JP2007140865A - Electronic document management apparatus and electronic document management program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reliable electronic document management apparatus that can record time stamp attachment results. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic document management apparatus, which manages a plurality of electronic documents saved with time stamps attached, comprises a time stamp acquisition part 106 for acquiring the time stamps to be attached to the electronic documents, an attachment part 118 for attaching the time stamps acquired by the time stamp acquisition part 106 to the electronic documents, a monitoring part 110 for determining whether or not the time stamps have been acquired successfully and whether or not the time stamps have been attached successfully in the attachment part 118, and a recording part 112 for recording the determination results in the monitoring part 110 for the electronic documents. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic document management apparatus and an electronic document management program, and more particularly to an electronic document management apparatus and an electronic document management program for managing electronic documents that require time certification.

  When an electronic document that requires long-term storage corresponding to the electronic document law is created and stored, it is necessary to add an electronic signature and a time stamp to the document. In general, the validity period of electronic signatures and time stamps is about 1 to several years, so it is necessary to extend the validity period of documents that need to be stored for a long time. As an example of a long-term signature format corresponding to the electronic document method, there is one specified in IEEE RFC3126 (Electronic Signature Formats for long term electronic signatures).

Moreover, as a conventional electronic file authentication system capable of automatically extending the expiration date of a time stamp, there is one described in Patent Document 1, for example. The electronic file authentication system described in this document automatically extends the expiration date of the time stamp over a very long period of time without any special operation by the user.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-63268

  By the way, in the case of a device that manages a plurality of electronic documents in a batch, an error may occur when a time stamp is acquired or applied when a time stamp is added to the electronic document. For example, there is a possibility that an account registered in a TSA that issues a time stamp has expired, a communication failure has occurred, or an error has occurred when writing a time stamp to a document file.

  When a time stamp is automatically added to an electronic document, it is necessary to notify the user whether or not the time stamp has been reliably added. In addition, if the time stamp is not automatically updated, it is necessary to notify the user so that the time stamp can be reliably updated before the expiration date.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable electronic document management apparatus capable of recording a result of giving a time stamp.

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic document management apparatus for managing a plurality of electronic documents to which time stamps are assigned and stored,
An acquisition unit for acquiring the time stamp to be given to the electronic document;
A first determination unit that determines whether or not the acquisition unit has successfully acquired the time stamp;
A granting unit for granting the time stamp acquired by the acquisition unit to the electronic document when it is determined that the first determination unit is successful;
A second determination unit that determines whether or not the time stamp has been successfully assigned by the grant unit;
A recording unit that records the determination results of the first and second determination units for each electronic document;
There is provided an electronic document management apparatus characterized by comprising:

  Here, the acquisition unit logs in and connects with a time stamp authority (hereinafter referred to as TSA (Time-Stamping Authority)), which has been contracted in advance, using a user ID, a password, etc. Is issued, and the issued time stamp is received. The determination result recorded by the recording unit includes error information at the time of obtaining and giving the time stamp. For example, it may include an error that occurred when connecting to TSA or logging in when acquiring a time stamp, a time stamp acquisition failure, or an error that occurred when writing a time stamp to an electronic document, resulting in failure to give it can.

  According to the present invention, since it is possible to record whether or not the authentication processing of the electronic document to be acquired by giving the time stamp has been performed reliably, the reliability of management of the electronic document is improved. In particular, in the case where a plurality of documents are batched at a fixed time for adding a time stamp to an electronic document, the success or failure of the time stamp can be recorded for each document.

  In the electronic document management apparatus, the electronic document management apparatus may further include a time determination unit that determines whether or not the time stamp is updated from the expiration date of the time stamp of the electronic document. It is possible to record the electronic document determined to be the update time.

Here, the update time is, for example, a predetermined number of days before the expiration date of the time stamp.
According to this configuration, since the update deadline of the time stamp given to the electronic document is managed, it is possible to record the time for automatic extension.

  In the electronic document management apparatus, the acquisition unit can acquire the time stamp of the electronic document determined by the time determination unit as the update time.

  According to this configuration, the expiration date of the time stamp can be automatically extended within the storage period of the electronic document, and since the record remains, the management of the electronic document is facilitated and the reliability is improved.

  The electronic document management apparatus may further include a notifying unit for notifying the electronic document determined by the time determination unit as the update time. The electronic document management apparatus may further include a notification unit that notifies the determination result of the first and second determination units.

  According to this configuration, since the result is notified, it is possible for the user to take measures in the case of failure, and to take measures such as retrying, thereby improving the reliability of document management.

The electronic document management apparatus may further include a control unit that causes the acquisition unit or the assigning unit to retry a predetermined number of times when the first or second determination unit determines failure.
According to this configuration, when authentication fails, automatic retry is performed, so that document management becomes easy and reliability is improved.

According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic document management program for managing a plurality of electronic documents to which time stamps are assigned and stored,
Computer
Means for obtaining the time stamp to be given to the electronic document;
Means for determining whether or not the time stamp has been successfully acquired by the means for acquiring;
Means for giving the electronic document the time stamp acquired by the acquiring means when the determining means is determined to be successful;
Means for determining whether or not the time stamp has been successfully assigned by the means for giving;
An electronic document management program is provided for functioning as means for recording, for each electronic document, a result of determination by the means for determining whether the time stamp has been acquired and whether or not to give the time stamp.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the reliable electronic document management apparatus which can record the provision result of a time stamp is provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In all the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same components, and the description will be omitted as appropriate.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic document management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic document management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is an electronic document management apparatus 100 that manages a plurality of electronic documents to which time stamps are assigned and stored, and an acquisition unit (time unit) that acquires time stamps to be added to the electronic documents. A stamp acquisition unit 106), a first determination unit (monitoring unit 110) that determines whether the acquisition unit (time stamp acquisition unit 106) has successfully acquired a time stamp, and a first determination unit (monitoring unit 110). When it is determined that the time stamp has been successfully obtained, the time stamp acquired by the acquisition unit (time stamp acquisition unit 106) is added to the electronic document, and it is determined whether or not the time stamp has been successfully assigned by the grant unit 118. A second determination unit (monitoring unit 110), and a recording unit 112 that records the determination results of the first and second determination units (monitoring unit 110) for each electronic document.

  In FIG. 1, an electronic document management apparatus 100 includes a PC (Personal Computer) 3 and / or an MFP (Multi Functional Peripheral) 5 and a TSA (Time-Stamping Authority) via a network 1 such as the Internet or a LAN. 7 is connected. In FIG. 1, the configuration of parts not related to the essence of the present invention is omitted.

  Each component of the electronic document management apparatus 100, the PC 3, and the MFP 5 includes a CPU, a memory, a program that realizes the components shown in the figure loaded in the memory, and a storage such as a hard disk that stores the program. It is realized by any combination of hardware and software, centering on the unit and network connection interface. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications to the implementation method and apparatus. Each drawing described below shows a functional unit block, not a hardware unit configuration.

  The electronic document management apparatus 100 can be included in, for example, the PC 3 or the MFP 5. The electronic document management apparatus 100 is realized by executing an electronic document management program, which will be described later, by a computer constituting the PC 3 or the MFP 5 or the like. The electronic document management program of the present embodiment is an electronic document management program for managing a plurality of electronic documents to which time stamps are assigned and stored, and means for obtaining a time stamp to be given to an electronic document by a computer (time A stamp acquisition unit 106), a unit for determining whether the acquisition unit succeeds in acquiring a time stamp (monitoring unit 110), and a time stamp acquired by the acquisition unit when it is determined that the determination unit is successful. Means for assigning to the electronic document (giving unit 118), means for judging whether or not the time stamp was successfully given by the means for giving (monitoring unit 110), means for judging whether the time stamp was successfully obtained and given It can be made to function as a means (recording part 112) which records the judgment result in every electronic document.

  Further, the PC 3 and the MFP 5 can be used as a client terminal that transfers an electronic document to the electronic document management apparatus 100 via the network 1 and stores it in the document storage unit 120. In addition to the PC 3 and the MFP 5, the PC 3 and the MFP 5 are connected to the network 1. It may be a network scanner, Internet facsimile machine, workstation or the like.

  The TSA 7 issues a time stamp in response to a request from the electronic document management apparatus 100. The TSA 7 acquires accurate time information from a TA (Time Authority) (not shown), and generates a time stamp. The protocol between the TSA 7 and the electronic document management apparatus 100, or the PC 3 or the MFP 5 can be based on, for example, IETF RFC3161 (Time Stamp Protocol) standard. In the case of a TSA that requires user authentication, the user of the electronic document management apparatus 100 performs user registration with the TSA 7 in advance, receives an account, requests the TSA 7 to issue a time stamp after login authentication. The TSA 7 may be a plurality of time distributors. It is also possible to request the TSA 7 to issue a time stamp from the PC 3 or MFP 5 that creates the electronic document, and attach it to the electronic document.

  The electronic document management apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, for example, gives an electronic signature with a time stamp to the electronic document and stores the electronic document created by reading the original with the MFP 5 in the storage device via the network 1. The term management of the electronic signature with a time stamp of the electronic document stored in the apparatus is performed. Furthermore, the electronic document management apparatus 100 is an electronic device that requires long-term storage corresponding to the electronic document law, for example, storage for 5 to 10 years, when the expiration date of the electronic signature or time stamp is 1 to several years. The expiration date of the electronic signature with the time stamp of the document can be automatically extended only for the storage period that needs to be stored.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the electronic document management apparatus 100 includes an interface unit (shown as “I / F” in the figure) 102, a reception unit 104, a time stamp acquisition unit 106, a client setting storage unit 108, and a monitoring unit. 110, a recording unit 112, a notification unit 114, a signature generation unit 116, a grant unit 118, a document storage unit 120, a document information storage unit 122, and a determination unit 124.

  The interface unit 102 communicates with the PC 3, MFP 5, and TSA 7 via the network 1. The receiving unit 104 receives an electronic document from the PC 3 or MFP 5 on the network 1 via the interface unit 102. The time stamp acquisition unit 106 acquires a time stamp added to the electronic document received by the reception unit 104. Specifically, the time stamp acquisition unit 106 generates a hash value of the electronic document received by the reception unit 104, and after the electronic signature is signed by the signature generation unit 116 described later, the hash that further generates the hash value of the electronic signature A generation unit (not shown) and the generated hash value are transmitted to the TSA 7 on the network 1 via the interface unit 102, a time stamp issuance request is made, and the time stamp issued from the TSA 7 is transmitted via the interface unit 102. And a request unit (not shown) for receiving.

  Here, the client setting storage unit 108 has the structure shown in FIG. 2, and stores an account ID 152, a password 154, and a remaining time stamp 156 for each TSA station 150. The account ID 152 and the password 154 are used when logging in to the TSA 7 that the user has contracted in advance. The remaining time stamp number 156 is the current remaining time stamp number when the number of time stamps that can be issued for each account is determined in advance.

  Returning to FIG. 1, when making a time stamp issue request to the TSA 7, the time stamp acquisition unit 106 accesses the client setting storage unit 108, acquires the account ID 152 and the password 154, and logs in to the TSA 7. It is possible to separately specify from which TSA 7 the time stamp is requested. Here, it is assumed that a certain TSA 7 is always used. The TSA 7 to be used can be determined in advance according to the type of electronic document, each electronic document, or time stamp acquisition time, and the client setting information of the TSA 7 to be used can be searched using the TSA station 150 as a key.

  The signature generation unit 116 includes a certificate storage unit (not shown) that stores an electronic certificate previously acquired from a CA (Certificate Authority) (not shown), and an external electronic certificate storage unit via the network 1. A certificate acquisition unit (not shown) for acquiring an electronic certificate or a certificate reading unit (not shown) for reading an electronic certificate stored in a USB memory or the like can be included. The signature generation unit 116 electronically signs the hash value of the electronic document using the electronic certificate and passes it to the time stamp acquisition unit 106. In addition, the signature generation unit 116 electronically signs the electronic document using the same electronic certificate, and delivers the electronic document that has been electronically signed to the granting unit 118.

  The assigning unit 118 receives the electronic document that has been digitally signed from the signature generation unit 116, assigns the time stamp acquired by the time stamp acquisition unit 106, and thus the electronic document to which the time stamp and the electronic signature have been assigned is stored in the document storage unit 120. And the information of the document is stored in the document information storage unit 122.

  The document storage unit 120 stores an electronic document with a time stamp and an electronic signature. Note that the document storage unit 120 may be a storage device connected to the network 1. Alternatively, it can be included in the PC 3 and the MFP 5 on the network 1. In this case, the electronic document management apparatus 100 includes a reception unit that receives designation of the storage destination of the electronic document in advance, and a transfer unit that transfers the electronic document to another storage device on the storage destination network 1 via the interface unit 102. , Can be included. The document information storage unit 122 stores information on the electronic document stored in the document storage unit 120. For example, the file name, the storage location, the expiration date of the time stamp currently assigned to the electronic document, and information on whether or not the expiration date is imminent can be included.

  The monitoring unit 110 determines whether the time stamp acquisition unit 106 has successfully acquired the time stamp. Further, the signature generation unit 116 determines whether or not the electronic signature is successful. Further, by determining whether or not the time stamp has been successfully added to the electronic document by the giving unit 118, the processing from the time stamp acquisition to the time giving is monitored.

  The recording unit 112 records the determination result of success / failure of acquisition and provision of the time stamp in the monitoring unit 110 for each electronic document. For the recording, for example, the document information acquired from the document information storage unit 122, for example, the file name of the electronic document that has undergone the process of acquiring or giving the time stamp, the storage location, and the validity of the time stamp currently given to the electronic document are recorded. Information on the expiration date, information on whether or not the expiration date is imminent, the time at which the time stamp is acquired or assigned, the result of success or failure, and the like can be included.

  The notification unit 114 notifies the determination result of the success or failure of acquisition and grant of the time stamp in the monitoring unit 110 and the document information. A display unit (not shown) for displaying these pieces of information on the screen, a printing unit (not shown) for printing out, and a transmission unit (not shown) for notifying a pre-registered mail address by e-mail can be included. . Note that the notification unit 114 may be provided in the electronic document management apparatus 100 or may transmit information to a display unit or a printing unit provided in the PC 3 or the MFP 5 on the network 1. That is, it is assumed that the PC 3 or the MFP 5 on the network 1 can also confirm the determination result of the success or failure of obtaining or giving the time stamp and the document information.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a report printed out by the notification unit 114. The report 200 includes a monitoring result by the monitoring unit 110. The file name 202 of the target electronic document includes the storage location. Further, the report 200 includes a time 204 at which time stamp acquisition or grant is attempted, a result 206 of time stamp acquisition or grant, and an expiration date 208 of the time stamp currently assigned to the electronic document. Further, the emphasis print 210 is displayed for those that are about to expire. In addition, the report 200 may include information indicating the cause of failure in obtaining or giving the time stamp.

  The determination unit 124 determines whether it is time to update the time stamp from the expiration date of the time stamp given to the electronic document stored in the document information storage unit 122. As the update time, it is possible to specify, for example, a predetermined number of days before the expiration date of the time stamp. Further, the determination unit 124 records the update time of the time stamp in the document information of the electronic document determined by the determination unit 124 as the update time. According to this configuration, since the update deadline of the time stamp given to the electronic document is managed, it is possible to record the time for automatic extension.

  Also, the determination unit 124 instructs the time stamp acquisition unit 106 to acquire a time stamp for the electronic document determined to be the update time. According to this configuration, the expiration date of the time stamp can be automatically extended within the storage period of the electronic document, and since the record remains, the management of the electronic document is facilitated and the reliability is improved.

  The operation of the electronic document management apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described below. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the electronic document management apparatus 100 of this embodiment. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to FIGS. Here, for example, the receiving unit 104 receives an electronic document created in advance by the PC 3 or the MFP 5, stores a plurality of electronic documents in a document temporary storage unit (not shown), and assigns a time stamp by regular batch processing or the like. A case where processing is performed on a plurality of electronic documents will be described.

  First, in the electronic document management apparatus 100, the time stamp acquisition unit 106 tries to connect to the TSA 7 on the network 1 via the interface unit 102 (step S11). Specifically, the time stamp acquisition unit 106 connects to the network 1 via the interface unit 102 and accesses the client setting storage unit 108 to acquire the account ID 152 and password 154 of the TSA station 150 used this time. And log in to TSA7.

  The monitoring unit 110 monitors the success or failure of connection to the network 1 and login to the TSA 7 by the time stamp acquisition unit 106. When the monitoring unit 110 determines that the connection and login are successful (YES in step S13), the TSA 7 is requested to issue a time stamp and acquired (step S17). Specifically, the time stamp acquisition unit 106 generates a hash value of the electronic document to which the current time stamp is given. Then, the signature generation unit 116 electronically signs the hash value of the electronic document using the electronic certificate. Then, a hash value of the electronic signature is generated, the generated hash value is transmitted to the TSA 7 on the network 1 via the interface unit 102, a time stamp issuance request is made, and the time stamp issued from the TSA 7 is transmitted to the interface unit 102. Receive via.

  On the other hand, when the monitoring unit 110 determines that connection or login has failed (NO in step S13), the recording unit 112 records the file name, storage location, and time of the electronic document that has failed to connect or log in (step S15). . The notification unit 114 also notifies the file name, storage location, time, and the like of the electronic document that has failed to connect or log in. For example, the result is displayed on the display unit together with the message.

  Furthermore, the monitoring unit 110 monitors whether or not the time stamp has been acquired in step S17. When the monitoring unit 110 determines that the time stamp has been successfully acquired (YES in step S19), the signature generation unit 116 electronically signs the electronic document using the electronic certificate, and the adding unit 118 further acquires the time acquired in step S17. A stamp is attached to the electronic document that has been digitally signed (step S23). The assigning unit 118 stores the electronic document that has been successfully given a time stamp in the document storage unit 120 and stores the document information of the electronic document in the document information storage unit 122.

  On the other hand, when the monitoring unit 110 determines that the time stamp acquisition has failed (NO in step S19), the recording unit 112 records the file name, storage location, and time of the electronic document that failed to acquire the time stamp (step S21). . In addition, the notification unit 114 notifies the file name, storage location, time, and the like of the electronic document for which time stamp acquisition has failed.

  Further, the monitoring unit 110 monitors the success or failure of writing the electronic signature and time stamp to the electronic document in step S23. When the monitoring unit 110 determines that the electronic signature and time stamp have been successfully assigned (YES in step S25), the recording unit 112 records the file name, storage location, time, and document of the electronic document that has been successfully assigned. Information is acquired from the document information storage unit 122 and recorded (step S29). Also, the notification unit 114 notifies the file name, storage location, time, and document information of the electronic document that has been successfully assigned.

  On the other hand, when the monitoring unit 110 determines that the grant has failed (NO in step S25), the recording unit 112 records the file name, storage location, and time of the electronic document that failed to be given (step S27). Also, the notification unit 114 notifies the file name, storage location, and time of the electronic document that has failed to be assigned.

  The notification of the time stamp assignment failure in the notification unit 114 in step S15, step S21, and step S27 is continued until the user confirms, and the operation unit (not shown) receives a confirmation operation by the user (YES in step S31). The notification is terminated (step S33). The notification of the time stamp assignment success in the notification unit 114 in step S29 is automatically terminated after a predetermined time has elapsed (YES in step 31) (step S33).

  As described above, according to the electronic document management apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, it is possible to record whether or not authentication processing of an electronic document to be acquired by giving a time stamp has been performed reliably. The reliability of management is improved. In particular, in the case where a plurality of documents are batched at a fixed time for adding a time stamp to an electronic document, the success or failure of the time stamp can be recorded for each document. In addition, according to the above embodiment, the result of success or failure of the time stamp assignment is notified, so that the user can take measures in the case of failure, and can take measures such as retrying, document management Reliability is improved.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, these are the illustrations of this invention, Various structures other than the above are also employable.

  For example, in another embodiment, when the monitoring unit 110 detects a time stamp grant failure, the time stamp acquisition unit 106, the signature generation unit 116, and a control unit (not shown) that causes the grant unit 118 to retry a predetermined number of times are included. be able to. The control unit can also retry at a predetermined time interval. The result at the time of retry can be recorded and notified in the same manner as the monitoring process by the monitoring unit 110 described above. According to this configuration, when authentication fails, automatic retry is performed, so that document management becomes easy and reliability is improved.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic document management apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of the client setting memory | storage part of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the report which the alerting | reporting part of the electronic document management apparatus of FIG. 1 prints out. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the electronic document management apparatus of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 network 3 PC
5 MFP
7 TSA
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Electronic document management apparatus 102 Interface part 104 Reception part 106 Time stamp acquisition part 108 Client setting memory | storage part 110 Monitoring part 112 Recording part 114 Notification part 116 Signature generation part 118 Giving part 120 Document storage part 122 Document information storage part 124 Judgment part 150 TSA station 152 Account ID
154 Password 156 Remaining time stamp 200 Report 202 File name 204 Time 206 Result 208 Expiration date 210 Emphasis printing

Claims (7)

An electronic document management apparatus that manages a plurality of electronic documents that are time stamped and stored,
An acquisition unit for acquiring the time stamp to be given to the electronic document;
A first determination unit that determines whether or not the acquisition unit has successfully acquired the time stamp;
A granting unit for granting the time stamp acquired by the acquisition unit to the electronic document when it is determined that the first determination unit is successful;
A second determination unit that determines whether or not the time stamp has been successfully assigned by the grant unit;
A recording unit that records the determination results of the first and second determination units for each electronic document;
An electronic document management apparatus comprising: The electronic document management apparatus according to claim 1.
A time determination unit that determines whether the time stamp is updated from the expiration date of the time stamp of the electronic document;
The electronic document management apparatus, wherein the recording unit records the electronic document determined by the time determination unit as the update time. The electronic document management apparatus according to claim 2.
The electronic document management apparatus, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the time stamp of the electronic document determined by the time determination unit as the update time. The electronic document management apparatus according to claim 2 or 3,
An electronic document management apparatus, further comprising: a notification unit that notifies the electronic document determined by the time determination unit as the update time. The electronic document management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An electronic document management apparatus comprising: a notification unit that notifies the determination result of the first and second determination units. The electronic document management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
An electronic document management apparatus comprising: a control unit that causes the acquisition unit or the assigning unit to retry a predetermined number of times when the first or second determination unit determines failure. An electronic document management program for managing a plurality of electronic documents to which time stamps are assigned and stored,
Computer
Means for obtaining the time stamp to be given to the electronic document;
Means for determining whether or not the time stamp has been successfully acquired by the means for acquiring;
Means for giving the electronic document the time stamp acquired by the acquiring means when the determining means is determined to be successful;
Means for determining whether or not the time stamp has been successfully assigned by the means for giving;
The electronic document management program for functioning as a means for recording the result of determination by the means for determining whether the time stamp has been acquired and whether or not to give the time stamp for each electronic document.

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