JP2009199404A - Information processing system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system, capable of automatically executing, when an update version of a registered document is input, a processing content based on the change of the document. <P>SOLUTION: When a scan image is input from a composite machine 30, a processing control part 102 obtains an original electronic document corresponding to the image from a document management system 20. A comparative analysis processing part 106 compares the scan image with the original document to specify an item with a change. The processing control part 102 causes, when the change of the value of the predetermined item satisfies a condition registered in the rule DB 108, an action execution part 110 to execute a processing content registered in the rule DB 108 in association with the condition. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing system and a program.

  In recent years, systems that digitize paper documents and store them as electronic documents have become widespread. There is also a system that prints an electronic document stored in this way, fills in a paper document as a print result, digitizes the entry result, and stores it as an updated version of the original electronic document.

  For example, an apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes an image input unit that reads a form as an input image, a specific information extraction unit that extracts specific information from the input image, and update history information associated with the specific information. A data extraction unit that extracts from the data storage unit in which the image is stored, a history image synthesis unit that generates the latest image read last time based on the update history information, and an update region from the latest image and the input image An update area extraction unit that extracts information and an update information storage unit that stores update history information including the update area information.

  The apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 prints and outputs the first image data stored in the image storage means on a recording medium, and modifies the recording medium on which the first image data is printed. Is taken in as second image data via the image input means, the first image data is compared with the second image data, the difference data is extracted, and the difference data is extracted from the first image data. Update processing is performed by adding to the data. Also, an update process prohibition area or an update process area is designated for the first image data, and the document image is updated based on the designated area.

  In addition, for internal control of a company, a system that reads a voucher document such as an estimate, a purchase order, a receipt, a contract, or an application form with a scanner, etc., and stores it in an electronic manner is also widespread. Some workflow systems read documents such as voucher documents and register them in a document management system, and then execute post-processes of the workflow using the registration as a trigger. For example, in a purchase processing flow, when an estimate received by facsimile is scanned and registered in a document management system, an approval approval process for the estimate is started.

JP 2007-122210 A JP 2001-283231 A

  Incidentally, a document once registered in the system may be updated (for example, upgraded or overwritten) for some reason later. In such a case, depending on the content of the update, it is necessary to change the processing content of the post-process of the business flow.

  The present invention provides a system capable of automatically executing processing contents according to changes in a document when an updated version of a document already registered is input.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a document storage unit that stores an electronic document, a value detection unit that detects a value of a predetermined item of the target document from image data obtained by reading the target document by the image reading unit, and the target document Of the value of the predetermined item between the electronic document and the target document based on the value of the predetermined item of the electronic document in the document storage unit corresponding to the value and the value detected by the value detection unit Change information generating means for generating change information indicating a change, condition information storage means for storing condition information for defining conditions relating to the change information and processing contents when the conditions are satisfied, and the change information generating means When the change information generated by the condition information satisfies the condition relating to the change specified in the condition information stored in the condition information storage means, execution means for executing the processing content specified in the condition information; An information processing system including.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer comprising: a document storage unit that stores an electronic document; a value detection unit that detects a value of a predetermined item of the target document from image data obtained by reading the target document by the image reading unit; The value of the predetermined item between the electronic document and the target document based on the value of the predetermined item of the electronic document in the document storage unit corresponding to the document and the value detected by the value detection unit Change information generating means for generating change information indicating a change in the condition, condition information storage means for storing condition information for defining conditions relating to the change information and processing contents when the conditions are satisfied, and the change information generating means When the generated change information satisfies a condition related to the change specified in the condition information stored in the condition information storage unit, execution of processing contents specified in the condition information is executed Is a program for functioning stage as.

  According to the present invention, when an updated version of a document that has already been registered is input, the processing content corresponding to the change of the document can be automatically executed.

  With reference to FIG. 1, an example of the system of the embodiment will be schematically described. The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a document processing system 10, a document management system 20, and a multifunction peripheral (an apparatus having functions of a scanner, a printer, a copier, etc.) 30 connected to each other via a network such as a local area network. .

  The document processing system 10 is a system that registers an electronic document in the document management system 20 and updates the electronic document registered in the document management system 20. Details of the document processing system 10 will be described later. An electronic document is a document composed of electronic data, and is typically a single file. There is a paper document as a concept that is opposed to an electronic document. A paper document is a document composed of images displayed on one or more sheets.

  The document management system 20 is a database that stores electronic documents registered by users. Each electronic document includes, for example, image data of one or more pages. In addition, the electronic document may include content data describing the document content represented by the image of each page in a predetermined data structure. Such content data may be expressed in a structure description language such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The content data is, for example, character recognition performed by the document processing system 10 on scanned image data obtained by reading a document, and the result of the recognition is schema information (for example, XML Schema or the like) indicating the logical structure of the document. Can be generated by a process such as matching with a schema description language). Since such processing is well known in the art, further explanation is omitted. The document management system 20 stores each electronic document in association with a unique document ID (identification information). The content data holding method may be held in an RDB (Relational Data Base) table or the like as an attribute other than XML. The electronic document may be realized as a file in a format such as PDF (Portable Document Format).

  The multifunction machine 30 has a function of transmitting scanned image data generated by scanning to the document processing system 10 for registration or update, in addition to general functions such as scanning, printing, and copying. This function is realized by, for example, a document transmission program executed by the CPU (central processing unit) of the multifunction machine 30. For example, the program is associated with one menu item in the menu displayed on the operation screen of the multifunction device 30. When the menu item is selected by the user, the program is executed and the multifunction device 30 is executed. Transits to the document transmission mode. In the document transmission mode, for example, the multifunction peripheral 300 is in a state of waiting for reading a paper document. In this state, when the user sets a document on an ADF (automatic document feeder) or a platen and presses the start button of the multifunction machine 30, the document is read, and the scanned image data obtained as a result of the reading is a document transmission program. Is transmitted to the document processing system 10.

  As another example, the document transmission program of the multifunction machine 30 presents a list of scanned image data stored in the storage device in the multifunction machine 30 on the operation screen, and the scanned image data selected by the user in the list. May be transmitted to the document processing system 10.

  The document transmission program of the multifunction device 30 acquires a list of business flows currently in progress from the document processing system 10 and displays the list on the UI (user interface 9 screen) of the multifunction device 30. In this case, the scanned image data of the document read by the MFP 30 is sent to the document processing system 10 as input data corresponding to the selected business flow. In addition, in order to start a new business flow, a list of business flow types may be acquired from the document processing system 10 and displayed, and may be selected by the user. It is possible to let the user select the input document for which process in the process.When registering multiple types of documents in one process The user may further select which type of document in the selected process is to be input, and it is merely an example to cause the user to select a business flow, a process, or a document type. Instead, the document processing system 10 may analyze the scanned image data received from the multifunction machine 30 to determine which business flow document the scanned image data is and which process document. In addition, the document transmission program of the multi-function device 30 may allow the user to select whether the document is newly registered or updated, and in the case of update registration, among the electronic documents already registered in the document management system 20 In this case, the document processing system 10 may select a list of electronic documents registered in the document management system 20. May be provided to the multifunction device 30 and the user may select a target electronic document from the list, and at this time, the multifunction device 30 may perform user authentication and display a list of only electronic documents to which the user has access rights. It may be provided to the multifunction machine 30.

  The document processing system 10 performs a process for registering an electronic document generated from the scanned image data sent from the multifunction machine 30 in the document management system 20. Further, the document processing system 10 may execute a business flow support process based on the registered electronic document. Various business flow support processes are known in the art, such as a process for notifying a person concerned in a business flow that an electronic document related to the business flow has been registered. The document processing system 10 performs such a process. May be executed.

  The document processing system 10 includes a processing control unit 102, a document management I / F (interface) unit 104, a comparative analysis processing unit 106, a rule DB (database) 108, and an action execution unit 110. The processing control unit 102 controls the overall processing of the document processing system 10. The document management I / F unit 104 performs interface processing for registering and retrieving electronic documents with the document management system 20. The comparison analysis processing unit 106 compares the scanned image data sent from the multifunction machine 30 with the electronic document to be updated in the document management system 20 corresponding to the scanned image data, and changes which part of the document and how it changes. Ask for what has been done. In the rule DB 108, rule information representing actions (processing contents) to be executed by the document processing system 10 in accordance with the contents of document changes is registered. The process control unit 102 obtains a document change content determination result from the comparative analysis processing unit 106 and obtains action information corresponding to the change content from the rule DB 108. Then, the action execution unit 110 executes the action.

  With reference to FIG. 2, the rule information which rule DB108 has is demonstrated. As illustrated, there is a document type used in the business flow for each type of business flow, and among the several items represented in the document of that type for each type of document, the change content should be inspected Items are defined. In the rule information, for each inspection item, a condition regarding a change in the value of the inspection item due to a document update and an action when the condition is satisfied are described. In the example of FIG. 2, the action is classified into a normal system and an error system. The normal action is a process that permits the update of the corresponding electronic document by the scanned image data. On the other hand, error actions are processes that do not allow such updates.

  For example, the rule on the second line in the example of FIG. 2 is that the value after the change by document update is 1.1. If it is less than or equal to double, it indicates that the input updated document is automatically registered as an updated version in the document management system 20 without going through a final approval. Further, history information indicating that “automatically updated without re-decision according to the rule” is registered in the document management system 20 in this updated electronic document. Also, the rule on the first line is that if the value in the “Amount” column in the “Estimate” of the same “Purchase Approval” exceeds 1.1 times before the change, an error will occur. It is a rule that a document that has been determined and updated is not automatically registered in the document management system 20. This rule also gives the user who entered the update document the reason for the error (for example, “the change in the estimated amount exceeds the range that can be automatically updated”) and suggestions for how to resolve the error ( For example, a process for notifying a message indicating that “re-approval is necessary for update registration of an estimate” is defined. Also, as an action in this case, in addition to such message display or instead of such message display, an e-mail displaying a similar message is sent to the e-mail address of the user who entered the update document. May be. The mail address of each user may be registered in advance in the document management system 20 or the like, and the mail address corresponding to the user obtained by user authentication may be obtained from the registered information. Also, as an action in this case, a process for creating a template for the approval document for re-approval and sending it to the address of each decision-making authority at the circulation destination by printing it out or attaching it to an e-mail is adopted. May be. The address of each authorizing authority can be obtained from the management information of the workflow in which the estimate is registered, as in the conventionally known workflow management system.

  For example, a change in the amount of an estimate that is subject to these rules occurs in the following case. That is, for example, even if an estimate has been obtained and registered, and the approval has already been approved by the deliberation, the valid period of the estimate has expired due to reasons such as taking a long time for the approval, etc. This is the case when the estimated amount has been changed (for example, due to the end of the campaign period). For such a change in amount, if the amount has risen within a certain amount (for example, within 10%), if the original estimate has been approved, it will not be necessary to make another approval / decision. The rule of the second line in FIG. On the other hand, the rule on the first line corresponds to an operational rule that, when such an increase in amount exceeds the upper limit, the request for re-decision is performed again.

  Further, the rule in the third line in FIG. 2 is that when the value of the “effective period” column of the estimate is changed, when the estimate is updated and registered in the document management system 20, the rule in the system 20 Indicates that information indicating that “re-estimation” has been performed is added to the update history of the estimate.

  In FIG. 2, the information in each column of “condition” and “action” is described in text for convenience, but in the rule DB 108 actually used, this information is naturally a processing control unit realized by a computer program. 102 is described in a description format that can be handled. “Condition” is, for example, a value after change of an inspection item such as “amount” (ie, a value on a document input this time) and a value before change (ie, a corresponding electronic document registered in the document management system 20) (Value above) may be described as an expression to be satisfied. Further, the “action” field only needs to have a description for calling a program describing the processing content of the action.

  Next, the document update registration process in the document processing system 10 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  First, when the processing control unit 102 of the document processing system 10 receives the scan image data from the multifunction machine 30 (S10), the document management I / F unit 104 converts an electronic document (corresponding electronic document) corresponding to the scan image data. Through the document management system 20 (S12).

  In these steps, for example, the user who operates the multifunction machine 30 can view the business flow currently in progress on the UI screen and the target process in the flow (if the processing control unit 102 provides a list of these business flows and processes). When the paper document is read into the multifunction device 30 by designating “good”, the multifunction device 30 sends information specifying the business flow and the target process to the processing control unit 102 together with the scanned image data of the read result. Receiving this, the processing control unit 102 acquires an electronic document corresponding to the target process of the business flow from the document management system 20 based on the information. In the document management system 20, an electronic document registered in each process may be registered in association with each process. It should be noted that such a method of specifying the corresponding electronic document is merely an example, and various methods including other methods already described can be used.

  Note that the procedure illustrated in FIG. 3 is a procedure when an instruction to register an updated document is given by the user, and a procedure when a registration of a new document is instructed is different. Since the procedure for registering a new document may be the same as the conventional procedure, a description thereof is omitted here.

  Next, the process control unit 102 passes the scanned image data acquired in step S10 and the corresponding electronic document acquired in step S12 to the comparison analysis processing unit 106, and requests a comparison analysis process (S14).

  An example of the procedure of processing executed by the comparison analysis processing unit 106 in response to this request is shown in FIG. In this example, the comparison analysis processing unit 106 first compares the scanned image data with the image of the corresponding electronic document, and extracts an update area in the document (S140). The update area is an area updated from the image of the corresponding electronic document in the scanned image data read this time. Various update region extraction methods are known in the art, and such conventional methods may be used. The update area can be obtained, for example, by processing such as taking a difference between pixels between the scanned image data and the image of the corresponding electronic document and obtaining a rectangular area surrounding a pixel group whose difference value is not zero. In addition, for example, for each document type, area information of each item included in the document of the type (for example, information indicating the position and area in the document of each column such as the amount column of the estimate, the validity period column) The update area may be specified by registering in the document processing system 10 or the document management system 20 and referring to the information. For example, it may be processing such as determining an update region that includes a pixel group having a difference that is not equal to or greater than a predetermined ratio among the regions of the respective items indicated by the region information. Such area information may be associated with document schema information.

  Next, for each extracted update area, the comparison analysis processing unit 106 performs a known OCR (Optical Character Recognition) process on the image in the update area in the scanned image data to perform the update. The value indicated by the image in the area (that is, the description content of the column indicated by the area) is obtained (S142). At this time, the data type (for example, amount, date, etc.) of each update area value is obtained by referring to the schema information of the document of the document type, and the value of the character recognition result is recorded as the value of the data type. You may do it. Here, the processing load is reduced by performing character recognition only for the update area.

  Note that an area corresponding to an item not listed as an inspection item in the rule DB 108 may not be extracted as an update area even if the image has changed. For example, in the example of FIG. 2, since it is not necessary to check the degree of change in the area corresponding to the items other than the amount and the expiration date, the processing in steps S140 and S142 is omitted for the purchase approval flow estimate. May be.

  Further, the comparison analysis processing unit 106 acquires the value of each item corresponding to each extracted update area from the corresponding electronic document (S144). If the content data describing the value of each item of the corresponding electronic document in XML or the like is registered in the document management system 20, the value of each item may be obtained from the content data. If only the image data of the corresponding electronic document is registered in the document management system 20, the OCR process may be performed on the image in each update area in the image data.

  Next, the comparison analysis processing unit 106 compares the value obtained in step S142 with the value obtained in step S144 for each of the extracted update areas, so that a value is obtained between the scanned image data and the corresponding electronic document. The changed update area (item in the document) is specified (S146). Then, for each update area whose value has been changed, which is specified in step S146, information for specifying an item corresponding to the update area and information indicating a change in the value are sent to the process control unit 102 (S148). Here, the information indicating the change in the value of the update area may be, for example, a set of a value before the change (that is, a value in the target electronic document) and a value after the change (that is, a value obtained from the scanned image data). .

  Returning to the description of FIG. 3 again, the processing control unit 102 that has received the analysis result information sent by the comparative analysis processing unit 106 in step S148 searches the rule DB 108 for a condition corresponding to the analysis result (S16). In the step of executing step S16, it is already known in step S12 that the corresponding electronic document is acquired in step S12 as to which document type in which business flow the scanned image data that is the current target is. Further, information on how the value of which item has changed is given from the comparison analysis processing unit 106 in step S148. In this step S166, what matches the combination of these information may be searched from each “condition” in the rule DB.

  If the corresponding condition is not found in step S16 (the determination result in step S18 is N), it means that there is no change in the inspection item to be checked, so in the example of FIG. ing. That is, in this case, the processing control unit 102 registers the scanned image data acquired in step S10 as an updated version of the corresponding electronic document in the document management system 20 via the document management I / F unit 104 (S26). This update registration may be performed by overwriting the scanned image data on the corresponding electronic document in the document management system 20. Also, a method of registering the scanned image in the document management system 20 as a new version of the corresponding electronic document by a version management method may be used. At this time, the content data representing the value of each item of the corresponding electronic document may be updated according to the character recognition result in the update area.

  On the other hand, when the corresponding condition is found in step S16 (the determination result in step S18 is Y), the process control unit 102 acquires information on the action corresponding to the condition from the rule DB 108 (S22), and the action execution unit 110. To perform that action. If the action is normal, the action execution unit 110 executes the action (S24), and the corresponding electronic document in the document management system 20 is updated with the scanned image data (S26). On the other hand, if the action acquired in step S20 is an error system, the action is executed by the action execution unit 110 (S28), but the corresponding electronic document in the document management system 20 is not updated.

  In step S16, the analysis result of the scanned image data may simultaneously satisfy a plurality of conditions in the rule DB 108. In this case, if there is at least one error system in each action corresponding to these conditions, it is regarded as an error system as a whole, and the update of the corresponding electronic document with the scanned image data (S26) is not executed. In this case, for example, only the error-type actions among these actions may be executed in step S28. Conversely, if all the actions corresponding to a plurality of conditions satisfied simultaneously are all normal, all those actions may be executed (S24) and update registration (S26) may be executed.

  In the example of FIG. 3, whether or not the scanned document is updated and registered in the document management system 20 (S26) is expressed as a separate thing from the execution of actions (S24 and 26) for convenience of explanation. However, the registration or non-registration of the update may be interpreted as a part of the action.

  Next, an example of specific processing according to the system of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B.

  In this example, it is assumed that an estimate sheet 210 (see FIG. 5B), which is an updated version of the estimate sheet 200 (see FIG. 5A) registered in the document management system 20, is newly issued. In the new estimate 210, the values of “amount” 212, “validity period” 214, “person in charge” 216, individual product prices 218 and 220, and total amount 222 are changed from the corresponding electronic document 200. Has been. Here, in the rule information illustrated in FIG. 2, only “amount” 212 and “valid period” 214 are listed as inspection items for the estimate, so only those items are checked. In this example, the value of “amount” 212 of the scanned image data is larger than 1.1 times the value in the original corresponding electronic document 200, and the value of “effective period” 214 is larger than the value in the original corresponding electronic document 200. It turns out that it is later. Therefore, in the rule information of FIG. 2, the first row condition and the third row condition are satisfied. Here, since the condition of the first line is an error system, the document processing system 10 does not update the estimate sheet 200 in the document management system 20 with the estimate sheet 210, but displays a message prompting the acquisition of re-decision. 30 to present to the user.

  In FIG. 5B, if the value on the estimate 210 is 1.1 times or less than the value on the original estimate 200, the conditions in the second and third rows in FIG. 2 are satisfied. It is. In this case, since the actions corresponding to these conditions are both normal, the estimate sheet 200 in the document management system 20 is updated by the estimate sheet 210, and the update history of the estimate sheet (or the update history of the business flow to which the estimate sheet belongs). ) Are recorded as “automatically updated because the amount change does not require re-decision” and “updated by re-estimation”.

  In the above example, when only the portion of the scanned image data that does not correspond to the inspection item is changed from the original document, the corresponding electronic document in the document management system 20 is updated with the scanned image data. Only. Instead, in such a case, the email address of an administrator (for example, an administrator who manages the business flow to which the document belongs) registered in advance in the document processing system 10 or the document management system 20 is scanned. The corresponding electronic document in the document management system 20 may be updated only after the image data is transmitted and the administrator performs an operation for allowing the update by the scanned image data to the document processing system 10.

  Assuming that the same document in the same business flow is updated multiple times, the “condition” of the rule DB 108 indicates which document is to be compared with the currently input document (for example, Information indicating whether the document is the first registered document or the previously updated document may be included.

  The system of the embodiment exemplified above is realized, for example, by causing a general-purpose computer to execute a program representing the processing of each functional module described above. Here, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the computer includes, as hardware, a microprocessor such as a CPU 1000, a memory (primary storage) such as a random access memory (RAM) 1002 and a read only memory (ROM) 1004, an HDD ( HDD controller 1008 that controls (hard disk drive) 1006, various I / O (input / output) interfaces 1010, network interface 1012 that performs control for connection to a network such as a local area network, etc. are connected via bus 1014, for example. Circuit configuration. In addition, for example, a disk drive 1016 for reading from and / or writing to a portable disk recording medium such as a CD or a DVD, a portable memory of various standards, such as a flash memory via the I / O interface 1010 to the bus 1014. A memory reader / writer 1018 for reading from and / or writing to the nonvolatile recording medium may be connected. A program in which the processing contents of each functional module exemplified above are described is stored in a fixed storage device such as a hard disk drive via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication means such as a network, and stored in a computer. Installed. The program stored in the fixed storage device is read into the RAM 1002 and executed by a microprocessor such as the CPU 1000, whereby the functional module group exemplified above is realized. Some or all of these functional module groups are used as hardware circuits such as dedicated LSI (Large Scale Integration), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). It may be configured.

  Note that the system configuration shown in FIG. 1 is merely an example. For example, two or more of the systems 10 and 20 illustrated in FIG. 1 may be mounted on one hardware device. Also, in the individual systems 10 and 20, the components in the system may be mounted on separate hardware devices, and the above-described processing may be realized while communicating with each other via a network.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration | structure of embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the data content of rule DB. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of the update registration of the document by the system of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of a comparative analysis process. It is a figure which shows the specific example of an estimate. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the updated estimate. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a computer.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Document processing system, 20 Document management system, 30 MFP, 102 Processing control part, 104 Document management I / F part, 106 Comparison analysis processing part, 108 Rule DB, 110 Action execution part.

Claims (2)

Document storage means for storing electronic documents;
Value detecting means for detecting a value of a predetermined item of the target document from image data of a result of reading the target document by the image reading means;
The predetermined item between the electronic document and the target document based on the value of the predetermined item of the electronic document in the document storage unit corresponding to the target document and the value detected by the value detection unit Change information generating means for generating change information indicating a change in the value of
Condition information storage means for storing condition information that defines the condition regarding the change information and the processing content when the condition is satisfied;
When the change information generated by the change information generation means satisfies the condition related to the change specified in the condition information stored in the condition information storage means, an execution means that executes the processing content specified in the condition information When,
An information processing system comprising: Computer
Document storage means for storing electronic documents;
Value detecting means for detecting a value of a predetermined item of the target document from image data of a result of reading the target document by the image reading means;
The predetermined item between the electronic document and the target document based on the value of the predetermined item of the electronic document in the document storage unit corresponding to the target document and the value detected by the value detection unit Change information generating means for generating change information indicating a change in the value of
Condition information storage means for storing condition information that defines conditions relating to the change information and processing contents when the conditions are satisfied;
When the change information generated by the change information generation means satisfies the condition related to the change specified in the condition information stored in the condition information storage means, an execution means that executes the processing content specified in the condition information ,
Program to function as.

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