JP2013257831A - Document management system for tracking copy history of original and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server for tracking a copy history of an original.SOLUTION: Storage means for associating first information including an output device in an output of a copy original, an output date and time, and information showing a user instructing the output with second information including an output device in an output of a source original being a source of the copy original, an output date and time, and information showing a user instructing the output for storage; reception means for receiving track object information being track object information for specifying an output of a track object original, including an output device in an output of the track object original, an output date and time, and information showing a user instructing the output; setting means for setting the track object information received by the reception means in a retrieval condition; retrieval means for retrieving the first information coincident with the retrieval information set by the setting means from the storage means; and extraction means for extracting the second information stored in the storage means, associated with the first information that can be retrieved by the retrieval means are provided.

Description

  The present invention relates to a document management system and a control method for tracking a document copy history.

  Various techniques already exist as methods for knowing who has printed or copied (copies) a printed material or a copy thereof. For example, in Patent Document 1, when printing, identification information (document ID) for specifying a document corresponding to the printed matter is printed together, and the document ID and information for specifying a user who instructs printing (for example, Information at the time of printing such as a user name) is stored in the server in association with each other. This makes it possible to investigate later by whom the printed matter was printed. The information at the time of printing is printed on the printed matter as a code image such as a two-dimensional barcode.

  In addition, it has been proposed to embed various information such as information on printing or printed matter in a code image.

JP 2008-217340 A

  On the other hand, along with embedding various information in a printed material or a copied material (original), information management that enables efficient search in a server becomes complicated and difficult.

  In addition, there is an increasing demand for tracking a copy history of a document from a document with a code image.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a document management system in which information management in a server is efficient and a document copy history can be tracked.

The present invention is a server for tracking a copy history of a document,
First information for specifying the output of the copy document, the first information including information indicating an output device, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed output in the output of the copy document;
Second information specifying the output of the original document that is the source of the copied document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the original document, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed the output A storage means for associating and storing information;
Receiving means for receiving tracking target information, including tracking target information for specifying the output of the tracking target document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the tracking target document, an output date and a user who has instructed the output,
Setting means for setting the tracking target information received by the receiving means as a search condition;
Search means for searching the storage means for first information that matches the search information set by the setting means;
And a retrieval unit for retrieving the second information stored in the storage unit in association with the first information retrieved by the retrieval unit.

  According to the present invention, the user relates to a document output in accordance with the same printing and copying instructions as the document from the document with the code image, and the document (original document) from which the document is copied. Information can be acquired.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the document management system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of PC and a server which comprise a document management system. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an MFP constituting a document management system. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the software configuration of this document management system. It is a figure which shows an example of the original document to which the code image was attached. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow during copy processing in the MFP. It is a figure which shows an example of the embedding information obtained by the decoding process. It is a figure which shows an example of the updated embedding information. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow when a printing process is performed in an MFP based on image data from a PC. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of embedded information sent from an MFP to a server. It is a figure which shows an example of the data table which a server produces | generates. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow when an embedding process extracted from a document to be tracked is transmitted to a server in an MFP. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when the server performs tracking in the first embodiment. It is a figure in Example 1 which shows an example of the search information list at the time of a server tracking. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing in which the server searches each output tracking information described in a search information list according to the first exemplary embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of a tracking result. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when the server performs tracking in the second embodiment. In Example 2, it is a figure which shows an example of the search information list at the time of the data table which a server produces | generates, and a server tracking. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing when the server performs backward tracking in the third embodiment. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of backward tracking processing in which the server searches each output tracking information described in the search information list in the third embodiment. It is a figure in Example 3 which shows an example of the search information list at the time of a server performing back tracking. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a flow when an embedded information list extracted from a plurality of documents to be tracked is transmitted to a server in an MFP according to a fourth embodiment. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow when the server tracks a plurality of documents in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search information list when the server tracks a plurality of documents in the fourth embodiment.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Example 1]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document management system 100 according to the present invention.

  A document management system 100 includes a PC 101, an MFP 102/103, and a server 104, and is connected to each other via a network 105 such as a LAN.

  The PC 101 is an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, and includes a CPU, RAM, ROM, hard disk, external storage device, network interface, display, keyboard, mouse, and the like.

  The MFP 102/103 is a multifunction peripheral as an image forming apparatus equipped with a scanner function, a copying function, a printing function, a transmission function, and the like. The image forming apparatus is not limited to the MFP as long as it can form an image on a memory or paper. The document management system of FIG. 1 includes two MFPs 102/103, but may be one or three or more.

  The server 104 is an information processing apparatus that stores various files, data, and the like sent from the PC 101 and the MFP 102/103.

(Hardware configuration)
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the PC 101 and the server 105, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the MFP 102/103.

  In FIG. 2, the CPU 200 executes a program such as an OS or an application stored in the program ROM of the ROM 202 or loaded from the hard disk 209 to the RAM 201. The RAM 201 functions as a main memory, work area, etc. for the CPU 200. A keyboard controller 203 controls key input from a keyboard 207 or a pointing device (not shown). The display controller 204 controls display on various displays 208. The disk controller 205 controls data access in a hard disk (HD) 209 or a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) that stores various data. The NC 206 is connected to the network and executes communication control processing with other devices connected to the network.

  In FIG. 3, a CPU 300 is a processor that comprehensively controls the MFP 102/103, and controls each unit connected via the internal bus 307. The display unit 301 is configured by an image display device such as a touch panel, and the user gives a copy instruction or the like via a screen displayed on the display unit 301. The scanner unit 302 has a function of scanning a document and acquiring image data. The printer unit 303 has a function of printing an image on a recording medium such as paper. The memory 304 stores various commands (including application programs) executed by the CPU 300 to control the MFP 102/103, and image data scanned by the scanner unit 302 is temporarily stored in the large-capacity storage unit 305. The network interface 306 transmits and receives various data via the network 105 according to the CPU 300.

(Software configuration)
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the software configuration of the document management system. Dashed lines indicate the MFP 102/103 and the server 104, respectively. This software configuration is realized by the CPU of each device executing programs in various storage devices (RAM, external memory, mass storage device, memory, etc.) in each device.

  Tables 1 to 5 show definitions of terms used in the following explanation and terms.

  First, the MFP 102/103 will be described.

  A control unit 400 controls the entire MFP 102/103 to instruct and manage each unit described below.

  The data transmission / reception unit 401 performs data transmission / reception processing with the server 104. Although omitted here, data transmission / reception processing with the PC 101 is also performed.

  The scan processing unit 402 performs processing for causing the scanner unit 302 to scan a document set on a document reading table and acquiring image data as a scan result based on a user operation instruction given via a UI. .

  The code detection unit 403 performs processing for detecting a QR code from image data acquired by scanning. In the present specification, a QR code, which is a representative two-dimensional code, will be described as an example of a code image attached to an original, but is not limited thereto. For example, the present invention can be widely applied to a technique for adding an image in which specific information is encoded for the purpose of document management, copy restriction, or the like, such as a one-dimensional code or digital watermark, to a document. Further, in this specification, “original” is used as a term indicating a printed matter or a copied matter on which specific information composed of characters, figures, and the like is printed. In this specification, “content” is used as a term indicating specific information itself composed of characters, graphics, and the like on a printed material or a copy. This means that, for example, a certain printed matter A and its copy B are distinguished as different originals, but the characters, figures, etc. contained therein are the same, and therefore the content is the same.

  The decoding unit 404 performs a process of decoding (decoding) the detected QR code and extracting embedded information.

  The embedded information updating unit 405 performs processing for updating the embedded information extracted by the decoding unit 404 and generating new embedded information to be attached to the copy original. In addition, when there is no embedded information to be updated (for example, when a QR code is not added to the copy source document), processing for newly generating embedded information is also performed.

  The encoding unit 406 performs a process of encoding (encoding) the updated (or newly generated) embedded information to generate a QR code as a code image.

  The image synthesis unit 407 performs a process for synthesizing the image data to be printed and the QR code generated by the encoding process.

  The print processing unit 408 causes the printer unit 303 to perform a print process, that is, a process of forming the composite image data obtained by the composite process as an image on a recording medium such as paper.

  The tracking information generation unit 409 generates tracking information as information for tracking the copy history of the printed matter based on the embedded information extracted by the decoding unit 404 and the new embedded information generated by the embedded information update unit 405. Process.

  Next, the server 104 will be described.

  The control unit 410 controls the entire server 104 and instructs and manages each unit described later.

  A data transmission / reception unit 411 performs transmission / reception processing of data and the like with the MFP 102/103. Although omitted in FIG. 4, the data transmission / reception unit 411 also performs transmission / reception processing of data and the like with the PC 101.

  The tracking information storage processing unit 412 performs various processes necessary for storing the tracking information received from the MFP 102/103 based on an instruction from the control unit 410.

  The data writing unit 413 performs processing for writing and storing various data other than the tracking information in a hard disk (not shown) based on an instruction from the control unit 410.

  The data reading unit 414 performs a process of reading various data including tracking information from a hard disk (not shown) based on an instruction from the control unit 410.

  The tracking information search unit 415 generates a search information list from the embedded information of the document to be tracked received by the data transmission / reception unit 411 based on an instruction from the control unit 410 and performs a tracking process on the search information list.

<Document with code image>
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document with a code image to be scanned in the present invention.

  The original 501 is printed with a QR code 502 as a code image obtained by encoding the embedded information. The QR code is printed in a predetermined area on the recording medium, in this embodiment, any one of the rectangular areas 503 provided in the upper left corner, lower left corner, upper right corner, and lower right corner in the original 501. , QR code detection processing is performed for the area. Note that the length of one side of the rectangular area is, for example, 30 mm in each of the vertical and horizontal directions. Of course, the area where the QR code can be printed is not limited to this example, and its position, shape, and size can be arbitrarily set.

The embedded information includes, for example, the following information (see FIG. 7).
User information (latest user information) for specifying the most recent user who has instructed the output of the manuscript
User information for specifying the user who first instructed the output of the content (original user information)
・ Latest date and time information for specifying the date and time when the document was output ・ Original date and time information for specifying the date and time when the document was first output for that content ・ Specified the number of copies that output the document Copy number information (Latest copy number)
-Original copy number information (original copy number) for specifying the copy number for which the original document was first output.
-Document page number information (latest page number) for specifying the page number on which the document was output
-Document page number information (original page number) for identifying the page number on which the document was first output for that content
・ Latest device information for identifying the MFP that output the document ・ Original device information for identifying the MFP that originally output the document for that content Of course, the embedded information is limited to these In addition, for example, output type information (information such as printing of image data transmitted from a PC or copying using an original reading table) may be added as necessary.

  It should be noted that the output of the document for the content first means more accurately that the document with the code image is output for the content first.

Here, the number of copies is information indicating the number of copies of the document output in the printing and copying processes. The page number is information indicating the page number of the document output in the printing and copying processes. For example, when two copies of a document consisting of three pages are printed, the copy number and page number written as embedded information on the six printed materials to be output are as follows.
Printed matter 1: number of copies = 1, page number = 1
Printed matter 2: number of copies = 1, page number = 2
-Printed matter 3: number of copies = 1, page number = 3
Printed matter 4: number of copies = 2, page number = 1
Printed matter 5: number of copies = 2, page number = 2
Printed matter 6: number of copies = 2, page number = 3

  As described above, in one printing and copying, there is no output printed matter in which the combination of the copy number and the page number is the same.

  In the case of printed matter printed on both sides, different page numbers are written on each side.

<Copy processing, print processing, and generation of tracking information during processing>
First, an outline in the case of copy processing will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow during copy processing in the MFP 102/103. In this embodiment, an application (program) stored in the memory 304 is activated by a user operation instruction, and the CPU 300 executes the application to implement the following steps.

  When the user sets a copy source document on the document reading table of the MFP 102/103 and the user presses a copy instruction button (not shown), in step 601, the scan processing unit 402 scans the set document. Cause the scanner unit 302 to perform the process. Thereby, image data is acquired. A document to be scanned is referred to as an “original document”, but the original document itself may be a copy (eg, when a previously copied document is further copied).

  In step 602, when a plurality of original documents are scanned, for example, when scanned from the document reading table a plurality of times, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed page. If there is an unprocessed page, the processes in steps 603 to 611 described later are performed on the unprocessed page. If all pages have been processed, the process proceeds to step 612 described later.

  In step 603, the code detection unit 403 detects a QR code from the acquired image data. That is, the presence / absence of a QR code is checked for the rectangular areas at the four corners of the acquired image data. If a QR code is detected, the process proceeds to step 604.

  In step 604, the decoding unit 404 decodes the detected QR code. That is, a process for extracting the embedded information by decoding the QR code is performed. FIG. 7 shows an example of embedded information (first information) extracted by the decoding process. In the example of FIG. 7, user information “Suzuki” of the user who has instructed printing of the original document and date information “date and time of January 30, 2008, 9:53:13” are extracted. Also, the copy number “1” of the original document, the page number “2” of the original document, and the device information “MFP-0001” of the MFP that output the original document are extracted. The “Latest user information”, “Latest date / time information”, “Latest copy number”, “Latest page number”, and “Latest device information” columns are blank. This indicates that this original is the original on which this content has been printed for the first time, and has not been copied to anyone yet. If the original manuscript is a manuscript that has been copied by someone, the user information of the user who made the most recent copy is displayed in the “Last User Information” column.

  In step 605, the embedded information update unit 405 determines whether the decoding has succeeded and the embedded information has been extracted. If the embedded information has been extracted, the process proceeds to step 606. If the decoding cannot be performed due to QR code contamination or the like, the process proceeds to step 607.

  In step 606, the embedded information update unit 405 updates the embedded information (first information) extracted in step 604. Specifically, the user of the user who instructed copying this time while leaving the information obtained as the “original user information” by extraction (that is, the user information of the user who first output the document for the content) as it is. The information is referred to as “Latest user information”. In other words, if “embedded information” extracted in step 604 includes “latest user information”, it is deleted, and the user information of the user who instructed copying this time is made “latest user information”. It becomes. Similarly, the “original date / time information” and the “original device information” are left as they are, and the date / time information and device information of this copy are referred to as “latest date / time information” and “latest device information”. Then, “Original copy number” and “Original page number” are left as they are. Further, based on the number of copies and the number of pages copied this time, a copy number and a page number are assigned to the copy document, and the contents of “Latest copy number” and “Latest page number” are updated.

  FIG. 8A is an example of the content (second information) after the update of the embedded information shown in FIG. 7, and the “embedded information” “Latest” when “Original” is the first output of the content is shown in FIG. Information about this copy is shown. The user information “Tanaka” of the user who made the copy this time is in the “Lastest user information” column, and “Suzuki”, which is the user information of the user who first output the document for that content, is “Original user” It is in the “Information” column. Further, the copy date and time by “Tanaka” is “September 21, 2008, 14:33:50”, and the number of copies and the page number of the output copy manuscript are “2” and “1”, respectively. It can be seen that it was copied by “MFP-0002”.

  On the other hand, if the QR code cannot be detected in step 603 and if decoding fails in step 605, in step 607, the embedding information update unit 405 creates a new one to be embedded in the document output by the copy process. Generate embedded information. FIG. 8B is an example of new embedded information generated in this step. Since it is newly generated, the user information “Tanaka” of the user who instructed the copy this time is placed in the “Original user information” column, not the “Latest user information” column. Note that the date / time information, copy number information, page number information, and device information of this copy are displayed in the “Original date / time information”, “Original copy number”, “Original page number”, and “Original device information” columns, respectively. It is put.

  In step 608, the encoding unit 406 performs processing for generating a QR code by encoding the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 or the embedded information newly generated in step 607.

  In step 609, the image composition unit 407 synthesizes the generated QR code and the image data obtained in step 601. As a result, when the QR code is attached to the original document, a QR code in which the contents of the embedded information are updated is generated. In this case, since the updated QR code is attached to the position where the QR code is attached to the original document, the QR code attached to the original document is deleted. When the original document is not attached with a QR code, synthesized image data obtained by synthesizing a newly generated QR code is generated.

  In step 610, the tracking information generation unit 409 generates tracking information when the QR code is successfully detected in step 603 and the decoding is determined to be successful in step 605. The tracking information is generated based on the embedded information (first information) extracted in step 604 and the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606.

  In this specification, the embedded information is information included in, included in, or included in the QR code. As described above, the embedded information includes the Latest information that is output information when the document is output most recently, and the Original information that is output information when the document is first output for the content. Including. The tracking information is stored in a device (for example, a server) that stores information and is used for later tracking processing. This tracking information is created based on embedding information before update (embedding information of the original document) and embedding information after updating (embedding information of the document).

  Hereinafter, processing for generating tracking information will be described. The tracking information generation unit 409 generates tracking information including both the input tracking information and the output tracking information, using the first information as input tracking information and the second information as output tracking information. On the other hand, if the detection of the QR code fails in step 603, or if it is determined in step 605 that the decoding has failed, tracking information is generated based on the embedded information newly generated in step 607. Specifically, the input tracking information is empty, and the newly generated embedded information is used as output tracking information, and tracking information including both the input tracking information and the output tracking information is generated. The generated tracking information is temporarily stored in the mass storage unit 305 of the MFP 102/103. Since the storage location may be any location where information can be stored, it may be the memory 304 of the MFP 102/103 or the hard disk of the server 104.

The case where the QR code is detected in step 603 and decoding of the QR code is successful will be specifically described. Of the original document embedding information (first information) extracted in step 604 as described below, the latest information is “input tracking information” in this embodiment. Specifically, it is as follows.
-Latest device information of embedding information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 is “input device information”.
The latest date / time information of the embedding information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 is “input date / time information”.
The latest user information of the embedding information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 is “input user information”.
The latest copy number of the original document embedding information (first information) extracted in step 604 is “input copy number”.
The last page number of the embedding information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 is “input page number”.

However, if the latest user information is empty in the original document embedding information extracted in step 604 (original information), the original information is set as “input tracking information” as follows.
The original device information of the original document embedding information (first information) extracted in step 604 is “input device information”.
The original date / time information of the embedding information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 is “input date / time information”.
The original user information of the original document embedding information (first information) extracted in step 604 is “input user information”.
The original copy number of the embedding information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 is “input copy number”.
The original page number of the original document embedding information (first information) extracted in step 604 is “input page number”.

Also, the latest information of the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 is referred to as “output tracking information”. Specifically, it is as follows.
The latest device information of the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 is “output device information”.
The latest date / time information of the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 is “output date / time information”.
The latest user information of the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 is “output user information”.
The latest copy number of the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 is “output copy number”.
The last page number of the embedded information (second information) updated in step 606 is “output page number”.

  If no QR code is detected in step 603 or if decoding fails in step 605, the original information of the embedded information newly generated in step 607 becomes “output tracking information”, and “input The “tracking information” is empty.

  The input tracking information and the output tracking information are held one by one for each page. In this embodiment, a page ID for identifying a page is newly issued for the management. Here, the page ID, the input tracking information, and the output tracking information are referred to as “page tracking information”.

  Further, a document ID for identifying a document is issued for management in units of documents composed of a plurality of pages, and the document ID and page tracking information of each page are associated with each other and referred to as “document tracking information”. The document ID issuance process is performed in step 612 described later.

  In step 611, the print processing unit 408 forms and outputs an image on a recording medium such as paper based on the generated composite image data. The printed original printed out is discharged from a paper discharge tray (not shown). When copy printing of one page is completed, the process proceeds to step 602. If there is an unprocessed page, the processes of steps 603 to 611 are performed on the next page. In order to give priority to copy printing, the copy printing in step 611 may be executed prior to or in parallel with the tracking information generation processing in step 610.

  In step 612, the data transmitting / receiving unit 401 newly issues a document ID in association with the tracking information of each page temporarily stored in step 610 and records it in the large capacity storage unit 305. Specifically, a single document ID is issued in order to manage a plurality of pages having the same “output number”, that is, a plurality of pages output with the same number in one copy process. To do. The recorded tracking information is later transmitted to the server 104 by the data transmitting / receiving unit 401 at a predetermined timing (every fixed time, every fixed amount, or the like). Note that the tracking information may not be recorded in the large-capacity storage unit 305, but may be transmitted to the server in a timely manner for each copy printing of each page. Further, instead of the MFP 102/103 transmitting to the server 104, the server 104 or an external application (not shown) may access the MFP to acquire the tracking information. The process of storing the received tracking information at the server 104 will be described later.

  Next, an outline of a case where print processing is performed based on image data received from the PC 101 will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow when the MFP 102/103 performs print processing based on the image data received from the PC 101. As in the case of FIG. 6, an application (program) stored in the memory 304 is activated by a user operation, and the following steps are realized by the CPU 300 executing this.

  When the user instructs printing on the PC 101, the data transmission / reception unit 401 receives image data from the PC 101 in step 901. In the following description, it is assumed that the received image data is image data (bitmap data) in a state suitable for rasterized printing. When the received image data is PDL data, a process for processing into image data suitable for printing processing such as interpretation and rasterization of PDL data in an image processing unit (not shown) is performed in parallel with steps 903 and 904 described later. And executed.

  In step 902, if the image data received from the PC 101 is a plurality of pages, it is determined whether there is an unprocessed page. If there is an unprocessed page, the processes in steps 903 to 907 described later are performed on the unprocessed page. If all pages have been processed, the process proceeds to step 908.

  In step 903, the embedding information update unit 405 embeds information for embedding in the document to be printed out, for example, user information of the user who issued the print instruction this time, as shown in FIG. Date / time information, number of copies, and page number information are generated.

  In step 904, the encoding unit 406 encodes the embedded information generated in step 902 to generate a QR code.

  In step 905, the image synthesis unit 407 synthesizes the generated QR code and the image data (image data suitable for printing) received in step 901, and generates synthesized image data to which the QR code is added.

  In step 906, the tracking information generation unit 409 generates tracking information from the embedded information generated in step 903 and temporarily stores it in the large-capacity storage unit 305 as in step 610. A specific example of the tracking information will be described later with reference to FIG.

  In step 907, the print processing unit 408 forms the generated composite image data as an image on a recording medium and outputs the image. The completed printed document is discharged from a discharge tray (not shown). When printing of one page is completed, the process proceeds to step 902. If there is an unprocessed page, the processes of steps 903 to 907 are performed on the unprocessed page. In order to give priority to printing, the printing in step 907 may be executed prior to or in parallel with the generation of the tracking information in step 906.

  In step 908, the data transmitting / receiving unit 401 newly issues a document ID in association with the tracking information of each page temporarily stored in step 906 and records it in the large capacity storage unit 305. Specifically, one document ID is issued to manage a plurality of pages having the same “output number”, that is, a plurality of pages output with the same number in one printing process. To do. The recorded tracking information is later transmitted to the server 104 by the data transmitting / receiving unit 401 at a predetermined timing (every fixed time, every fixed amount, or the like). The tracking information may not be recorded in the large-capacity storage unit 305, but may be transmitted to the server in a timely manner for each page printing. Further, instead of the MFP transmitting to the server 104, the server 104 or an external application (not shown) may access the MFP to acquire the tracking information.

  Next, an outline of tracking information generated by the MFP 102 and the MFP 103 in the copy process and the print process will be described.

  10A to 10C show examples of tracking information generated by the MFP 102 and the MFP 103. FIG. The tracking information shown in FIG. 10 is roughly composed of “input tracking information” and “output tracking information”. The column of “input tracking information” is embedded information (first information) of the original document extracted in step 604 when the user's operation instruction is a copy instruction. On the other hand, if the user's operation instruction is a print instruction, or if it is a copy instruction but the detection of the QR code from the original document or the decoding of the detected QR code fails, the “input tracking information” field Is blank.

  The “output tracking information” field is updated in step 606 when the user's operation instruction is a copy instruction and when the QR code detection process from the original document and the detected QR code are successfully decoded. Embedded information (second information). If the user's operation instruction is a copy instruction, but the detection of the QR code from the original document or the decoding of the detected QR code fails, the “output tracking information” field is newly generated in step 607. Embedded information. On the other hand, when the user's operation instruction is a print instruction, the “output tracking information” field is the embedded information generated in step 903.

  Of course, the contents of the tracking information are not limited to these. For example, output type information (information such as printing by sending image data or copying using a document reading table) is added as necessary. Also good.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of tracking information will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, FIG. 10A shows that the user information “Suzuki” is “1” of a two-page document from “PC-MFP-0001” at “9:53:13 on Jan. 30, 2008”. This is tracking information generated when a copy is instructed to be printed. Since the document is printed based on image data transmitted from a PC or the like, the QR code is not detected, and the “input tracking information” field is blank. The “output user information” in the “output tracking information” column corresponds to the “original user information” of the embedded information in FIG. “Output date / time information”, “output copy number”, “output page number”, and “output device information” are “Original date / time information”, “Original copy number”, “Original page number”, and “Output page number”, respectively. This corresponds to “original device information”.

  In the tracking process actually performed by the tracking information search unit 415, a document is specified by “output date information” and “output device information”, and a page is specified by adding “copy number” and “page number”. A page ID of “001” is assigned to the first page and a page ID of “002” is assigned to the second page, and “100” is assigned as a document ID for associating them. In this embodiment, the page ID and document ID are described as serial numbers as an example, but in reality, the information is unique information such as UUID.

  The document ID and page ID assigned to each page are for managing tracking information, and may take other forms as long as the relationship between the page and the document can be managed. In this embodiment, the description is based on the premise that the document ID and the page ID are assigned to the tracking information generated by the MFP 102/103. However, the tracking information storage processing unit 412 of the server 104 reassigns the ID. It doesn't matter. The tracking information sent from the MFP 102/103 may not include the document ID and page ID, and a new ID may be issued when the tracking information storage processing unit 412 of the server 104 stores the tracking information.

  FIG. 10B shows a document printed when the tracking information shown in FIG. 10A is generated. In “MFP-0002”, the user name “Tanaka” is “September 21, 2008, 14:33”. This is the tracking information generated when copying at “50 seconds”. The copy originals are given page IDs “010” and “011”, respectively, and “101” is given as the document ID. In the “input tracking information” column, embedding information before update (embedding information of the original document) is described. That is, “input tracking information” in FIG. 10B corresponds to “output tracking information” in FIG. This indicates that the QR code of the original document can be detected and decoded without any problem during copying. Further, “output user information” in the “output tracking information” column in FIG. 10B corresponds to “latest user information” in the embedded information in FIG. 8B. The “output date information”, “output copy number”, “output page number”, and “output device information” are “latest date information”, “latest copy number”, “latest page number”, and “output page number”, respectively. "Latest device information".

  FIG. 10 (c) shows that the user name “Tanaka” receives two copies of a one-page document from a PC or the like to “MFP-0003” at “January 10, 2010 13:45:34”. This is tracking information generated when printing is instructed. This printed document is given “005” as the page ID and “102” as the document ID. Also in this case, since the document is printed based on image data transmitted from a PC or the like, the “input tracking information” field is blank.

  FIG. 10D shows that the user name “Yamada” has a document “101” and a document “102” of 1 in “MFP-0003” at “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”. Tracking information generated when a copy is instructed as one document. The copy originals are given page IDs “006”, “007”, and “008”, respectively, and “103” as the document ID. The output tracking information of the document “010” is described in the input tracking information of the document “006”, and the output tracking information of the document “011” is described in the input tracking information of the document “007”. Similarly, the output tracking information of the document “005” is described in the input tracking information of the document “008”.

<Tracking information storage process>
Hereinafter, a process in which the server 104 receives and saves the tracking information illustrated in FIGS. 10A to 10D from the MFP 102 or the MFP 103 will be described.

  Upon receipt of the above-described tracking information, the tracking information storage processing unit 412 creates a data table as follows and stores the tracking information in the database.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data table created in the tracking information storage processing unit 412. From the oldest tracking information in FIG. 10A, it can be seen that data 1 to 8 corresponding to the newest tracking information in FIG. 10D are stored in order from the top. This data table includes the following information in addition to the “document ID” 1101 and “page ID” 1102 of the output document. That is, “input user information” 1103, “input date and time information” 1104, “input copy number” 1105, “input page number” 1106, and “input device number” 1107 are included. Also included are “output user information” 1108, “output date information” 1109, “output copy number” 1110, “output page number” 1111 and “output device number” 1112. Note that the value is stored in the input tracking information (1103 to 1107) means that the QR code is detected from the original document and the decoding process is successful in the copy process, and the output tracking information of the original document can be specified. It means that. In other words, the input tracking information value is empty when the QR code of the original document cannot be detected / decoded even if it is a copy.

<Tracking process>
Based on the embedded information of the document to be tracked and the tracking information stored as the data table of FIG. 11, the server 104 can perform the tracking process. Hereinafter, the tracking process will be described.

  A process of the MFP 102/103 in the tracking process will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of transmitting tracking target document embedding information to the server 104 by scanning the tracking target document in the MFP 102/103. In this embodiment, an application (program) stored in the memory 304 is activated by a user operation instruction, and the CPU 300 executes the application to implement the following steps.

  When the user sets a document to be tracked on the document reading table of the MFP 102/103 and a user presses a scan instruction button (not shown), in step 1201, the scan processing unit 402 scans the set document. Cause the scanner unit 302 to perform the process. Thereby, image data to be tracked is acquired.

  In step 1202, the code detection unit 403 detects a QR code from the acquired image data. If a QR code is detected, the process proceeds to step 1203. If no QR code is detected, the process ends.

  In step 1203, the decoding unit 404 extracts embedded information by decoding the detected QR code.

  In step 1204, the embedded information update unit 405 determines whether the decoding has succeeded and the embedded information has been extracted. If the embedded information can be extracted, the process proceeds to step 1205. If the decoding is not possible due to the dirt of the QR code or the like, the process is terminated.

  In step 1205, the data transmission / reception unit 401 transmits the extracted embedded information (tracking target information) to the server 104.

  Processing of the server 104 in the tracking process will be described.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a flow in which the tracking information search unit 415 of the server 104 performs the tracking process. FIG. 14A is an example of the search information list generated in steps 1301 to 1308 in FIG. 13, and FIG. 14B is the tracking result list generated in step 1309 in FIG. Hereinafter, the flow of the tracking process shown in FIG. 13 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In step 1301, the data transmission / reception unit 411 receives embedded information from the MFP 102/103. The following description will be made assuming that the embedded information received here is the information transmitted by the data transmitting / receiving unit 401 in step 1205 (embedded information extracted from the document to be tracked).

  In this embodiment, the description is based on the premise that the embedded information is received from the MFP 102/103. However, the embedded information may be received from an external application (not shown) that can extract the embedded information from the QR code.

In step 1302, the tracking information search unit 415 extracts the latest information from the embedded information received in step S 1301, and generates search information used for the tracking process from the extracted latest information or a part thereof. For example, when the document to be tracked is the document with the page ID “007” corresponding to the second page of the document ID “103” in FIG. 10D, the search information generated in step 1302 is as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  Here, the contents of the “search information” are not limited to these. For example, output type information (information such as printing by transmission of image data or copying using a document reading table) is also necessary. May be added.

  In step 1303, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether the search information has been correctly generated. If the search information cannot be generated correctly, the process proceeds to step 1310 to notify that the search information cannot be traced.

  In step 1304, the tracking information search unit 415 searches for output tracking information that matches the search information generated in step 1302 from the data table of FIG. 11 stored by the tracking information storage processing unit 412.

  In step 1305, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether there is output tracking information hit in the search in step 1304 (whether there is output tracking information that matches the search information). If there is a hit output tracking information, it is added to the search information list and the process proceeds to step 1306.

In the example of FIG. 11 described above, since the data 7 having the document ID “103” and the page ID “007” is hit, “output tracking information” of the data 7 is added to the search information list. Specifically, “output tracking information” of the hit data 7 is added as “list 1” in the search information list of FIG. The added information is as follows.
Output device information: “MFP-0003”
-Output date / time information: “August 8, 2010 11:24:20”
Output user information: “Yamada”
-Number of output copies: "1"
-Output page number: “2”

  In step 1306, the tracking information search unit 415 stores the hit output tracking information. In the present embodiment, “1” is set in “tracking target” 1401 of “list 1” in FIG. When “tracking target” 1401 is set to “1”, it indicates that the search information corresponds to the embedded information of the tracking target document received in step 1301.

  In step 1307, the tracking information search unit 415 identifies a document including the hit output tracking information, and determines whether another page exists in the document. In the example of FIG. 11, it is determined that the page with the page ID “006” and the page with “008” exist in the document “103”.

  In step 1308, the tracking information search unit 415 acquires output tracking information for all other pages determined to exist in step 1307 and adds it to the search information list. In FIG. 11, the other pages belonging to the document “103” are page IDs “006” and “008”. Since the page ID “007” has already been added to the search information list in step 1305 as a document to be tracked, in this step, the “output tracking information” of the page IDs “006” and “008” is set as shown in FIG. “List 2” and “List 3” are added. Since the page IDs “006” and “008” are not search information corresponding to the embedded information obtained as the tracking target in step 1301, “0” is set in these tracking target fields 1401.

  In step 1309, the output tracking information described in the search information list in FIG. 14A is searched for and the tracking result is obtained. The details of the search process will be described later with reference to FIG. 15. As shown in FIG. 14B, the tracking result is shown in FIG. 14B. The tracking result of “List 1” in FIG. 1 ”, and“ list 2 ”and“ list 3 ”correspond similarly.

  In step 1310, the tracking information search unit 415 displays the tracking result on the display 208 via the display controller 204. Alternatively, the tracking result is transmitted to the MFP 102/103 via the data transmission / reception unit 411 and displayed on the display unit 301 of the MFP 102/103.

  Next, FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for searching for output tracking information described in the search information list in step 1309. Further, as described above, the search information list includes the search information 1401 and 1404 to 1408 in FIG.

  In step 1501, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether there is unprocessed search information in the search information list. If there is unprocessed search information, the search information is acquired and the process proceeds to step 1502. If there is no unprocessed search information, the process proceeds to step 1510. This will be described using an example of list 1 in FIG.

In step 1502, the tracking information search unit 415 sets the search information acquired in step 1501 as a search condition to be searched. The set search condition is used to search for matching output tracking information from the data table in step 1505 described later, and is updated in step 1509 described later. In the example of “List 1” in FIG. 14A, the search condition is the output tracking information of List 1 as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  In step 1503, the tracking information search unit 415 generates a tracking result list as a data structure for returning a tracking result for the search information. This tracking result list is a list dedicated to the search information being processed, that is, a separate list is generated for each of “list 1”, “list 2”, and “list 3” in FIG. . This is because when a plurality of documents are obtained as tracking results as a result of tracking for each search information, it is necessary to return them as a list.

  In step 1504, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether the search condition is empty. If the search condition is empty, it means that the original is Original, or the QR code cannot be read or decoding fails. If it is empty, the process advances to step 1501 to process the next search information. If it is not empty, go to Step 1505. For example, as the first search condition, the output tracking information in the above-described list 1 in FIG. 14A becomes the search condition, which means that it is not empty.

  In step 1505, the tracking information search unit 415 searches for output tracking information that matches the search condition set in step 1502 from the data table of FIG. 11 stored by the tracking information storage processing unit 412.

  In step 1506, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether there is output tracking information hit in the search in step 1505 (whether there is output tracking information that matches the search condition). If there is hit output tracking information, the process advances to step 1507. If there is no hit output tracking information, the process advances to step 1501 to process the next search information. In the example of list 1 in FIG. 14A, “data 7” in FIG. 11 is hit.

  In step 1507, the tracking information search unit 415 adds the hit output tracking information to the tracking result list created in step 1503. In the example of list 1 in FIG. 14A, the tracking result 1 of list 1 shown in FIG. 14B corresponds. Here, in the present embodiment, the information included in the tracking result list has been described limited to the output tracking information, but it may be information indicating the data number of the data table shown in FIG. Only input tracking information may be used.

In step 1508, the tracking information search unit 415 acquires input tracking information corresponding to the hit output tracking information from the data table. That is, the input tracking information of “data 7” whose output tracking information is hit is acquired. In the example of list 1 in FIG. 14A, the input tracking information corresponding to the hit output tracking information is specified as follows.
Input device information: “MFP-0002”
-Input date and time information: “2008, September 21, 14:33:50”
Input user information: “Tanaka”
・ Number of copies: “2”
・ Input page number: “2”

  In step 1509, the tracking information search unit 415 sets the input tracking information acquired in step 1508 as a search condition to be searched next. Then, it progresses to step 1504 and repeats a process. In the example of list 1 in FIG. 14A, output tracking information shown in tracking results 2 and 3 in list 1 in FIG. 14B is further added to the tracking result list by repeating the processing of steps 1504 to 1509. . When the tracking processing of the search information described in the list 1 of FIG. 14A is completed, the process proceeds to step 1501, and the next search information, that is, the processing of the list 2 of FIG. 14A is performed. Furthermore, the processing of list 3 in FIG. When the processing of all the search information is completed, the process proceeds to step 1510.

  In step 1510, the tracking result list created in step 1503 and added in step 1507 is returned.

  Hereinafter, the processing flow shown in FIGS. 13 and 15 will be described in more detail with specific examples with reference to FIGS. 11, 12, and 14.

  As in the above example, it is assumed that the embedded information of the document to be tracked received in step 1301 corresponds to the document ID “103” page ID “007” in FIG.

First, search information is generated from the embedded information (step 1302) and searched from the data table (step 1304). Since “data 7” is hit, the following output tracking information is added to the search information list (step 1305).
・ Tracking target: “1”
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  Since it can be seen from the information in the data table of FIG. 11 that the document ID of “data 7” is “103”, another data having the document ID “103” is searched from the data table (step 1307). It is determined that the page with the page ID “006” and the page with “008” exist in the document “103” (step 1307). When the output tracking information of these pages is added to the search information list, lists 1 to 3 in FIG. 14A are generated (step 1308).

  As described above, for a plurality of pages output with the same number of copies in one printing process or copying process, one document ID is newly issued, and the tracking information of each page is associated with the data by this document ID. Saved in a table. Then, a page corresponding to the document to be tracked (hereinafter referred to as a document page to be tracked) and all other pages determined to exist in step 1307 can constitute a document including the document page to be tracked. I understand. Further, it can be seen that the output tracking information other than the “tracking target” column and the “output page number” column is the same in each list of FIG. 14A created in step 1308.

  Next, a process in which the tracking information search unit 415 searches the search information described in the search information list in step 1309, that is, the flow of the process shown in FIG. 15 will be described.

The following search information described in the list 1 of FIG. 14A is set as a search condition to be searched (step 1502).
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  As a result of searching the output tracking information that matches the search condition from the data table shown in FIG. 11 (step 1505), “data 7” is hit (step 1506). The output tracking information of “data 7” is added to “list 1” of the tracking result list (step 1507). The added tracking result is “tracking result 1 (1409)” of “list 1” in FIG. In the above processing, since the output tracking information of the tracking target document page is set as a search condition to be searched, “tracking result 1” of “list 1” in FIG. 14B is the output of the tracking target document page. Tracking information.

Next, the input tracking information of “data 7” is acquired from the data table and set as the next search condition to be searched (step 1509). The search conditions set by this are as follows (step 1504).
Latest device information: “MFP-0002”
・ Latest date / time information: “September 21, 2008, 14:33:50”
Latest user information: “Tanaka”
・ Latest copy number: “2”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  When the output tracking information that matches the search condition is searched from the data table, “data 4” is hit (step 1506). The output tracking information of “data 4” is added to “list 1” of the tracking result list (step 1507). The added tracking result is “tracking result 2 (1410)” of “list 1” in FIG. In the above processing, since the input tracking information of the document page to be tracked is set as a search condition to be searched, “tracking result 2” of “list 1” in FIG. 14B corresponds to the original document to be tracked. This is output tracking information of a page (original document page to be tracked).

Next, the input tracking information of “data 4” is set as a search condition to be searched next (step 1509). The search conditions set by this are as follows (step 1504).
Latest device information: “MFP-0001”
・ Latest date / time information: “January 30, 2008 9:53:13”
Latest user information: “Suzuki”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  When the output tracking information that matches the search condition is searched from the data table, “data 2” is hit (step 1506). The output tracking information of “data 2” is added to “list 1” of the tracking result list (step 1507). The added tracking result is “tracking result 3 (1411)” of “list 1” in FIG. In the above process, since the input tracking information of the original document page to be tracked is set as a search condition to be searched, “tracking result 3” of “list 1” in FIG. 14B is the original document page to be tracked. Output tracking information of what was further tracked from. Further, referring to the generation processing and storage processing of the tracking information described above, [tracking result 1], “tracking result 2”, and “tracking result 3” of “list 1” in FIG. 14B are the same Original. It can be seen that this corresponds to the Latest information of each document having information.

Further, the input tracking information of “data 2” is set as a search condition to be searched next (step 1509). The search conditions set by this are as follows (step 1504).
-Latest device information: empty -Latest date / time information: empty -Latest user information: empty -Latest copy number: empty -Latest page number: empty

  Since this search condition has an empty value, the search information tracking process is completed (step 1504), and the next search information, that is, the process of list 2 in FIG. 14A is performed (step 1501).

  By the processing of list 2 in FIG. 14A, the list 2 in FIG. 14B has tracking result information shown in tracking results 1, 2 and 3 as in the case of list 1 in FIG. 14B. Further, by the processing of the next search information, that is, the list 3 of FIG. 14A, the list 3 of FIG. 14B has the tracking result information shown in the tracking results 1 and 2, but “tracking result 3”. There is no tracking result information shown in.

  In the case of the process of list 3 in FIG. 14A, first, as a result of searching output tracking information that matches the search information described in list 3 of FIG. 14A from the data table of FIG. 11, data 8 is hit. . Then, “output tracking information” of data 8 is added as tracking result 1 of list 3 in FIG. Further, as a result of setting “input tracking information” of data 8 as a search condition and searching for matching output tracking information from the data table of FIG. 11, data 5 is hit. Then, the “output tracking information” of the data 5 is added as the tracking result 2 of the list 3 in FIG. Further, since “input tracking information” of data 5 is set as a search condition, and the value of this search condition is empty, the processing of list 3 in FIG. 14A is completed, and “list” in FIG. There is no tracking result information shown in “Tracking result 3” of “3”. This is because the page ID “005” of the document ID “102” is a printed original instead of a copied original, or the tracking is performed for one generation due to the detection of the QR code from the original original or the failure of decoding the detected QR code. It shows that it is completed.

  The tracking result 1 in FIG. 14B is output tracking information of a document including a document page to be tracked, as in the list in FIG. The tracking result 2 and the tracking result 3 in FIG. 14B are page output tracking information further tracked from each page of the document including the document page to be tracked.

<Display tracking results>
FIG. 16 is a screen example of the tracking result displayed on the display 208 by the tracking information search unit 415. Here, the display 208 of the server 104 is assumed, but the display 208 of the PC 101 or the display unit 301 of the MFP 102/103 may be used.

  The tracking result screen shows a document including a document page to be tracked and a document further tracked from each page of the document in a tree format.

  At the top of the tree, a document including a manuscript page to be tracked is displayed. That is, in the example of tracking the page ID “007”, the document ID “103” corresponding to the tracking result 1 in FIG. In this embodiment, output tracking information is displayed as tracking information beside the document, but may be displayed on a separate screen. Further, it is not necessary to limit to tracking information, and a document name or the like may be added. Further, although not shown in the present embodiment, the image data or embedded information of the document to be tracked may be displayed at the top of the tree.

  A document further tracked from the document page to be tracked is displayed in the lower hierarchy. That is, the documents “document ID 101” and “document ID 100” corresponding to the tracking result 2 and the tracking result 3 in the list 1 in FIG. 14B are displayed. The displayed document “101” and document “100” do not include the document page “007” to be tracked, but the pages “002” and “011” corresponding to the document having the same Original information as the document to be tracked. "including. In this embodiment, in order to make it easy to understand the document tracking result, the newer output date and time information is displayed in the upper hierarchy, but an implementation means using other means such as numbering in the list display may be used. Absent.

  Further, the related document further tracked from other pages in the document including the document page to be tracked is displayed with a broken line in the tree. Documents corresponding to the tracking results 2 and 3 in the list 2 and the list 3 in FIG. 14B are the document “101”, the document “100”, and the document “102”. Among them, the document “101” and the document “100” corresponding to the tracking result 2 and the tracking result 3 in the list 2 of FIG. 14B correspond to the originals having the same Original information as the original page “007” to be tracked. It is also a document including pages “002” and “011”. It is already displayed in the tree. The document “102” corresponding to the tracking result 2 and the tracking result 3 in the list 2 in FIG. 14B includes only the page “008” and has the same Original information as the document page “007” to be tracked. A document that does not include a corresponding page (herein referred to as a related document). The document “102” is displayed as a related document in the tree with a broken line, indicating that it is not a direct tracking result of the document page to be tracked. This display method is not limited to the realization means of displaying the tree with a broken line, and may be displayed as a related document in a list or the like on another screen. Further, it may be distinguished by a color or the like from a document including a document page to be tracked or including a page tracked further from the page (having the same Original information as that page).

[Example 2]
In the first embodiment, only the document scanned in step 1201 of FIG. In this embodiment, in addition to the document to be scanned being a document to be tracked, a document having Latest information that differs only in the number of copies is set as an additional document to be tracked. That is, the document to be tracked in this embodiment includes a document to be tracked to be scanned and a document to be tracked additionally. The additional document to be tracked in this embodiment differs from the document to be tracked to be scanned only in “Latest copy number”, and the other information of the latest is the same. Further, in this embodiment, a search information list is created from the output tracking information of the document including the page corresponding to the scanned target document and the document including the page corresponding to the additional tracked document. Follow the information list. As a result, the range of the tracking process is the same for all of the multiple copies output in one copy process or print process from the multiple pages output in the same copy number in the single copy process or print process of the first embodiment. Extend to page.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the flow of the tracking process of this embodiment. Since steps 1301, 1303 to 1310 in FIG. 17 are the same as the steps shown in FIG. 13, only the difference step 2101 will be described. Further, the description of FIG. 17 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18A is an example of a data table created in the tracking information storage processing unit 412 as in FIG. 18B is an example of a search information list generated by the tracking process of the server 104 as in FIG. 14A, and FIG. 18C is a tracking result list as in FIG. 14B. .

In step 2101 of FIG. 17, the tracking information search unit 415 extracts “latest copy number” from the embedded information received in step 1301 and extracts “latest information” to generate “search information”. For example, when the document to be tracked is the document with the page ID “007” corresponding to the second page of the document ID “103” in FIG. 10, the search information is as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest page number: “2”

  In step 1304, the tracking information search unit 415 searches for output tracking information that matches the search information generated in step 2101 from the data table in FIG. As a result of the search, data 7 and data 10 are hit. In step 1305, the result is added to the search information list.

Specifically, the following information is added to the search information list.
[Information of data 7]
Output device information: “MFP-0003”
-Output date / time information: “August 8, 2010 11:24:20”
Output user information: “Yamada”
-Number of output copies: "1"
-Output page number: “2”
[Information of data 10]
Output device information: “MFP-0003”
-Output date / time information: “August 8, 2010 11:24:20”
Output user information: “Yamada”
-Number of output copies: “2”
-Output page number: “2”

  FIG. 18B shows a search information list to which information of data 7 and data 10 is added. Data 7 is added as “list 1” and data 10 is added as “list 2”. Further, in step 1306, the “tracking target” 2220 is set to “1” to store the hit output tracking information.

  In step 1307, a document including the hit output tracking information is specified, and it is determined whether another page exists in the document. As a result, page IDs “006”, “007”, and “008” exist in document “103” of data 7, and page IDs “016”, “017”, and “018” exist in document “104” of data 10. "" The output tracking information 2208 to 2212 of the page IDs “006” and “008” of the document ID “103” and the page IDs “016” and “018” of the document ID “104” excluding information already added to the search information list. A value is added to the search information lists 2221 to 2225.

  As a result of searching in step 1309 for the search information list FIG. 18B created as described above, the tracking result list of FIG. 18C is obtained. The search result list is created so that the list numbers in FIG. 18B correspond to the list numbers in FIG.

[Example 3]
In the first embodiment, a forward tracking process is performed with a target document (original document) that is a copy source of the tracking target document as a target. In this embodiment, a target document that is output by copying the tracking target document is targeted. Perform backward tracking processing.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a flow in which the tracking information search unit 415 of the server 104 performs backward tracking. Since steps 1301 to 1308 in FIG. 19 are the same as those in FIG. 13, only the key steps will be described briefly with reference to FIGS. 11 to 21.
FIG. 21A is an example of a search information list generated by the tracking process of the server 104 as in FIG. 14A, and FIG. 14B is a corresponding tracking result list.

In step 1302, “search information” is generated from the embedded information received in step 1301. Assume that the generated “search information” is, for example, a document with a page ID “001” corresponding to the first page of the document ID “100” in FIG. The search information in that case is as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0001”
・ Latest date / time information: “January 30, 2008, 9:53:13”
Latest user information: “Suzuki”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “1”

In step 1304, the tracking information search unit 415 searches the data table of FIG. 11 for output tracking information that matches the search information. As a result of the search, data 1 has been hit. In step 1305, the tracking information search unit 415 adds the following output tracking information that has been hit to the search information list.
Output device information: “MFP-0001”
Output date information: “January 30, 2008 9:53:13”
Output user information: “Suzuki”
-Number of output copies: "1"
-Output page number: “1”

  In step 1306, “rear tracking target” 2501 in list 1 of FIG. 21A is set to “1”.

  In step 1307, the tracking information search unit 415 identifies a document including the hit output tracking information, and determines whether another page exists in the document. In the example of FIG. 11, pages belonging to the document ID “001” are page IDs “001” and “002”.

  In step 1308, the output tracking information of the page ID “002” that has not been added to the search condition list is added to the search information list. The added search information list is shown in FIG.

  In step 2301, the output tracking information described in the search information list of FIG. 21A is searched for backward tracking, and the backward tracking result is acquired. The details of the search process will be described later with reference to FIG. 20. As shown in FIG. 21 (b), the tracking result of list 1 in FIG. 21 (a) corresponds to the list 1 in FIG. 21 (b). The same applies to List 2. In the “tracking result” column of each tracking result, input tracking information of each page hit as a result of the search is entered.

  Next, FIG. 20 is a flowchart describing the flow of the backward tracking process for searching for the output tracking information described in the search information list in step 2301. This will be described with reference to FIGS. Further, as described above, the search information list includes the search information 2501 to 2506 in FIG. Since FIG. 20 is the same as steps 1501 to 1510 in FIG. 15, only the difference will be described with reference to FIG.

In step 1501, the acquired unprocessed search information is the list 1 in FIG. In step 1502, the tracking information search unit 415 sets the search condition to be searched. The search conditions referred to here are used to search the input table for matching input tracking information in step 2401 described later, and are updated in step 2405 described later. In the example of “List 1” in FIG. 25A, the search conditions are as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0001”
・ Latest date / time information: “January 30, 2008, 9:53:13”
Latest user information: “Suzuki”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “1”

  In step 1503, the tracking information search unit 415 generates a tracking result list as a data structure for returning a tracking result for the search information. This tracking result list is a list dedicated to the search information being processed. In this example, separate lists are generated for each of “list 1” and “list 2” in FIG.

  In step 1504, it is determined whether or not the search condition is empty. If it is not empty, the process proceeds to step 2401.

  In step 2401, the tracking information search unit 415 searches the input tracking information in the data table of FIG. 11 for input tracking information that matches the search condition.

  In step 2402, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether there is hit input tracking information (whether there is input tracking information that matches the search condition) in the search of step 2401. If there is hit input tracking information, the process proceeds to step 2403. If there is no hit input tracking information, the process advances to step 1501 to process the next search information. In the example of list 1 in FIG. 25A, “data 3” in FIG. 11 is hit.

  In step 2403, the tracking information search unit 415 adds the hit input tracking information to the tracking result list created in step 1503. In the example of list 1 in FIG. 25A, “tracking result 1” in “list 1” shown in FIG. 25B corresponds. The information included in the tracking result list may be information indicating the data number of the data table shown in FIG.

In step 2404, the tracking information search unit 415 acquires output tracking information corresponding to the hit input tracking information from the data table. That is, the output tracking information of “data 3” whose input tracking information is hit is acquired. In the example of FIG. 11, the output tracking information corresponding to the input tracking information of “data 3” that has been hit is specified as follows.
Output device information: “MFP-0002”
-Output date and time information: “September 21, 2008 14:33:50”
Output user information: “Tanaka”
-Number of output copies: “2”
-Output page number: “1”

  In step 2405, the tracking information search unit 415 sets the output tracking information acquired in step 2404 as a search condition to be searched next. Then, it progresses to step 1504 and repeats a process. Specifically, the processing is repeated as follows.

Proceeding to step 1504, the search conditions are as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0002”
・ Latest date / time information: “September 21, 2008 14:33:50”
Latest user information: “Tanaka”
・ Latest copy number: “2”
・ Latest page number: “1”

  In step 2401, input tracking information that matches the above search condition is searched.

  As a result of the tracking information search unit 415 searching the data table shown in FIG. 11, it is determined in step 2402 that “data 6” has been hit.

  In step 2403, the tracking information search unit 415 adds the input tracking information of the hit “data 6” to the tracking result list created in step 1503. This corresponds to “tracking result 2” in “list 1” shown in FIG.

In step 2404, the tracking information search unit 415 acquires output tracking information corresponding to the input tracking information of “data 6” hit in step 2402 from the data table. Specifically, it is as follows.
Output device information: “MFP-0003”
-Output date / time information: “August 8, 2008 11:24:20”
Output user information: “Yamada”
-Number of output copies: "1"
-Output page number: “1”

In step 2405, the tracking information search unit 415 sets the output tracking information acquired in step 2404 as a search condition to be searched next.
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2008 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “1”
In step 2401, input tracking information that matches the above search condition is searched.

  As a result of the tracking information search unit 415 searching the data table shown in FIG. 11, it is determined in step 2402 that no hit has been made. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 1501, and the next search information is acquired from the search information list. Specifically, it is “list 2” in FIG. 25A, which is the same as “list 1” in FIG. The tracking results shown in “List 2” in FIG. 25B are obtained.

  In step 1510, the tracking result list created in step 1503 and added in step 2403 is returned.

[Example 4]
In the first embodiment, the tracking process is performed when the document to be tracked is a single sheet. In this embodiment, the tracking process is performed when the document to be tracked is a plurality of sheets.

  Hereinafter, the tracking process for a plurality of documents according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10, 11, 22, and 23 to 24. FIG.

  First, the processing of the MFP 102/103 in the tracking processing of a plurality of documents will be described.

  FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a flow of transmitting an embedded information list of documents to be tracked to the server 104 by scanning a plurality of documents to be tracked in the MFP 102/103. The processing in steps 1201 to 1204 is the same as that in FIG.

  When the user sets a plurality of documents to be tracked on the document reading table of the MFP 102/103 and the scan instruction button is pressed by the user, in step 1201, the scan processing unit 402 displays the plurality of set documents. The scanner unit 302 is caused to scan. Thereby, multiple image data to be tracked is acquired.

  In step S2601, the code detection unit 403 determines whether there is unprocessed image data among the acquired multiple image data. If there is unprocessed image data, the process proceeds to step 1202, and if there is no unprocessed image data, the process proceeds to step 2603.

  In steps 1202 to 1204, embedded information is extracted for each image data as described with reference to FIG.

  In step 2602, the embedded information update unit 405 temporarily stores the extracted embedded information in the embedded information list. The embedded information list is generated by embedding information extracted from each image data as a list, and is temporarily stored in the memory 304 to the large-capacity storage unit 305 of the MFP 102/103.

  In step 2603, the data transmission / reception unit 401 transmits the temporarily stored embedded information list to the server 104.

  The processing of the server 104 in the tracking processing of a plurality of documents will be described.

  FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a flow in which the tracking information search unit 415 of the server 104 performs tracking. Although described with reference to FIG. 24, steps 1303 to 1310 in FIG. 23 are the same as the processing described in FIG.

  24A and 24B are examples of a search information list generated by the tracking process of a plurality of documents in the server 104, and FIG. 24C is a tracking result list of a plurality of documents.

  In step 2701, the data transmission / reception unit 411 receives an embedded information list from the MFP 102/103. The following description will be made assuming that the embedded information received here is the information shown in step 2603 (embedded information list extracted from a plurality of documents to be tracked). Similar to FIG. 13, the embedded information list may be received from an external application (not shown) that can extract embedded information from the QR code.

In step 2702, the tracking information search unit 415 extracts the latest information of each embedded information from the embedded information list received in step S2701, and generates a plurality of search information. For example, if the document to be tracked is two documents having a page ID “006” corresponding to the first page of the document ID “103” and a page ID “008” corresponding to the third page in FIG. The information is as follows.
[Search information 1]
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “1”
[Search information 2]
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “3”

In step 2703, the tracking information search unit 415 extracts each search information from the plurality of generated search information, and determines whether the search information is unprocessed. If there is unprocessed search information, the process proceeds to step 1303 in order to process the search information. If the processing has been completed for all search information, the process proceeds to step 1309. In the case of the above example, the retrieval information extracted first is as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “1”

  In step 1303, the tracking information search unit 415 determines whether the search information has been correctly generated. If the search information has been correctly generated, the process proceeds to step 1304.

  In step 1304, the tracking information search unit 415 searches the data table in FIG. 11 for output tracking information that matches the search information extracted in step 2703.

In step 1305, the tracking information search unit 415 confirms the result of searching the data table in step 1304, and adds the result to the search information list. In the above example, the data 6 with the document ID “103” and the page ID “006” is hit, and the result is added to the search information list. Specifically, “output tracking information” of “006” that has been hit is added as “list 1” in the search information list of FIG. The added information is as follows.
Output device information: “MFP-0003”
-Output date / time information: “August 8, 2010 11:24:20”
Output user information: “Yamada”
-Number of output copies: "1"
-Output page number: “1”

  In step 1306, the tracking information search unit 415 stores “hit” output tracking information by setting “1” to “tracking target” 2801 of “list 1” in FIG.

  In step 1307, the tracking information search unit 415 identifies a document including the hit output tracking information, and determines whether another page exists in the document. In the example of FIG. 11, it is determined that the document “103” includes a page with a page ID “007” and a page “008”.

  In step 1308, the tracking information search unit 415 acquires output tracking information for all pages determined to exist in step 1307 and adds them to the search information list. In FIG. 11, pages belonging to the document “103” have page IDs “006”, “007”, and “008”. Since “006” has already been added to the search information list in step 1305 as a document to be tracked, in this step, the values of the output tracking information 1108 to 1112 of “007” and “008” are set as shown in FIG. Add to 2802-2806. Specifically, they are List 2 and List 3 in FIG.

  In step 2703, the tracking information search unit 415 extracts search information to be processed next from the search information list.

In the above example, the search information to be processed next is as follows.
Latest device information: “MFP-0003”
・ Latest date / time information: “August 8, 2010, 11:24:20”
Latest user information: “Yamada”
・ Latest copy number: “1”
・ Latest page number: “3”

  In step 1304, output tracking information that matches the search information is searched from the data table of FIG. 11, and in step 1305, the search result is added to the search information list. In the above example, since the data 8 with the document ID “103” and the page ID “008” is hit, the result is added to the search information list. However, as shown in “List 3” in FIG. 24A, since it has already been added to the search information list, the data addition process is not actually performed.

  In step 1306, the tracking information search unit 415 stores “hit” output tracking information by setting “1” to “tracking target” 2801 of “list 3” in FIG. An example of setting is shown in FIG. The tracking target 2810 of “list 3” is “1”.

  In step 1307, the tracking information search unit 415 identifies a document including the hit output tracking information, and determines whether another page exists in the document. In the above example, it is determined that the document “103” includes the page with the page ID “006” and the page “007”. However, since it has already been added to the search information list, the process of adding to the search information list in step 1308 is not performed.

  With respect to the search information list thus created, in step 1309, the output tracking information described in the search information list is searched, and a tracking result list as shown in FIG. 24C is obtained. In step 1310, the tracking information search unit 415 displays the tracking result on the display 208 via the display controller 204.

(Other examples)
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

100 Document management system 101 PC
102 MFP
103 MFP
104 server 105 network 200 CPU
201 RAM
202 ROM
203 Keyboard controller 204 Display controller 205 Disk controller 206 NC
207 Keyboard 208 Display 209 Hard disk (HD)
300 CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 301 Display part 302 Scanner part 303 Printer part 304 Memory 305 Mass storage part 306 Network interface 307 Internal bus 400 Control part 401 Data transmission / reception part 402 Scan processing part 403 Code detection part 404 Decoding part 405 Embedded information update part 406 Encoding part 407 Image Composition unit 408 Print processing unit 409 Tracking information generation unit 410 Control unit 411 Data transmission / reception unit 412 Tracking information storage processing unit 413 Data writing unit 414 Data reading unit 415 Tracking information search unit

Claims (10)

A server for tracking a copy history of a manuscript,
First information for specifying the output of the copy document, the first information including information indicating an output device, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed output in the output of the copy document;
Second information specifying the output of the original document that is the source of the copied document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the original document, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed the output A storage means for associating and storing information;
Receiving means for receiving tracking target information, including tracking target information for specifying the output of the tracking target document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the tracking target document, an output date and a user who has instructed the output,
Setting means for setting the tracking target information received by the receiving means as a search condition;
Search means for searching the storage means for first information that matches the search information set by the setting means;
A server comprising: extraction means for extracting second information stored in the storage means in association with the first information searched by the search means.   2. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit that displays the first information retrieved by the retrieval unit and / or the second information retrieved by the retrieval unit. The setting unit further sets the second information extracted by the extraction unit as a search condition,
The search means further searches the storage means for first information that matches the set search condition,
The retrieval unit further retrieves second information stored in the storage unit in association with the retrieved first information,
The server according to claim 2, wherein the display unit further displays the retrieved first information and / or the retrieved second information. The first information further includes information indicating a page number and a copy number in the output of the copy original,
The second information further includes information indicating a page number and a copy number in the output of the original document.
The server according to claim 3, wherein the tracking target information further includes information indicating a page number and a copy number in the output of the tracking target document. The search means searches for the first information that also matches the information indicating the page number and the copy number, and the first information that matches except for the information indicating at least one of the page number and the copy number,
When displaying the second information, the display means determines whether the information indicating the page number and the copy number is the second information stored in the storage means in association with the matching first information. The server according to claim 4, wherein the display of the second information is made different depending on the server. An image forming apparatus connected to the server according to claim 1,
Scan processing means for receiving a scan instruction and scanning a document to be tracked;
Decoding means for decoding the code image attached to the tracking target document and acquiring tracking target information for specifying the output of the tracking target document, wherein the tracking target information is output in the output of the tracking target document A decoding means including information indicating the device, the output date and time, and the user who has instructed the output;
Transmitting means for transmitting the tracking target information to the server;
An image forming apparatus comprising: An image forming apparatus connected to the server according to claim 1,
Means for generating first information including information indicating an output device, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed an output in the output of the copy original, the first information specifying the output of the copy original;
Second information specifying the output of the original document that is the source of the copied document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the original document, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed the output Means for generating information;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit and store the generated first and second information to the server. A server according to any one of claims 1 to 5;
A document management system comprising: the image forming apparatus according to claim 6 and / or the image forming apparatus according to claim 7. A control method in a server for tracking a copy history of a manuscript,
First information for specifying the output of the copy document, the first information including information indicating an output device, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed output in the output of the copy document;
Second information specifying the output of the original document that is the source of the copied document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the original document, an output date and time, and a user who has instructed the output A storing step of associating and storing information in the database of the server;
Receiving step for receiving tracking target information, including tracking target information for identifying the output of the tracking target document, including information indicating an output device in the output of the tracking target document, an output date and time, and a user who instructs the output;
A setting step for setting the tracking target information received in the receiving step as a search condition;
A search step of searching the database of the server for first information that matches the search condition set in the setting step;
And a search step of searching for second information stored in the database of the server in association with the first information that can be searched by the search means.   A program for causing a computer to execute the method according to claim 9.

Images