CN111222832A

CN111222832A - System and method for customizing workflow, and MFP for customizing workflow

Info

Publication number: CN111222832A
Application number: CN201811405461.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 欧阳亮
Original assignee: Ricoh Co Ltd
Current assignee: Ricoh Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-11-23
Filing date: 2018-11-23
Publication date: 2020-06-02

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for customizing a workflow on an MFP, comprising: the multiple plug-ins are divided into an input plug-in, an intermediate processing plug-in and an output plug-in, and respectively and correspondingly realize the input, intermediate processing and output functions of the MFP; and a workflow framework capable of hosting input, intermediate processing and output plug-ins and managing and maintaining interactions among the three types of plug-ins, enabling the MFP to execute a workflow in accordance with selected input, intermediate processing and output plug-ins. Compared with the prior art, the invention can independently complete the customization of the office automation workflow on the MFP without depending on the computer and the Internet environment.

Description

System and method for customizing workflow, and MFP for customizing workflow

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system for implementing a customizable workflow on an MFP, to a customizable workflow MFP and to a method for customizing a workflow with an MFP.

Background

In office situations, there is a need to connect several independent operations in series, thereby improving work efficiency. For example, a certain document needs to be copied to a client, but sensitive information exists on the document, and the sensitive information needs to be pasted by a sticker and then copied; printing a seat card for a client, designing a layout on a computer in advance, including company Logo and the like, and then printing the layout; and after the document is scanned, performing OCR, renaming after extracting keywords and classification information, and then sending Email and a shared directory.

In cases similar to the above, the solution of the current general office automation workflow is to perform corresponding operations on a computing device in steps or manually, and then operate the computing device by using a printer or an MFP (Multi-Functional Peripheral), so that corresponding output can be obtained, which is prone to error and inefficient.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a scheme which can independently complete customized office automation workflow directly on equipment such as MFP and the like without depending on a computer and an internet environment.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a system for implementing customized workflows on an MFP, comprising,

the multiple plug-ins are divided into an input plug-in, an intermediate processing plug-in and an output plug-in, and respectively and correspondingly realize the input, intermediate processing and output functions of the MFP; and

and the workflow framework can carry input plug-ins, intermediate processing plug-ins and output plug-ins, manage and maintain the interaction among the three types of plug-ins, and enable the MFP to execute the workflow according to the selected input, intermediate processing and output plug-ins.

Compared with the prior art, the invention can independently complete the customization of the office automation workflow on the MFP without depending on the computer and the Internet environment.

Further, the system can save and/or export workflows while or after the workflow framework is running the workflows with plug-ins.

Further, the system may re-execute saved and/or exported workflows, or may restore workflows that were interrupted during customization or execution; also, the system can re-execute the workflow or resume the workflow on another MFP different from the one MFP.

Further, the plug-in comprises an input interface, an output interface and an internal processing unit, and any one or more of the name, the type, the identification number, the acceptable input plug-in type and/or the acceptable output plug-in type of the plug-in are marked in the plug-in. The input plug-in unit can comprise an SD card plug-in unit, a scanning plug-in unit and a shared directory plug-in unit; the intermediate processing plug-ins can include watermarking plug-ins, format conversion plug-ins, and mask plug-ins; the output plug-ins may include a print plug-in, an Email plug-in, a shared directory plug-in, a Cloud plug-in, an ERP plug-in, a CRM plug-in.

A second aspect of the present invention provides an MFP for a customizable workflow, comprising the system provided in the first aspect or any implementation manner of the first aspect.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a method for customizing a workflow by using the MFP provided in any one of the foregoing second aspects or second implementation manners, including: installing plug-ins and a workflow framework, wherein the plug-ins comprise input plug-ins, intermediate processing plug-ins and output plug-ins; and sequentially selecting at least one input plug-in, at least one intermediate processing plug-in and at least one output plug-in to be saved and/or executed as a workflow.

Further, after the workflow is saved, the saved workflow is re-executed.

Further, during customization of the workflow, the customization process may be interrupted and saved, followed by resumption of the customization process of the workflow.

Further, the workflow may be re-executed or customization of the workflow may be resumed on another MFP different from the one MFP.

The invention does not depend on the computer and the internet environment, does not need the cooperation of extra computer hardware or external software, realizes the customizable, reusable and interruptible office automation workflow on a single MFP device by combining the software and hardware technologies, and greatly improves the working efficiency of users.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system implementing a customized workflow on an MFP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2a and 2b are flowcharts of a method of customizing a workflow on an MFP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an insert structure according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of workflow customization according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation of a cross device recovery workflow in the event of a network outage according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a user operation interface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user operation interface when implementing a cross-device recovery workflow in the case of network unavailability according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention is further illustrated with reference to the following specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. In addition, for convenience of description, only a part of structures or processes related to the present invention, not all of them, is illustrated in the drawings.

In office occasions, the work efficiency can be greatly improved by customizing common operations into workflows. In the prior art, the support of a PC server or the support of a network environment is usually relied on. The invention aims to provide a scheme which can independently complete customized office automation workflow directly on devices or equipment such as MFPs and the like without depending on computer and internet environment.

The solution provided by the present invention depends on the implementation of the MFP, and it should be noted that the MFP mentioned in the present invention is not limited to a printer or a copier, and any device or apparatus having any one or more of the functions of printing, scanning, faxing, copying, etc., or various common devices or apparatuses used in office workflow shall fall within the scope of the MFP described in the present invention.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system 10 for implementing customized workflows on an MFP is provided, as shown in FIG. 1, the system 10 may include a plurality of plug-ins 101 and a workflow framework 102.

The plurality of plug-ins 101 may be classified into three types, i.e., an input plug-in, an intermediate processing plug-in, and an output plug-in, which respectively implement the input, intermediate processing, and output functions of the MFP, and each type of plug-in may include multiple types, for example: the input plug-in can comprise an SD card plug-in, a scanning plug-in, a shared directory plug-in and the like; the intermediate processing plug-ins can be watermarking plug-ins, format conversion plug-ins, mask plug-ins, seat plate plug-ins and the like; the output plug-ins may be a print plug-in, an Email plug-in, a shared directory plug-in, a Cloud plug-in, an ERP plug-in, a CRM plug-in, and the like. The above-mentioned plug-in is merely an example and should not be construed as a limitation to the present invention, and in the practical application of the present invention, the plug-in is not limited to the above-mentioned plug-in, and a plurality of plug-ins different from the above-mentioned functions may be developed according to the actual needs.

In one embodiment, the structure of the plug-in may be as shown in fig. 3, which includes an input interface, an output interface and an internal processing unit, and the plug-in may be marked with a plug-in attribute, which includes any one or more of a name, a type, an identification number, an acceptable input plug-in type, and/or an acceptable output plug-in type of the plug-in, and the attributes respectively mark various characteristics of the plug-in. The configuration of the plug-in and the functional description of the various constituent items may be as shown in table 1. Note that the plug-in configuration in table 1 is only an example and does not limit the present invention, and in some embodiments, the plug-in may include more or less items, and each of the configuration items may include more other functions or only a part of the functions.

TABLE 1

The workflow framework 102 can host input, intermediate processing, and output plug-ins and manage and maintain interactions among the three types of plug-ins, enabling the MFP to execute a workflow in accordance with selected input, intermediate processing, and output plug-ins. Meanwhile, the workflow framework 102 may also have some common basic functions, such as workflow storage, import, export, and the like.

The system 10 enables the workflow to be highly customizable, allowing the user to select different plug-ins to implement different workflows according to different needs. The system can be directly mounted on the MFP without the support of other devices or networks. In addition, system 10 may interface with database 105, store output data into database 105, or read desired data from database 105. Meanwhile, the functions of the device body can be called through an embedded development Kit SDK 103 (software development Kit, English full name: software development Kit), so that the functions of scanning, printing, copying, faxing and the like of the MFP device are integrated. In the present invention, the development of the plug-in may be performed based on various existing or future development platforms such as an embedded Android development platform or LINUX, which is not limited in the present invention. Thus, on a single device, MFP, customization of the workflow is achieved.

A method of customizing a workflow using the system shown in fig. 1 or using an MFP mounted with the system shown in fig. 1 will be described as shown in fig. 2a and 2 b.

First, a workflow framework and various kinds of plug-ins need to be installed, and as shown in fig. 2a, installation work can be performed by an administrator having corresponding authority. After the administrator logs in, the workflow framework, the input plug-in, the intermediate processing plug-in and the output plug-in are installed in sequence, or may be installed in a sequence different from that shown in fig. 2a, but all three types of plug-ins must be available. Each MFP can install a plurality of plug-ins simultaneously, and a plurality of plug-ins of the same type can also be installed simultaneously.

Subsequently, as shown in fig. 2b, the general user can log in the MFP (step S210), select a desired plug-in combination according to the needs of the user, and form a workflow as required by the user, and as shown in steps S211-S213, the user can sequentially select at least one input plug-in, at least one intermediate processing plug-in, and at least one output plug-in, form a workflow of the user, and execute the workflow (step S217). For example, as shown in fig. 4, a scan plug-in may be selected as an input unit, a mask plug-in and a conversion plug-in may be selected as an intermediate processing unit, and a print plug-in may be selected as an output unit, whereby the following workflow may be generated: scan → mask → transform → print, the workflow can be executed after it is determined.

In some embodiments, the system shown in fig. 1 may provide a saving function to save the workflow for subsequent invocation, step S215, for example, the workflow template may be saved in a personal folder or various storage devices, and when the same workflow needs to be executed later, the originally saved workflow template may be directly imported from the personal folder or various storage devices and reused. That is, as shown in FIG. 2b, after logging in (step S210), the workflow template may be imported directly (step S214) and proceed directly to the step of executing the workflow (step S217). Although FIG. 2b shows saving before execution, the steps of saving and executing may be performed simultaneously or may be performed before and after saving.

After the workflow template is saved, the workflow template may be exported in the form of an XML file or JSON file (step S216), and saved in another storage medium, so that the previously exported workflow template may be imported to another device also equipped with the system of the present invention, and the previously customized workflow may be re-executed.

The division of the administrator and the general user described above with reference to fig. 2a and 2b does not constitute a limitation to the present invention, and in some application scenarios, the administrator and the general user may be the same account, and the customization of the workflow is performed by first installing the related workflow framework and the plug-in and then using the related plug-in.

In addition, in another embodiment, the system for customizing a workflow on an MFP provided by the present invention can also provide a function of interrupt recovery. For example, in some cases, workflow creation or execution may need to be suspended to half, and workflow creation or execution may be resumed by saving intermediate states and data of the workflow, and so on, for the next time. In addition, the intermediate state and data of the workflow can be saved on a removable storage medium, so that the interruption and recovery of the workflow can be realized not only on a single device, but also across devices, as shown in fig. 5, on two MFPs which cannot communicate or are not connected through a network, after the workflow is interrupted on a first device, the interrupted state of the workflow can be saved or exported to various storage media such as a usb disk, and then the workflow saved on the storage media can be read on another device, and the creation or execution of the workflow can be recovered from the interrupted position.

The process of creating a new workflow and the process of interrupting a recovery workflow according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples of user operation interfaces shown in fig. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a process of normally creating a new workflow. The user can click on "create new workflow", then click on input plug-ins, intermediate processing plug-ins and output plug-ins required for selection in turn, each type of plug-in can select one or more, and in each step, corresponding selection processing or operation can be performed, for example, various parameters are adjusted, and the like. As shown in fig. 6, each step may return to fallback reselection and finally the workflow may be saved for execution or exported.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a process of interrupting a recovery workflow. Similar to the process shown in FIG. 6, a user may create a workflow and select the desired input, intermediate processing, and output plug-ins, except that in this example, an interrupt save option and resume workflow functionality is provided for pausing and saving at any time during the workflow creation process. After the interruption, on the same device or a different device loaded with the aforementioned system, the restoration of the workflow can be performed, as shown in the lower left corner of fig. 7, the restoration of the workflow can be selected, so as to restore from the interrupted position and continue the creation or execution of the workflow.

Fig. 6 and 7 are merely one example of a user interface, and in various embodiments, different user interfaces may be employed. Meanwhile, when an operation to re-execute a workflow and/or resume an interrupted workflow is performed across devices (for example, on another MFP different from the previously operated MFP), the plug-ins installed on the former and latter devices do not need to be identical as long as the plug-ins used in the workflow to be re-executed or resumed are included in the latter device.

Compared with the traditional networked workflow solution, the solution provided by the invention can be independent of the network and is suitable for more scenes, and meanwhile, the invention can realize the interruption and recovery operation among different devices, namely, the workflow can be defined on the device A of the place A, the operation is carried out to a certain intermediate step, then the interruption and the storage are carried out, the intermediate file is stored in the storage medium and then moved to the device B of the place B, the file is loaded from the storage medium, and the operation is continued from the interrupted step without starting from the beginning.

The implementation of the invention does not need additional computer hardware and the cooperation of any external software, and can realize the customizable, reusable and interruptible recovery workflow by using single equipment such as MFP and the like, thereby greatly improving the working efficiency. The user can flexibly select which plug-in is used in each link in the workflow according to the actual needs of the user, and the scanning, printing, copying and faxing functions of the device are integrated into the workflow, so that the workflow template meeting the unique requirements of the user is obtained. Meanwhile, the workflow template can be saved in a folder of the workflow template or exported into files such as XML, so that the saved workflow can be directly called next time, and even if equipment is replaced, the saved workflow can be exported by using storage media such as a U disk. In addition, a workflow interruption recovery function is provided, operation can still be recovered from the intermediate point after the switching device is switched, the phenomenon that the operation is passed through all the time is avoided, and time is saved.

There is also provided, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a customizable workflow MFP including the system shown in FIG. 1. The MFP described in the present invention may be any device or apparatus having any one or more of functions of printing, scanning, faxing, or copying, or various common devices or apparatuses used in office workflow, and the like.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, the use of the technical solution of the present invention is not limited to the applications mentioned in the embodiments of the patent, and various structures and modifications can be easily implemented with reference to the technical solution of the present invention to achieve various advantageous effects mentioned herein. Variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A system for implementing customized workflows on an MFP, comprising,

a plurality of plug-ins divided into an input plug-in, an intermediate processing plug-in and an output plug-in, which respectively realize input, intermediate processing and output functions of the MFP correspondingly; and

a workflow framework capable of hosting the input, intermediate processing and output plug-ins and managing and maintaining interactions between the three types of plug-ins, enabling the MFP to execute a workflow in accordance with selected input, intermediate processing and output plug-ins.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system saves and/or exports the workflow when or after the workflow framework launches the plug-in to run the workflow.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the system re-executes the workflow that was saved and/or exported.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system resumes the workflow interrupted during customization or execution.

5. The system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the system re-executes the workflow or resumes the workflow on another MFP different from the MFP.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plug-in comprises an input interface, an output interface and an internal processing unit, and the plug-in is marked with any one or more of the name, type, identification number, acceptable input plug-in type and/or acceptable output plug-in type of the plug-in.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising any one or more of the following features:

the input plug-in comprises an SD card plug-in, a scanning plug-in and a shared directory plug-in;

the intermediate processing plug-in comprises a watermarking plug-in, a format conversion plug-in and a mask plug-in;

the output plug-ins comprise a printing plug-in, an Email plug-in, a shared directory plug-in, a Cloud plug-in, an ERP plug-in and a CRM plug-in.

8. A customizable MFP comprising a system according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. A method for customizing a workflow by an MFP according to claim 8, comprising,

installing plug-ins and a workflow framework, wherein the plug-ins comprise input plug-ins, intermediate processing plug-ins and output plug-ins; and

at least one input plug-in, at least one intermediate processing plug-in and at least one output plug-in are selected in sequence for saving and/or execution as a workflow.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein after a workflow is saved, re-executing the saved workflow.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein during the customization of the workflow, the customization is interrupted and saved, and then the customization of the workflow is resumed.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the workflow is re-executed or customization of the workflow is resumed on another MFP different from the MFP.