the combined document. The printing process can be performed by the same method as in.

[Fourth Embodiment] Further, in the present invention,
As a document management program executed by the server machines S1 and S2, a processing program that describes steps (procedures) for executing the document management method described in each of the above-described embodiments is prepared, and the prepared program is used to achieve the purpose. Document management can be realized. This processing program is recorded in a well-known computer-readable recording medium and is used as a recording medium under the control of the CPUs of the server machines S1 and S2, or is installed in a built-in storage means and read from these recording media. The issued program executes processing / operations for document management.

[0026]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION (1) A document management system capable of searching a document registered in an effect document DB according to the invention of claim 1 by management information attached to the document and giving a print instruction to the searched document In the above, the print instruction attribute file is created based on the print instruction information for the document for which printing is instructed and the attribute information of the printing apparatus for the document, and the created print instruction attribute file is associated with the relevant document as management information. It is now possible to search managed documents by the print instruction settings (eg, sort, staple, etc.) and print attributes (eg, print time, print destination printer, etc.). It is possible to improve the search performance.

(2) Effect Corresponding to the Invention of Claim 2 In addition to the effect of (1) above, when the print instruction attribute file is associated with the document for which the print instruction is issued, it is written in the file. Since a procedure for issuing print instructions to which the above settings have been applied has been prepared, the time and effort of setting operations by the user can be saved,
It becomes possible to facilitate the input operation, and particularly to improve the convenience in a document management system that manages a plurality of application files as one document (see FIG. 1). (3) Effect corresponding to the invention of claim 3 In addition to the effects of (1) and (2) above, a print instruction attribute file combined with a document is copied or cut out to create a new print instruction attribute file. Since the created print instruction attribute file is individually registered in the document DB so that it can be used for the print instruction, the print instruction attribute applied to another document when the print instruction is given to the selected document It is also possible to use a file, it is possible to easily issue a print instruction, and it is possible to improve convenience. (4) Effects corresponding to the invention of claim 4 In addition to the effects of (1) to (3) above, since the print instruction attribute file is described in a structured text file format, a new printer is introduced. Also, if a common print instruction attribute file described in text of a predetermined format is output, it is possible to support a new printer without changing the document management program itself. (5) Effect corresponding to the invention of claim 5 To implement the document management method by installing a program for executing each step of the document management method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 in a computer It is possible to easily provide the above means. (6) Effect corresponding to invention of claim 6 It becomes possible to provide an information processing apparatus (system) that realizes the above (1) to (4).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of documents to be managed that are combined as one document.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of an information processing apparatus (system) having a document management function.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram (at the time of print processing) relating to the document management system that operates in the “first embodiment”.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram (during registration operation) relating to the document management system that operates in the “first embodiment”.

FIG. 5 shows an execution flow of the document management method of the “first embodiment”.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a print instruction attribute file described in text in a predetermined format.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a processing flow in a document search using a print instruction attribute file.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram relating to a document management system that operates in a “second embodiment”.

FIG. 9 shows an execution flow (No. 1) of the document management method of the “second embodiment”.

FIG. 10 shows an execution flow (No. 2) of the document management method of the “second embodiment”.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram (during registration operation) relating to the document management system operating in the “third embodiment”.

FIG. 12 shows an execution flow of the document management method of the “third embodiment”.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Document management system, 11 ... Instruction input unit,
12 ... Print processing unit, 13 ... Document DB (data base), 14 ... Import processing unit, 2
0 ... printer driver, 30 ... printer,
CM ... Client machine, S1, S2 ... Server machine, P1, P2 ... Printer.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A step of registering a document associated with management information in a document DB, a step of searching a document registered in the document DB by management information, and a print job of a print job according to a print instruction for a specified document in the document DB. A step of instructing creation, a step of acquiring attribute information of a printing device that processes the print job, and a print instruction attribute file based on the print instruction information for the document for which printing is instructed and the attribute information of the printing device for the document A document management method comprising performing a creating step and a step of associating the created print instruction attribute file with a corresponding document as the management information. 2. The document management method according to claim 1, wherein, when a document is designated and a print instruction is given, whether or not the print instruction attribute file is associated as management information of the designated document. And a step of instructing the creation of the print job in the print setting of the print instruction attribute file when it is determined that the print instruction attribute file is associated with the print instruction attribute file. Document management method. 3. The document management method according to claim 1, wherein the print instruction attribute file associated with the document is copied, or the print instruction attribute file associated with the document is cut out and newly printed. A document management method characterized by executing a step of creating an instruction attribute file and a step of individually registering the created print instruction attribute file in a document DB so that it can be used for a print instruction. 4. The document management method according to claim 1, wherein the print instruction attribute file is in a structured text file format. 5. A program for causing a computer to execute each step of the document management method according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. An information processing apparatus comprising a computer on which the program according to claim 5 is installed.