JP2003303276A - System and settling method for process for obtaining sanction to plan by circulating draft prepared by person in charge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for properly conduct the process for obtaining the sanction to a plan by circulating the draft prepared by a person in charge, while securing the originality of a script of a bill, a receipt and the like. <P>SOLUTION: A scanner 3 reads a mount D adhered with the bill or the like to generate an image file and a control file. An ID for the process for obtaining the sanction to the plan by circulating the draft prepared by the person in charge, and a hash value are contained in the control file to be enciphered by a secret key. The scanner 3 stores the generated image file and the like in a script management DB 42. A management server 51 for the process for obtaining the sanction to the plan by circulating the draft prepared by the person in charge correlates a record for the process for obtaining the sanction to the plan by circulating the draft prepared by the person in charge stored in a DB 52 for the process for obtaining the sanction to the plan by circulating the draft prepared by the person to the image file and the like in the script management DB 42. The management server 51 finds the hash value in the image file of the script management DB 42, when processing for the sanction according to an instruction of a manager terminal 6, and compares it with the hash value in the management file to detect the presence of an altering in the image file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a approval decision system and a approval decision method capable of appropriately making approval decisions while guaranteeing the originality of bills and receipts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, settlement operations represented by payment of bills, advance payment of receipts, etc. have been routinely occurring in companies and the like. Some of these settlement acts require approval by a manager (officers, managers such as section managers) because of their relatively high price. Such approval decisions have been made for many years based on approval documents with invoices, receipts, etc. attached to them. Nevertheless, due to the recent request for paperless, etc.
An approval system that does not use physical bills is being developed.

For example, a conventional approval decision system is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
Approval management server 103, approval management DB (DatBas
e) 104 and an administrator terminal 105. In addition, the person-in-charge terminal 101, the approval management server 103,
The administrator terminal 105 is a LAN (Local Area Network).
rk) 109.

The person-in-charge terminal 101 comprises a general-purpose personal computer (personal computer) or the like and is operated by a person in charge of handling bills and the like. In addition, the scanner 102
Is controlled by the person-in-charge terminal 101, reads a paper document such as a bill or a receipt, and acquires image data. In other words, the person in charge sets the bill or the like at the reading position of the scanner 102 and operates the person in charge terminal 101 to operate the scanner 1
02 is operated to read an image such as a bill. The person-in-charge terminal 101 stores the read image data as an image file in its own hard disk or the like. Note that the person-in-charge terminal 101 transmits the image file stored in the hard disk or the like to the approval request management server 103 via the LAN 109 according to the operation of the approval requester, and the approval request management DB 10
4 to store. At that time, the image file is the approval management D
The corresponding approval request in B104 is designated and stored in association with the specified approval record.

The approval request management server 103 is composed of a general-purpose server device or the like, and manages a series of workflows from approval request to approval approval. Also, the approval management DB 104
Stores an approval record that defines a case to be approved, an image file showing an image such as a bill, and the like. The administrator terminal 105 is composed of a general-purpose personal computer or the like, and is operated by a manager who makes a approval decision. For example, the administrator terminal 10
5 is the approval management DB sent from the approval management server 103
While displaying the content of the approval request record in 104 and the image of the image file on the display device, the approval information is transmitted to the approval management server 103 according to the operation of the official.

In the conventional approval decision system as shown in FIG. 9 mentioned above, the approval record required for approval and the image file such as the bill are stored in the approval management DB 104. Then, the official operates the administrator terminal 105 to access the approval management server 103, and while displaying images such as invoices and receipts on the display device, information for instructing approval or rejection of approval is given to the approval management server. Approval is made by sending it to 103.

[0007]

However, in the conventional approval decision system as described above, the person in charge operates the person in charge terminal 101 of his or her own and uses the scanner 102 to take in the image data such as a bill and take it in. The image data (image file) was transmitted to the approval request management server 103. That is, a series of operations from the image data acquisition to the image file transmission to the approval management server 103 has been manually performed. Therefore, not only is the work burden on the person in charge, but the image file to be sent to the approval management server 103 may be mistaken. In addition, a malicious person may falsify the captured image data into a content that is convenient for him and send it to the approval management server 103. In such a case, since the approval request server 103 cannot determine the legitimacy of the image data (image file), there is a problem that the reliability of the approval request becomes extremely low.

Further, since it is necessary to manually associate the approval record with the image file in the approval management DB 104, even if the correct image file is sent, the image file is mistakenly changed to a different approval record. In some cases, they were associated. Also in this case, the approval management server 103 cannot determine the validity of the combination of the approval record and the image file. For this reason, if an incorrect image file is used together with the approval record, there is a problem in that the officials who make the approval approval will cause unnecessary confusion and the approval process will be delayed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a approval decision system and a approval decision method capable of appropriately making an approval decision while guaranteeing the originality of a bill or a receipt. The purpose is to

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the approval decision system according to the first aspect of the present invention provides an image in which image data of a document to be approved is read together with approval information for identifying approval. The reading means, the unique information obtaining means for obtaining unique information uniquely determined according to the image data read by the image reading means, the approval identification information read by the image reading means, and the unique information obtaining means Management data generating means for generating management data including unique information, and approval content information for defining the approval content are stored, and the image data read by the image reading means and the management data generating means are created. Storage means for storing the management data in association with the target approval content information, and image data stored in the storage means. Discrimination means for newly obtaining unique information and discriminating the coincidence with the unique information included in the management data stored in the storage means, and predetermined discrimination information when the discrimination means discriminates the coincidence of the unique information. According to the above, there is provided a decision means for making a decision using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage means.

According to the present invention, the image reading means is
The image data of the document (eg, bill, receipt, etc.) to be approved is read together with the approval identification information (eg, approval ID) for identifying the approval. The unique information acquisition unit acquires unique information (for example, a hash value obtained by hash calculation) that is uniquely determined according to the image data read by the image reading unit. The management data generation means is
The management data including the approval identification information read by the image reading means and the unique information acquired by the unique information acquisition means is generated. The storage unit stores the approval request content information (eg approval request record) that defines the approval request, and the target approval request is the image data read by the image reading unit and the management data generated by the management data generating unit. It is stored in association with the content information. The discriminating means newly obtains unique information from the image data stored in the storage means, and discriminates a match with the unique information included in the management data stored in the storage means. When the discriminating means discriminates that the unique information coincides with each other, the deciding means makes a decision using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storing means in accordance with predetermined instruction information. As a result, it is possible to properly approve the approval while guaranteeing the originality of the bill and receipt.

[0012] The above-mentioned approval decision system relates to the approval request information generating means for generating approval request information for defining the approval request and the approval request information generated by the approval request creating means for identifying the approval request. An approval request identification information generating unit for generating approval request identification information, and an image representing the approval request information generated by the approval request identification information generating unit, and a printing unit for printing on a mount for pasting a document to be approved.
May be further provided.

The image reading means reads the image data from the entire mount on which the document to be approved is pasted and the approval identification information is printed as an image, and from the image of the approval identification information printed on the mount. The approval information may be acquired by image recognition.

The unique information acquisition means acquires a hash value that is uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read by the image reading means, and the management data generation means uses the image reading means. Management data including the read approval request information and the hash value acquired by the unique information acquisition unit is encrypted and generated by a predetermined secret key, and the determination unit is the image data stored in the storage unit. A new hash value that is uniquely determined by hash calculation is obtained from, and the match with the hash value included in the management data, which is obtained by decrypting the management data stored in the storage unit with the public key, is determined. Good.

In order to achieve the above object, a approval decision system according to a second aspect of the present invention provides an image reading device for reading image data from a paper document, a storage device for storing various data, and approval for approval. A decision making system is a decision making system in which a decision making device is connected via a predetermined network, and the image reading device has a document to which the decision is made is pasted, and a decision making process identifying a decision is printed as an image. The image reading means for reading image data from the entire mount, the approval ID obtaining means for extracting the image of the approval ID from the image data read by the image reading means, and the approval ID for acquiring the approval ID from the extracted image, and the image reading means. Hash value acquisition means for acquiring a hash value uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the read image data, Management data generation means for generating management data including the approval request ID acquired by the approval request acquisition means and the hash value acquired by the hash value acquisition means, the image data read by the image reading means, and the management data The management data generated by the generation means
Transmitting means for transmitting to the storage device via a network, wherein the storage device receives the image data and the management data transmitted from the image reading device by the transmitting means, and the receiving means. Storage means for storing image data and management data received by the means,
According to a request from the approval requesting device, the target image data and management data are read from the storage means, and are transmitted to the approval requesting device via a network, and the approval requesting device is an approval request. The information storage means for storing the approval request content information defining the content of the approval request, the approval request content information stored in the information storage means, and the image data and the management data stored in the storage means in the storage device are associated with each other. And a hash value included in the management data associated with the approval content information by the associating means, the hash value being uniquely determined by hash calculation with respect to the image data associated with the approval content information by the association means. When the discriminating means discriminates the coincidence of the unique information, the discriminating means discriminates the predetermined information. Accordance shows information, the information storage unit approval content information and stored in, and a decision means for performing settlement using the image data stored in said storage means in said storage device, it is characterized.

According to the present invention, in the image reading device, the image reading means is pasted with the document (eg, bill or receipt) to be approved, and the approval ID for identifying the approval is printed as an image. Image data is read from the entire mount. The approval request obtaining means extracts an image of the approval request from the image data read by the image reading means, and the approval request ID is extracted from the extracted image, for example, by image recognition.
To get. The hash value acquisition means acquires a hash value that is uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read by the image reading means. The management data generation means generates management data including the approval request acquired by the approval request acquisition means and the hash value acquired by the hash value acquisition means. The transmitting unit transmits the image data read by the image reading unit and the management data generated by the management data generating unit to the storage device via the network. In the storage device, the receiving means receives the image data and the management data transmitted by the transmitting means from the image reading device. The storage means stores the image data and the management data received by the receiving means. The transmission means reads the target image data and management data from the storage means in accordance with a request from the approval decision making device, and sends them to the approval decision making device via the network. In the approval requesting device, the information storage means stores approval request information (eg approval request record) that defines the approval request. The associating unit associates the approval content information stored in the information storage unit with the image data and the management data stored in the storage unit in the storage device. The discriminating means obtains a hash value uniquely determined by hash calculation for the image data associated with the approval content information by the associating means, and a hash value included in the management data associated with the approval content information by the associating means. Determine the match.
When the discriminating means discriminates that the unique information matches, the approval means uses the approval content information stored in the information storage means and the image data stored in the storage means in the storage device according to the predetermined instruction information. Make a decision. As a result, it is possible to properly approve the approval while guaranteeing the originality of the bill and receipt.

The image reading apparatus further comprises key information storage means for storing in advance key information defining a secret key and a public key, and the management data generating means stores the management data including the approval request ID and the hash value. The secret approval key stored in the key information storage means is encrypted and generated, and in the approval approval device, the determination means uniquely performs a hash calculation on the image data associated with the approval content information by the association means. Even if it is determined that the hash value included in the management data obtained by decrypting the management data associated with the approval content information with the corresponding public key by the associating means is obtained Good.

In order to achieve the above object, the approval decision system according to the third aspect of the present invention reads the image data of the document to be approved together with the approval identification information for identifying the approval, and the read image data. According to the above, unique information that is uniquely determined is acquired, management data including the read approval request identification information and the acquired unique information is generated, and the approval request content information that defines the approval request is stored. In the storage device, the read image data and the generated management data are stored in association with the target approval content information,
Unique information newly acquired from the stored image data,
According to the unique information included in the stored management data,
When it is determined whether the stored image data has been tampered with, and it is determined that the stored image data has not been tampered with,
It is characterized in that a decision is made using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage device according to predetermined instruction information.

According to the present invention, the image data of the read document (eg, bill or receipt) is stored in the storage device for storing the approval content information (eg, approval record) that defines the content of the approval. And, the generated management data is stored in association with the target approval content information. And
According to the unique information newly acquired from the stored image data and the unique information included in the stored management data, it is determined whether the stored image data has been tampered with, and it is determined that the image data has not been tampered with. Then, according to the predetermined instruction information, a decision is made using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage device. As a result, it is possible to properly approve the approval while guaranteeing the originality of the bill and receipt.

In order to achieve the above object, in the approval decision method according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, an image reading step of reading out the image data of the document to be approved together with the approval identification information for identifying the approval, the image A unique information acquisition step of acquiring unique information that is uniquely determined according to the image data read in the reading step, the approval identification information read in the image reading step, and the unique information acquisition step in the unique information acquisition step Management data generation step of generating management data including the unique information, and a predetermined storage device for storing the approval content information that defines the content of the approval, the image data read in the image reading step and A storage space for storing the management data generated in the management data generation step in association with the target approval content information. And a determination step of newly obtaining unique information from the image data stored in the storing step and determining whether the unique information included in the management data stored in the storing step matches. When it is determined that the unique information matches in the step, a step of making a decision using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage device according to predetermined instruction information is provided.

According to the present invention, the image reading step includes the document to be approved (for example, bill or receipt).
Image data is read out together with approval request identification information (eg approval request ID) for identifying approval requests. The unique information acquisition step acquires unique information (for example, a hash value) that is uniquely determined according to the image data read in the image reading step. The management data generation step generates management data including the approval identification information read in the image reading step and the unique information acquired in the unique information acquisition step. The storing step is performed in the predetermined storage device that stores the approval request content information (for example, approval request record) that defines the approval request, and the image data read in the image reading step and the management data creating step. The management data is stored in association with the target approval content information. The determining step newly acquires unique information from the image data stored in the storing step,
The matching with the unique information included in the management data stored in the storing step is determined. When the matching of the unique information is judged in the judging step, the decision step makes a decision using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage device, for example, according to the instruction information sent from the administrator terminal or the like. As a result, it is possible to properly approve the approval while guaranteeing the originality of the bill and receipt.

In the image reading step, image data is read from the entire mount on which the document to be approved is pasted and the approval identification information is printed as an image.
The approval request identification information may be acquired by image recognition from the approval request identification information image printed on the mount.

In the unique information acquisition step, for the image data read in the image reading step,
Acquiring a hash value that is uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation, the management data generation step, the approval information read in the image reading step, and the hash value acquired in the unique information acquisition step. Is generated by encrypting the management data including a predetermined secret key, the determining step newly obtains a hash value uniquely determined by hash calculation from the image data stored in the storing step, and A match with a hash value included in the management data, which is obtained by decrypting the management data stored in the storing step with the public key, may be determined.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a approval decision method according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is an image reading device for reading image data from a paper document, a storage device for storing various data, and an approval decision. This is a method for approval of approval in a system in which the approval device for approval is connected via a predetermined network. The image reading device has a document to be approved and is pasted, and an approval ID for identifying approval is printed as an image. An image reading step of reading out image data from the entire mount, an image of the approval ID from the image data read in the image reading step, and an approval ID obtaining step of acquiring an approval ID from the extracted image; A hash value uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation is obtained for the image data read in the image reading step. A hash value acquisition step of, approval ID acquired by said approval ID acquiring step and,
A management data generation step of generating management data including the hash value acquired in the hash value acquisition step, image data read in the image reading step, and a management data generated in the management data generation step Management data, transmitting means for transmitting to the storage device via the network, the storage device, a receiving step of receiving the image data and management data transmitted in the transmitting step from the image reading device, A storage step of storing the image data and management data received in the receiving step in its own storage unit, and the target image data and management data from the storage apparatus stored in the storage step according to a request from the approval decision device. Read out and send it to the approval device through the network. The approval requesting device stores the approval request information defining the approval request in its own information storage device, the approval request information stored in the information storage step, and the storage device in the storage step. The associating step of associating the stored image data and management data with each other, and obtaining a hash value uniquely determined by hash calculation for the image data associated with the approval content information in the associating step, and performing the associating step. Determination step for determining a match with the hash value included in the management data associated with the approval content information, and when the determination step determines a match for the unique information, the information storing step according to predetermined instruction information. The approval content information stored in and the storage device stored in the storage step described above. Comprising a decision step of performing settlement using the image data, and characterized in that.

According to the present invention, in the image reading device, in the image reading step, a document (eg, bill or receipt) to be approved is pasted, and an approval ID for identifying the approval is printed as an image. Image data is read from the entire mount. The approval request obtaining step extracts an image of the approval ID from the image data read in the image reading step, and acquires the approval ID from the extracted image. The hash value acquisition step acquires a hash value uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read in the image reading step. The management data generation step generates management data including the approval request acquired in the approval ID acquisition step and the hash value acquired in the hash value acquisition step. The transmitting means transmits the image data read in the image reading step and the management data generated in the management data generating step to the storage device via the network. In the storage device, the receiving step receives the image data and the management data transmitted from the image reading device in the transmitting step. The storing step stores the image data and the management data received in the receiving step in its own storage unit. In the transmitting step, the target image data and management data are read from the storage device stored in the storing step in accordance with the request from the approval requesting device, and are transmitted to the approval requesting device via the network. In the approval decision device, the information storing step stores approval content information (eg approval record etc.) that defines the details of the approval in its own information storage device. The associating step associates the approval content information stored at the information storing step with the image data and management data stored at the storing step in the storage device. The determining step obtains a hash value that is uniquely determined by hash calculation for the image data associated with the approval content information in the association step, and the hash included in the management data associated with the approval content information in the association step. Determine the match with the value. In the approval step, when the unique information is determined to match in the determination step, the approval content information stored in the information storage step and the image data stored in the storage step in the storage device according to the predetermined instruction information. Make a decision using. As a result, it is possible to properly approve the approval while guaranteeing the originality of the bill and receipt.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A approval decision system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of the approval decision system applied to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the figure, this system includes a person-in-charge terminal 1, a printer 2, a scanner 3, an originality assurance storage device 4,
The approval decision management device 5 and the administrator terminal 6 are connected to the LAN (Lo
cal area network) 9.

The person-in-charge terminal 1 includes a display device, a keyboard,
It consists of a mouse, a general-purpose personal computer (personal computer) equipped with a LAN card, etc., and is operated by a person in charge of handling bills and the like. For example, the person-in-charge terminal 1 accesses the approval decision management device 5 according to the operation of the person in charge, inputs necessary items for approval, and requests the creation of approval request records that define the approval content. The approval decision management device 5 creates approval records according to the input items and the like. After creating the approval record, the approval approval management device 5 sends information such as the approval ID included in the approval record to the person-in-charge terminal 1. It should be noted that the approval request ID is unique identification information, and is determined by the approval approval management device 5.
It is generated to specify the details of the approval. When the information such as the approval request is obtained from the approval decision management device 5, the person in charge 1 takes the character (character information) indicating the approval ID.
Also, the print data of the barcode is generated and supplied to the printer 2.

By the way, it is not limited to the person in charge 1 who generates print data and supplies it to the printer 2. Alternatively, the approval decision management device 5 (such as the approval management server 51 described later) may perform it.

The printer 2 is composed of a laser printer or the like which can be connected to a network, and prints predetermined characters and images on paper according to the print data sent from the person in charge 1 or the approval decision management device 5. For example, printer 2
Prints the character C indicating the approval request and the barcode B on the mount D as shown in FIG. 2A according to the print data. Since the check digit is added to the approval ID, the check digit is also added to the character C and the barcode B printed on the mount D. In this way, the person in charge or the like attaches a bill, a receipt, etc. to the mount D on which the characters indicating the approval ID and the like are printed. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the invoice S is glued to the mount D.

The scanner 3 is composed of a network-connectable multi-function peripheral, etc.
Acquires the image data of the read document. Specifically, the scanner 3 includes a key data storage unit 31 as shown in FIG.
Generated data storage unit 32 and scan unit 33
A control unit 34, a LAN unit 35, a clock unit 36, and a device ID storage unit 37. Although the printer 2 and the scanner 3 are described as separate devices, they may be replaced with a multi-function peripheral having a copy function, a printer function and a scanner function.

The key data storage unit 31 is composed of a non-volatile memory or the like, and stores in advance key data defining its own private key and public key.

The generated data storage unit 32 temporarily stores the image data of the mount D (including the invoice attached to the mount D) read by the scan unit 33 as an image file. The generated data storage unit 32 also temporarily stores the management file generated together with the image data.

Specifically, the generated data storage unit 32 temporarily stores the image file and the management file (including the attached public key data) as shown in FIG. The management file is, for example, as shown in FIG.
D, date and time (date and time information), image file name, approval ID, and hash value. Here, the structure of the management file is an example, and may additionally include the ID of the person in charge. The device ID is information for identifying the scanner 3. The date and time is information indicating the date and time when the image data or the like was generated. The image file name is a name indicating the generated image file. The approval request ID is information obtained from the approval request ID (character or barcode) printed at a predetermined position on the mount D. The hash value is a hash value obtained by performing a hash calculation on the image data. The entire management file including these pieces of information is encrypted with the private key. Further, a public key (public key data) corresponding to the private key is attached to the management file.

Returning to FIG. 3, the scan unit 33 is
An image reading unit including a light source, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), and the like, which reads the entire mount D to which a bill or the like is attached and generates image data. In addition,
The scanning unit 33, when there are a plurality of mounts D,
Capture image data continuously. If the size of the invoice is larger than the mount D and the invoice cannot be pasted on the mount D, the image of the invoice is read after the blank D is loaded. The image data associated with the mount D may be generated.

The control unit 34 includes a CPU (Central Processi).
ng Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Ran
It is composed of a one-chip microcomputer including a dom access memory) and controls the scanner 3 as a whole. That is, the control unit 34 executes a file generation process described later according to the program stored in the ROM, and the scan unit 3
Image data acquired by scanning the entire mount D in 3
It is converted into an image file of a predetermined format and temporarily stored in the generated data storage unit 32. At that time, the control unit 34
Generates the management file described above. The control unit 3
When a plurality of mounts D are read by the scan unit 33, the unit 4 converts the image data of the plurality of sheets into a single image file.

Specifically, the control unit 34 creates a management file as shown below. First, the control unit 34
Acquires the device ID, the date and time information, and the image file name from the timing unit 36, the device ID storage unit 37, and the like. Also, the control unit 34 controls the approval ID printed on the mount D.
Get the approval ID from the image. That is, the control unit 34
2 extracts a portion (area) of the character C or the barcode B shown in FIG. 2A from the predetermined position of the read image, and acquires the approval ID by image recognition or the like. At that time, the legitimacy of the approval ID is checked by a check digit. Further, the control unit 34 performs hash calculation on the read image data according to a predetermined algorithm,
Find the uniquely obtained hash value. At this time, the hash value may be obtained from the entire image data, or
It may be obtained from a part (digest) of the image data. Then, the control unit 34 encrypts the entire generated management file with its own private key, and attaches the public key (public key data) corresponding to the private key with a certificate. Control unit 3
4 includes such image files and management files,
The data is generated in the generation data storage unit 32, and after generation, it is supplied to the originality assurance storage device 4 via the LAN unit 35.

The LAN unit 35 is controlled by the controller 34 and transmits / receives predetermined information via the LAN 9. Specifically, the LAN unit 35 uses the LAN to store the image files and management files generated in the generated data storage 32.
It is supplied to the originality assurance storage device 4 via 9.

The clocking unit 36 sequentially clocks the current date and time, and supplies the clocked date and time information in response to a request from the control unit 34.

The device ID storage unit 37 is composed of a non-volatile memory or the like, and stores in advance a device ID which is a unique identification number assigned to the scanner 3. Device ID storage unit 37
Supplies the device ID in response to a request from the control unit 34.

Returning to FIG. 1, the originality assurance storage device 4 is
It is composed of an original document management server 41 and an original document management DB 42. The original management server 41 includes a CPU, a memory, and
It is composed of a predetermined server device including a LAN unit and the like.
The original document management server 41 receives the image file, the management file and the like sent from the scanner 3 via the LAN 9 and stores them in the original document management DB 42. Further, the original document management server 41 supplies the target file from the plurality of image files and management files stored in the original document management DB 42 to the approval request management device 5 in accordance with the request from the approval request management device 5. The original document management server 41 has its own memory (non-volatile memory or the like) in its own physical address (MA) of the scanner 3 and the approval decision management device 5 (approval management server 51).
The C address and the like) are stored, and the devices permitted to supply (write) the image file and the like via the LAN 9 and the devices permitted to read the image file and the like are appropriately determined.

The original document management DB 42 is composed of a hard disk or the like and stores a plurality of image files and management files sent from the scanner 3.

The approval decision management device 5 is an approval approval management server 5.
1 and the approval management DB 52. The approval management server 51 includes a CPU, a memory, a hard disk, and
It is composed of a predetermined server device including a LAN unit and the like.
The approval request management server 51 appropriately updates (creates) approval requests and approval records stored in the approval request management DB 52, and manages a series of workflows from approval request to approval approval. Specifically, the approval request management server 51 executes a linking process, which will be described later, and a decision process, which will be described later, according to a program stored in a hard disk or the like.
That is, the approval request management server 51 executes the linking process, and associates the image file (management file) stored in the original document management DB 42 with the approval request record stored in the approval request management DB 52. In addition, the approval management server 51
Executes the approval process and confirms that the target image files (image data such as invoices and receipts) in the original management DB 42 have not been tampered with. I do.

The approval request DB 52 stores approval requests such as those shown in FIG. 5A and approval records necessary for approval of approval, as shown in FIG. 5B. The approval record shown in FIG. 5A includes information such as approval ID, application date, application department, person in charge, amount of money, and file address. The file address indicates the address of the corresponding image file (management file) stored in the original management DB 42.

The decision record shown in FIG. 5B is
It consists of the approval ID, the date of approval, the name of the authorized officer, the name of the approver, and the approval category. In addition, the approval classification is a classification indicating whether or not the approval is adopted.

Returning to FIG. 1, the administrator terminal 6 is composed of a general-purpose personal computer equipped with a display device, a keyboard, a mouse, a LAN card, etc., and is operated by an executive who makes a roundabout decision. For example, the administrator terminal 6 accesses the approval decision management device 5 in accordance with the operation of the official to obtain the content of the target approval record, and displays the information indicating the approval content on the display device. At that time, the administrator terminal 6 reads the target image file (image data such as invoice or receipt) in the original document management DB 42 from the approval management server 51, and the content is also displayed. The data is information confirmed by the approval management server 51 that it has not been tampered with. Then, the administrator terminal 6 transmits, to the approval management server 51, information instructing whether or not to approve the approval in accordance with the operation of the manager.

The operation of the approval decision system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the person-in-charge terminal 1 until the character C and the barcode B are printed on the mount D as shown in FIG.
Regarding the operations of the approval decision management device 5 and the printer 2,
Briefly explained.

The person in charge terminal 1 operates according to the operation of the person in charge.
Access the approval decision management device 5, enter the necessary items for approval, and request the creation of approval records that define the details of the approval. On the other hand, the approval decision management device 5 creates approval records according to the items and the like input at the person in charge terminal 1. At that time, the approval decision management device 5 generates an approval ID which is unique identification information for specifying the approval content,
It is set in the approval record and transmitted to the person-in-charge terminal 1.

When the person-in-charge terminal 1 receives the approval information such as the approval request from the approval approval management device 5, it generates print data of the character (character information) indicating the approval request and the barcode, and sends it to the printer 2. . The person in charge terminal 1
Alternatively, the approval decision management device 5 may generate print data of characters and barcodes and send the print data to the printer 2.

When the printer 2 receives the print data sent from the person-in-charge terminal 1 or the approval decision management device 5,
According to the received print data, as shown in FIG. 2A, the character C indicating the approval ID and the bar code B are printed on the mount D. In this way, a person in charge or the like attaches a bill, a receipt, etc. to the mount D on which the characters or the like indicating the approval ID are printed. For example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the invoice S is glued to the mount D.

Next, the operation of the scanner 3 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a file generation process executed by the control unit 34 of the scanner 3. It should be noted that this file generation process is started after the backing sheet D to which the bill S as shown in FIG. 2B is attached is set at the reading position of the scanner 3.

First, the control unit 34 controls the scan unit 3
3 is controlled to scan the entire mount D to generate an image file (step S11). That is, the control unit 34
Reads the mount D having the invoice S or the like as shown in FIG. 2B attached thereto, acquires the image data, and temporarily stores it in the generated data storage unit 32 as an image file with a file name. To do. When the scan unit 33 reads a plurality of mounts D, the control unit 34 generates an image file in which the image data of a plurality of sheets is collected and stores the image file in the generated data storage unit 32. .

The control unit 34 acquires the device ID, the date and time (date and time information), the image file name, etc., and creates a management file in which these are set (step S12).
That is, the control unit 34 acquires the device ID and date / time information from the device ID storage unit 37, the timing unit 36, and the like, and also acquires the file name of the image file stored in the generated data storage unit 32. Then, a management file including these is generated and temporarily stored in the generated data storage unit 32.

The control unit 34 determines the approval ID from the scanned image.
The location is extracted, and the approval ID is acquired by image recognition or the like (step S13). That is, the control unit 34 extracts the partial image of the character C or the barcode B shown in FIG. 2A from the specific position of the image in the image file stored in the generated data storage unit 32, and the approval request by image recognition or the like. To get. At that time, the control unit 34 inspects the legitimacy of the approval request ID with a check digit.

The control unit 34 additionally sets the acquired approval request ID in the management file (step S14). That is, the control unit 34 sets the approval ID in the management file stored in the generated data storage unit 32.

The control section 34 performs hash calculation on the scanned image and additionally sets the obtained hash value and the like in the management file (step S15). That is, the control unit 34 performs a hash calculation on the image file (image data) stored in the generated data storage unit 32 according to a predetermined algorithm to obtain a uniquely obtained hash value. Then, the calculated hash value (including information that defines the hash calculation algorithm) is set in the management file stored in the generated data storage unit 32.

The control unit 34 encrypts the management file with its own private key and attaches the public key and the like to the management file (step S16). That is, the control unit 34 reads the secret key (secret key data) from the key data storage unit 31,
The entire management file stored in the generated data storage unit 32 is encrypted with this private key, and the public key (public key data) corresponding to the private key is attached with a certificate.

The control unit 34 supplies the image file and the management file to the originality assurance storage device 4 (step S
17). That is, the control unit 34 controls the generated data storage unit 3
The image file and the management file (including public key data) as shown in FIG. 4 generated in 2 are supplied to the originality assurance storage device 4 via the LAN 9.

Original management server 4 of originality assurance storage device 4
When the image file and the management file are sent from the scanner 3, the data No. 1 is stored in the original management DB 42. At that time, the original management server 41 compares the physical address stored in its own memory with the physical address of the scanner 3,
It is inspected that the scanner 3 is a device permitted to supply (write) image files and the like.

As described above, by the file generation process shown in FIG. 6, the images such as bills read by the scanner 3 (image files and management files) are automatically supplied to the originality assurance storage device 4. And is stored in the original management DB 42. This prevents different image files and the like from being erroneously transmitted to the originality assurance storage device 4. In addition, the person in charge cannot tamper with the image file or the like. As a result, the identity of the actual bill or receipt and the image file stored in the original document management DB 42 is guaranteed.

Next, the operation of the approval decision management device 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the linking process executed by the approval request management server 51, and FIG.
6 is a flowchart for explaining a decision making process executed by the first embodiment. First, the linking process shown in FIG. 7 will be described. The linking process is started after the image file and the management file sent from the scanner 3 are stored in the original document management DB 42 by the file generation process described above.

First, the approval management server 51 reads out the target management file from the originality assurance storage device 4 (step S21). That is, the approval request management server 51 sets the management file newly stored in the original management DB 42 to L
Read out via AN9. At that time, the original document management server 41 compares the physical address stored in its own memory with the physical address of the approval decision management device 5 (approval management server 51), and the approval management server 51 reads out the management file or the like. Check that the device is a licensed device.

The approval request management server 51 decrypts the read management file with the attached public key to obtain the approval request ID.
Etc. are acquired (step S22). That is, the approval request management server 51 decrypts the management file by using the public key data attached to the management file with the certificate. Then, the approval ID and the like included in the management file are acquired.

The approval request management server 51 acquires the approval request ID.
Using the key as a key, the corresponding approval request record is retrieved from the approval request management DB 52 (step S23). If the approval record cannot be retrieved, the approval management server 51
A predetermined error message is displayed on the display device or the like, and the linking process ends.

When the approval request record can be retrieved, the approval request management server 51 sets the file address in the retrieved approval request record and associates the approval request record with the image file (management file) (step S24). That is, the approval request management server 51 acquires the address of the image file (management file) stored in the original management DB 42 and sets the acquired file address in the area in the approval request record.

As described above, by the linking process shown in FIG. 7, the approval record stored in the approval management DB 52 and the image file (management file) stored in the original management DB 42 are automatically associated with each other. It Therefore, it is possible to reduce association errors and the like.

In the linking process shown in FIG. 7 described above, the approval management server 51 side mainly performs the linking. However, instead of the approval request management server 51, the original management server 41 performs the linking. Good.
For example, linking may be performed when the original management server 41 is sent from the image file and the management file from the scanner 3 in the above-described file generation process.

More specifically, the original document management server 41 stores the image file and the management file sent from the scanner 3 in the original document management DB 42, refers to this management file, and decrypts it with the attached public key. Get the approval ID. Then, the original document management server 41 searches the approval management DB 52 using the acquired approval ID as a key, and links to the corresponding approval record. Also in this case, the approval record stored in the approval management DB 52 and the image file (management file) stored in the original management DB 42 are automatically associated with each other. Therefore, it is possible to reduce association errors and the like.

Next, the approval process shown in FIG. 8 will be described. The approval process is started in response to the access from the administrator terminal 6 after the approval record and the image file (management file) are associated with each other by the above-described linking process.

First, the approval management server 51 determines that the approval management D
The target approval record is read from B52 (step S
31). That is, according to the instruction information sent from the administrator terminal 6, the approval request management server 51 reads out the approval request record from the approval request management DB 52.

The approval request management server 51 reads the target file from the originality assurance storage device 4 in accordance with the file address of the approval request record (step S32). That is, the image file (management file) associated by the above-described linking process is read from the original management DB 42 via the LAN 9. At that time, the original management server 41 compares the physical address stored in its own memory with the physical address of the approval decision management device 5 (approval management server 51), and the approval management server 51 sends an image file (management file). ) Check that the device is authorized to read.

The approval request management server 51 decrypts the read management file with the attached public key to obtain a hash value and the like (step S33). That is, that is, the approval management server 51 decrypts the management file by using the public key data attached to the management file with the certificate. Then, the hash value and the like included in the management file are acquired.

The approval request management server 51 calculates the hash value by performing hash calculation on the image of the image file (step S34). That is, the approval management server 51
Performs a new hash calculation on the image file read from the original management DB 42 in step S32.
Find a uniquely determined hash value.

The approval request management server 51 determines whether the hash values match (step S35). That is,
The approval request management server 51 determines whether the hash value acquired from the management file in step S33 matches the hash value newly acquired from the image file in step S34.

When the approval request management server 51 determines that the hash values do not match, it detects that the image file (image data such as an invoice) has been tampered with and notifies the tampering of the image file. Etc. are generated and supplied to the administrator terminal 6 (step S36). On the display device of the administrator terminal 6, the fact that falsification of the image file has been detected is displayed. Then, the approval request management server 51 ends the approval process without making the approval request.

On the other hand, when the approval request management server 51 determines that the hash values match, the approval request management server 51
It is confirmed that the image file has not been tampered with, the approval record is processed for display, and it is supplied to the administrator terminal 6 together with the image of the image file (image of bill or the like) (step S37). As a result, on the display device of the administrator terminal 6,
Images such as the details of the approval and the bill will be displayed.

The approval request management server 51 waits for execution of the subsequent process until the approval instruction is received (step S3).
8). That is, the officials who operate the administrator terminal 6
Examining the details of the approval and the image of the bill etc. displayed on the display device, and inputting the approval instruction for instructing the approval or rejection of the approval.

Upon receiving the approval instruction from the administrator terminal 6, the approval request management server 51 generates an approval record including the details of the approval result and stores it in the approval request DB 52 (step S39). That is, the approval management server 51
In accordance with the received approval instruction and the like, generates an approval record as shown in FIG. 5B and stores it in the approval management DB 52. With this approval record, a substantial approval decision is made.

As described above, according to the approval process shown in FIG.
The approval decision is made while detecting whether or not the image file (image such as a bill) stored in the original document management DB 42 has been tampered with. Then, the reliability of the approval process can be improved and the approval process can be speeded up. As a result, it is possible to properly approve the approval while guaranteeing the originality of the bill and receipt.

In the above embodiment, the scanner 3 acquires the approval request from the image of the approval request printed on the mount D by image recognition. However, the scanner 3 is the approval ID
The method of acquiring is arbitrary. For example, according to the instruction from the person in charge terminal 1, the approval decision management device 5 (approval management server 5
The approval ID may be directly sent from 1) to the scanner 3.

In the above embodiment, the approval decision management device 5 (approval management server 51) determines whether the hash value acquired from the management file matches the hash value newly acquired from the image file. , The presence or absence of falsification of the image file was detected. However, any device can be used to detect whether the image file has been tampered with. For example, each time the originality assurance storage device 4 (original copy management server 41) itself reads an image file from the original copy management DB 42, the same method may be used to detect the presence or absence of tampering with the image file.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the approval decision system for making the approval decision while guaranteeing the originality of the invoice, receipt, etc. has been described, but the information or the like for guaranteeing the originality is arbitrary.

[0083]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Approval can be properly made while guaranteeing the originality of invoices and receipts.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a approval decision system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram showing an example of a mount on which approval information is printed by a printer, and FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram showing an example of a mount to which a bill is attached. .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a scanner.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an image file, a management file, and the like that are generated by the control unit of the scanner and are temporarily stored in the generated data storage unit 32.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a record stored in the approval request DB, in which (a) is an approval request record;
(B) is a decision record.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a file generation process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a linking process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a settlement process according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional approval decision system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Person in charge terminal 2 printer 3 scanner 4 Originality assurance storage device 5 Approval decision management device 6 administrator terminal 9 LAN 31 key data storage unit 32 generated data storage unit 33 scan units 34 Control unit 35 LAN unit 36 timing unit 37 Device ID storage section 41 Original management server 42 Original database 51 Approval management server 52 Approval management DB

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading out image data of a document to be approved, together with approval identification information for identifying approval, and unique information for obtaining unique information which is uniquely determined according to the image data read by the image reading means. Information acquisition means, management data generation means for generating management data including the approval identification information read by the image reading means, and unique information acquired by the unique information acquisition means, and approval content for defining the content of approval Memorize information,
A storage unit that stores the image data read by the image reading unit and the management data generated by the management data generation unit in association with the target approval content information, and unique information from the image data stored in the storage unit. Is newly obtained, and a discriminating unit that discriminates a match with unique information included in the management data stored in the storage unit, and if the discriminating unit determines that the unique information matches, according to predetermined instruction information, An approval decision system comprising: an approval means for making an approval using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage means. 2. An approval request information generating unit for generating approval request information for defining approval request, and approval request identification information for identifying an approval request, which is associated with the approval request information generated by the approval request creating unit. And a printing unit that prints an image representing the approval request identification information generated by the approval request identification information generation unit onto a mount for pasting a document to be approved. The approval decision system according to claim 1. 3. The image reading means reads out the image data from the entire mount on which the document to be approved is pasted and the approval identification information is printed as an image, and the approval information printed on the mount is read. The approval decision system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein approval approval information is acquired from the image by image recognition. 4. The unique information acquisition means acquires a hash value that is uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read by the image reading means, and the management data generating means reads the image data. The management data including the approval identification information read by the means and the hash value acquired by the unique information acquisition means is encrypted and generated by a predetermined secret key, and the determination means is stored in the storage means. A hash value uniquely determined by hash calculation is newly obtained from the image data, and it is determined whether the hash value included in the management data obtained by decrypting the management data stored in the storage means with the public key matches. The approval decision system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein 5. A approval decision system in which an image reading device for reading out image data from a paper document, a storage device for saving various data, and a approval approval device for making approval of approval are connected via a predetermined network. In the image reading device, an image reading unit that reads the image data from the entire mount on which the document for approval is attached and the approval ID for identifying the approval is printed as an image, and the image reading unit reads the image data. An approval request ID obtaining means for extracting an approval request image from the image data and acquiring the approval request from the extracted image, and a hash value uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read by the image reading means. Hash value acquisition means for acquiring, approval request acquired by the approval request acquisition means, and the hash value acquisition procedure Management data generating means for generating management data including the hash value acquired by, the image data read by the image reading means, and the management data generated by the management data generating means, to the storage device via a network. And a receiving unit that receives the image data and the management data transmitted from the image reading device by the transmitting unit, and the image data and the management received by the receiving unit. Storage means for storing data, and a transmission means for reading the target image data and management data from the storage means according to a request from the approval decision device and transmitting the image data and management data to the approval decision device via a network. The approval requesting device includes an information storage unit for storing approval request content information that defines the approval request. The approval content information stored in the information storage means and the association means for associating the image data and the management data stored in the storage means in the storage device with the image data associated with the approval content information by the association means. On the other hand, a hash value that is uniquely determined by hash calculation is obtained, and a discriminating unit that discriminates the coincidence with the hash value included in the management data associated with the approval content information by the associating unit; When a match is determined, according to predetermined instruction information, the approval content information stored in the information storage unit and the approval unit for performing an approval using the image data stored in the storage unit in the storage device,
The approval system that is characterized by 6. The image reading apparatus further comprises key information storage means for storing in advance key information defining a secret key and a public key, and the management data generation means includes management data including a approval request and a hash value. Is generated by encrypting with the secret key stored in the key information storage means, and the approval decision device is configured such that the determination means performs a hash calculation on the image data associated with the approval content information by the association means. To obtain a hash value uniquely determined by, and determine whether the hash value included in the management data obtained by decrypting the management data associated with the approval content information with the corresponding public key by the associating unit. The approval decision system according to claim 5, wherein 7. The image data of the document subject to the approval is read together with the approval identification information for identifying the approval, the unique information which is uniquely determined according to the read image data, and the read approval identification information And the management data that includes the acquired unique information, and stores the read image data and the generated management data in a predetermined storage device that stores the approval content information that defines the content of the approval. Unique information newly stored from the stored image data, stored in association with the target approval information
According to the unique information included in the stored management data,
If it is determined that the stored image data has not been tampered with, and if it is determined that the stored image data has not been tampered with, the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage device are used according to predetermined instruction information. A system for approval of approval by the approval process. 8. An image reading step for reading out image data of a document to be approved together with approval identification information for identifying approval, and unique information uniquely determined according to the image data read in the image reading step. A unique information acquisition step of acquiring, approval information read in the image reading step, and a management data generation step of generating management data including the unique information acquired in the unique information acquisition step; A predetermined storage device that stores the approval request content information that defines the approval request, the image data read in the image reading step, and the management data generated in the management data generating step, the target approval request. A storage step of storing the content information in association with the content information, and unique information from the image data stored in the storage step. Is newly obtained, and a determination step of determining a match with unique information included in the management data stored in the storage step, and a determination of the unique information match in the determination step,
An approval decision method, comprising: an approval step for making approval using the approval content information and the image data stored in the storage device according to predetermined instruction information. 9. The image reading step reads image data from the entire mount on which a document to be approved is pasted and approval identification information is printed as an image, and
9. The approval decision method according to claim 8, wherein the approval approval information is acquired from the image of the approval approval information printed on the mount by image recognition. 10. The unique information acquisition step acquires a hash value uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read out in the image reading step, and the management data generation step comprises: The approval data read in the image reading step and the management data including the hash value acquired in the unique information acquisition step are encrypted and generated by a predetermined secret key, and the determination step is , Management data obtained by newly acquiring a hash value uniquely determined by hash calculation from the image data stored in the storing step and decrypting the management data stored in the storing step with a public key The determination method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a match with a hash value included in is determined. 11. A approval decision in a system in which an image reading device for reading image data from a paper document, a storage device for saving various data, and a approval decision device for making approval of approval are connected through a predetermined network. In the image reading device, an image reading step of reading image data from the entire mount on which a document to be approved is pasted and a approval ID for identifying the approval is printed as an image; and the image reading step. The image of the approval ID is extracted from the read image data, and the approval I is extracted from the extracted image.
An approval ID acquisition step of acquiring D, a hash value acquisition step of acquiring a hash value uniquely determined by a predetermined hash calculation for the image data read in the image reading step, and an approval ID acquisition step A management data generation step of generating management data including the approval request acquired in step S1 and the hash value acquired in the hash value acquisition step; image data read in the image reading step; A storage unit for transmitting the management data generated in the management data generation step to the storage device via a network, wherein the storage device stores the image data and the image data transmitted in the transmission step from the image reading device. A receiving step of receiving management data, image data received in the receiving step, and Storing the physical data in its own storage unit, and in accordance with a request from the approval decision device, the target image data and management data are read from the storage device stored in the aforementioned approval step, and the approval decision device is sent via the network. The approval requesting device stores the approval request information defining the approval request in the information storage device of the approval requesting device, and the approval request stored in the information saving step. Content information,
In the storage device, an associating step of associating the image data and the management data stored in the storing step with each other, and a hash value uniquely determined by hash calculation for the image data associated with the approval content information in the associating step. And a determining step of determining a match with a hash value included in the management data associated with the approval content information in the associating step, and a unique information match in the determining step,
According to predetermined instruction information, the approval content information stored in the information storing step, and a decision step of making a decision in the storage device using the image data stored in the storing step, characterized in that: How to approve approval.