JP2003132079A - Document management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document management system that can improve convenience unlike a conventional system that has the custody of documents to offer service and has a problem that, if a document in custody is deleted, a user can not know the reason of the deletion, resulting on decreasing the convenience. SOLUTION: A document management device 2 refers to the holding time limit of a document stored in a database 1, deletes a document of which holding time limit has elapsed from the database 1, and sets the reason of the deletion as reason information in the database 1. The database 1, if a document for which a user has requested is deleted, offers the reason information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document management system using a database for storing and managing documents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the environment for connecting to the Internet has been improved, and many individuals and companies are using various services provided by servers on the Internet. Then, as one of these services, it is sought to provide a service in which a document to be processed is acquired from a user via a network and stored, and when the user later gives an instruction, the document is processed. ing. For example, conventionally, in order to perform printing processing by a printer located in a facility in each place, a document to be printed is uploaded from a personal computer in the home to a server located in the center side, and the printer in a nearby facility is used. There is a service or the like that takes out the uploaded document to be printed and prints it.

When a service for temporarily holding a document on the server side is provided as described above, it is necessary to prevent the document from being continuously stored in the server without being used. Therefore, in order to prevent the accumulation from continuing, it is general to set a retention term of the document and delete the document when the retention term has elapsed.

Therefore, even if the user accesses the server after the retention period has passed since the document was held, the information about the document is deleted, and the error simply indicates that the document cannot be found.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional document holding service described above, even if the user of the document tries to access the document after the document to be processed is deleted, the document is simply specified. The fact is that no information is provided about why the document cannot be found, just because the document cannot be found.

For this reason, it is difficult for the user to know whether the document cannot be found because the retention period has expired, the document is not retained due to an erroneous operation, or some other cause, which is not convenient. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a document management system which can improve convenience.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example comprises a database for acquiring and storing and managing documents to be managed, and among the documents stored in the database, A means for deleting a document that matches a predetermined condition, a means for associating the information for identifying the deleted document and information relating to the predetermined condition which is the reason for the deletion, and storing as deletion reason information, The deletion reason information is provided to the user of the deleted document.

Further, according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example, a document which is connected to a database for acquiring and storing and managing a document to be managed and which maintains and manages the document stored in the database. A management apparatus, which deletes a document that matches a predetermined condition among documents stored in the database, information that identifies the deleted document, and the predetermined condition that is the reason for the deletion. And means for accumulating the information related to the information as deletion reason information, and the deletion reason information is provided to the user of the deleted document. Here, it is preferable that the deletion reason information further includes information regarding the date and time when the deletion is performed. Further, it is preferable that the information processing apparatus further includes means for deleting the reason information that matches the predetermined deletion condition for the reason information among the accumulated reason information. Furthermore, it is also preferable that the predetermined deletion condition for the reason information includes a condition regarding the elapsed date and time from the accumulation of the reason information.

Further, the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example uses a database for acquiring and storing and managing a document to be managed, and a predetermined condition among the documents stored in the database is satisfied. A step of deleting a matching document, a step of associating the information for identifying the deleted document with information relating to the predetermined condition that is the reason for the deletion as the deletion reason information, and the deletion reason information. And providing the removed document to the user.

Further, the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems of the conventional example is a document management program,
Identifying the deleted document, the procedure of deleting the document stored in the database, which meets the predetermined condition, from the computer connected to the database for acquiring and storing the document to be managed. A procedure of associating the information and the information related to the predetermined condition that is the reason for the deletion as accumulation reason information, and a procedure of providing the deletion reason information to the user of the excluded document. The feature is that it is executed.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings by taking an example of providing a print service. The document management system according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
, A document management apparatus 2, a user side apparatus 3, and a printer 4, which are connected to each other via a network. Here, database 1 is
Storage device 11, control unit 12, and communication unit 13
In addition, the document management apparatus 2 is a general server computer, and as shown in FIG.
, Storage unit 22, hard disk 23, and display unit 24
And an operation unit 25 and a communication unit 26.

Storage device 11 of database 1
Stores and holds a document according to an instruction input from the control unit 12. The storage device 11 also outputs the held document to the control unit 12 according to an instruction input from the control unit 12. Specifically, the storage device 11 stores a document table including information (entry) for each document and entity data of each document. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the document table includes, for each entry corresponding to each document, an identifier (registration identifier: A) unique to the document, and an email address of the user who sent the document ( B), reference information (C) indicating the storage location of the document, a retention period (D) indicating a date after a predetermined period from the storage date and time of the document, and the association with the reason information (E). It consists of

The control unit 12 acquires a document by e-mail via the communication unit 13 and stores the document, stores the document in the storage device 11, and acquires the URL thereof. Then, the e-mail address of the sender of the e-mail is retrieved, a unique registration identifier is issued for the document, the current date and time (accumulation date and time) is referenced, and the expiration date after the predetermined period is retained. , And associate them with each other and register them in the document table. At this time, nothing is registered in the reason information (E). Then, the registration identifier is transmitted to the sender of the electronic mail.

The control unit 12 also receives an instruction for a document stored in the storage device 11 from the document management apparatus 2 and processes the document stored in the storage device 11 according to the instruction. Specifically, when the instruction to delete a specific document is received from the document management apparatus 2, the specified document is deleted from the storage device 11, and the reference information for the document on the document table is deleted.

Further, when the control unit 12 receives a request for a document designated by a registration identifier via the network, it refers to the document table to obtain reference information of the document associated with the registration identifier, Storage device 11 according to the reference information
Retrieves the document from and sends the document to the requester over the network.

A feature of this embodiment is that the control unit 12 has already deleted the requested document (eg, the reference information (C) has been deleted).
The reason is to send the contents of the reason information (E).

The communication unit 13 transmits the document (or the reason information) to the designated destination according to the transmission instruction designating the destination input from the control unit 12. Further, the communication unit 13 receives an electronic mail via the network and outputs the received electronic mail to the control unit 12.

The control unit 21 of the document management device 2 is
It operates according to a program stored in the hard disk 23 and executes processing related to maintenance and management of documents stored and managed in the database 1. Specifically, it executes processing such as deletion of documents and setting of deletion reason. ing. The details of the processing of the control unit 21 will be described later.

The storage unit 22 operates as a work memory of the control unit 21. The hard disk 23 holds a program (document management program) related to document maintenance management executed by the control unit 21. This program is read from a computer-readable recording medium (such as a CD-ROM) by an external storage device (not shown) and installed. The display unit 24 displays information according to the instruction input from the control unit 21. The operation unit 25 transmits the operation content of the management person to the control unit 21. The communication unit 26 transmits data such as an instruction via the network according to the instruction input from the control unit 21, and outputs the data received via the network to the control unit 21.

Here, the contents of processing of the control unit 21 of the document management apparatus 2 will be described. The control unit 21 refers to the contents of the document table stored in the storage device 11 of the database 1, compares the retention time limit of each document with the current date and time (clocked by a clock (not shown)), and determines the retention time limit. If there is a document that has passed, the registration identifier of the document and the deletion instruction are transmitted to the database 1. In addition, the control unit 21
Executes the process of setting the reason for deletion. That is, the control unit 21 uses the data indicating the reason for the deletion (for example, the message including the deletion date and time such as “Deleted at X month X day X at the expiration of the retention period”) as the reason information and the registration identifier of the document. It is sent together with the database 1 and stored in the document table in association with the registration identifier of the deleted document. The instruction data between the database 1 and the document management device 2 can be implemented by a general database operation language such as SQL (Structured Query Language).

The user-side device 3 is, for example, an ordinary personal computer provided in the user's home or office, and sends the document to be processed to the database 1 by electronic mail. The user-side device 3 also receives an e-mail containing the registration identifier of the document from the database 1 and presents it to the user. Printer 4
For example, it is provided in a facility such as a convenience store, has an operation interface, receives a registration identifier of a document from a user via this operation interface, and stores a document corresponding to the registration identifier in the database 1. Request. This printer 4
When the document is received from the database 1, the document is printed. Also, this printer 4
When the reason information is received after requesting the document, the reason information is printed or displayed on a display (not shown) to notify the user of the reason information.

Next, the operation of the document management system of this embodiment will be described. The user operates the user-side device 3 to attach the document to be printed to the database 1 as an e-mail and send it. Database 1
Receives this e-mail via the network, retrieves the document, stores it, issues a unique registration identifier, associates the unique identifier with reference information indicating the storage location of the document in the document table, and associates it with the document table. Addition is made, and the unique registration identifier is transmitted to the user side device 3 by e-mail.

The user receives this electronic mail at the user side device 3 and receives the registration identifier shown in the electronic mail. When the user wants to print, he / she operates the printer 4 provided in a convenience store or the like to input the registration identifier. If this is before the retention period,
When the printer 4 requests the document associated with the registration identifier from the database 1, the database 1 retrieves the document and sends it to the printer 4.
Then, the printer 4 receives and prints this document, and the user obtains the printed matter.

On the other hand, when the holding period of the stored document comes, the document management apparatus 2 instructs the document to be deleted and sets the reason information regarding the deletion in the document table of the database 1.

After that, when the user operates the printer 4 to request the document, the database 1 refers to the document table and the reference information (C) is deleted. Therefore, the reason information (E) is retrieved. Send to printer 4.

The printer 4 acquires the reason information and displays the reason information on a display not shown. From this reason information, the user can know information such as the reason for deletion (meaning that it was deleted due to the expiration of the retention period) and the date and time of deletion.

In the above description, the document management apparatus 2 refers to the information (D) of the retention period of the document table managed in the database 1 to delete the document. The document management apparatus 2 may also monitor the free space of the storage device 11 of the database 1, and when the storage capacity of the storage device 11 falls below a predetermined threshold, the documents may be deleted in order from the oldest stored date. In this case, the reason for deletion will be a message such as "Because of lack of space, we were forced to delete it." In addition, documents that satisfy other deletion conditions (conditions specified by the administrator, those specified by the user, etc.) are deleted, and each document is deleted in a predetermined format. Generate a deletion reason message and register it in the document table.

Further, the control unit 12 of the database 1 is
When the deletion instruction designating the registration identifier is received from the user side device 3, the document associated with the designated registration identifier is deleted from the storage device 11. In this case, the control unit 12 of the database 1 sets reason information such as "deleted by a deletion instruction" in the document table. In addition, the control unit 12
It is also preferable that the reason information is not set when the information is deleted by the user's instruction in this way.

[Management of Reason Information] By the way, if the reason information is set for the deleted document and the reason information itself is not deleted, the number of the reason information increases and the capacity of the storage device 11 of the database 1 is compressed. To do.
Therefore, it is preferable that the document management apparatus 2 also performs a process of managing the reason information. Specifically, the control unit 21 of the document management apparatus 2 holds information on a deletion condition preset for the reason information (reason deletion condition),
By referring to the entry in which the reason information is set from the document table accumulated in the database 1, it is checked whether or not the reason information set in the entry matches the reason deletion condition. Send instructions to delete from the document table.

Here, the reason deletion condition specifically includes the date and time that has passed since the reason information was set. That is, by comparing the date and time when the reason information is set (approximately equal to the information (D) of the retention period) and the current date and time (clocked by a clock (not shown)), the predetermined threshold value (the number of retention days) is determined. If it exceeds the limit, the entry including the reason information is deleted.

Another reason deletion condition is, for example, a condition regarding the maximum number of settable reason information. In this case, the control unit 21 counts the number of the reason information set in the document table, and if the reason information exceeds the maximum number that satisfies the condition, searches the oldest reason information of the set date and time, and the reason information. Database 1 for instructions to delete entries containing
The process of transmitting to the above is repeatedly performed until the number falls below the maximum number.

By the process of deleting the reason information as described above,
Storage device 11 by accumulating reason information
It is possible to prevent the capacity from decreasing.

[Modification] The database 1 is used here.
However, when there is a request for a document, the reason information is provided if the requested document does not exist. However, the control unit 12 of the database 1 executes the Web server program and registers it from the user side device 3. In response to the designation of the identifier, in response to the instruction to present the reason information associated with the designated registration identifier, a Web page indicating the reason information is generated, and the Web page is provided to the user side device 3. You may do it.

Further, in the present embodiment, the database 1
Although the document management device 2 and the document management device 2 are shown as separate devices, these devices may be integrated. In this case, the integrated device is provided with a single control unit that performs the process of the control unit 12 and the process of the control unit 21.

Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the print service is provided has been described as an example. However, any service other than the print service can be used as long as the service is to store the document at the center side and perform the predetermined processing. I don't mind.

[0037]

According to the present invention, there is provided a database for acquiring, accumulating and managing documents to be managed,
Of the documents stored in the database, delete the documents that meet the specified deletion conditions,
The information for identifying the deleted document and the information regarding the predetermined deletion condition that is the reason for the deletion are associated and accumulated as the reason information, and the reason information is provided to the user of the deleted document. Since it is a document management system, it is possible to inform the user of the reason why the document does not exist and improve the convenience.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a document management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a document table.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 database, 2 document management device, 3 user side device, 4 printer, 11 storage device, 12, 21 control unit, 13, 26 communication unit, 22
Storage unit, 23 hard disk, 24 display unit, 25
Operation part.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A database, which acquires and stores and manages a document to be managed, deletes a document that matches a predetermined deletion condition among documents stored in the database, and the deleted document. And a means for associating information relating to the predetermined deletion condition that is the reason for the deletion and storing it as reason information, wherein the deletion reason information is the user of the deleted document. Document management system characterized by being provided to. 2. A document management device that is connected to a database that acquires and stores and manages documents to be managed, and that maintains and manages the documents stored in the database, among the documents stored in the database. A means for deleting a document that matches a predetermined deletion condition, a means for associating the information for identifying the deleted document with the information for the predetermined deletion condition that is the reason for the deletion, and storing as reason information. , And the deletion reason information is provided to the user of the deleted document. 3. The document management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the reason information further includes information regarding the date and time of deletion. 4. The document management device according to claim 2, further comprising: means for deleting, from among the accumulated reason information, reason information that matches a predetermined deletion condition for the reason information. A document management device further comprising: 5. The document management device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined deletion condition for the reason information is:
A document management device including a condition relating to an elapsed date and time from the storage of the reason information. 6. A method of using a database for acquiring and storing and managing documents to be managed, of the documents stored in the database, deleting documents that meet a predetermined condition, and identifying the deleted documents. Information, and a step of accumulating as deletion reason information by associating the information related to the predetermined condition that is the reason for the deletion, with the deletion reason information, and providing the user of the removed document, A document management method comprising: 7. A procedure for deleting, in a computer connected to a database that acquires and stores and manages documents to be managed, documents that meet a predetermined condition among the documents stored in the database, and the deletion. Providing the user of the removed document with the procedure for accumulating the information for identifying the deleted document and the information regarding the predetermined condition that is the reason for the deletion as the deletion reason information in association with each other. A document management program that is characterized by performing the following procedure and executing the procedure.