JP2007233500A - Form output processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a function of a form output system, capable of selecting direct/center/batch output methods according to the size or amount of forms or the load, failure or the like of a form output system. <P>SOLUTION: In a form output device, a form output request is received from a client terminal 100, and a policy determination part 111 of a form output server 110 determines a policy that is a rule for determining an output method. An output method determination part 114 of the form output server 110 which receives the form output request collects static and dynamic information such as the size or quantity of a form and the load or failure of the form output system. The output method determination part 114 drives a suitable output method by combining the collected data with determined policy set information 113. For a failure in a network, a printer, or the like, the output method determination part 114 performs determination of output method again based on collected information for the system state. According to this, form output can be performed with an output method and output destination usable by the form output system. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to the setting of a form output processing method in form system technology.

  A computer system is generally called a form output system. The form output system is a system for printing a form corresponding to business contents on a screen or by a printer. Such a form output system may require various output methods when outputting a form according to business contents.

  In the form output system, the output method can be roughly classified into three patterns. Direct output method, center processing method and batch processing method. The direct processing method is a method of outputting on the spot from an output device (hereinafter referred to as an output destination) such as a printer or a screen in response to a user output request. The center output method is a two-stage output method that receives a user's temporary data storage request, stores the output data in the temporary data storage unit for various business reasons, and responds to output requests from the same or other users The output process is executed. The output destination corresponding to the center output method has a larger temporary data storage unit than the printer of only the direct output method, and can maintain the waiting state for the output request in a state where the output data is accumulated in the temporary data storage unit. it can. As an example of the center output method, there is a technique described in Patent Document 1.

  The last batch processing method is a kind of center output method, which receives a user's temporary data storage request, stores the output data in the temporary data storage unit, and arrives at a preset time or temporary data storage unit This is a method of making an output request using a batch program process as a trigger when a condition such as the amount of data stored in is satisfied.

  Usually, a form output system has an output method such as direct / center / batch. However, depending on the output destination, the center output method may not be supported because the temporary data storage unit is not provided.

  Patent Document 2 describes a system for setting an output destination by assigning a destination ID to each form format as a form output processing system. Furthermore, a system that automatically determines a print attribute based on a document attribute of print data is known (see Patent Document 3).

US Patent 6,819,440 JP-A-9-167067 JP-A-11-143657

  In a conventional general form output system, the form output destination and output method settings depend on the business application, and are integrated and fixed for each business application. Therefore, when developing a system that needed to implement multiple forms output methods, the function of the output method was added to each business application individually, which required more man-hours for development. In addition, when there is a change in business content or system status, it is necessary to add or change the output destination and output method. This was a very troublesome form output system that lacked flexibility in operation.

  When a plurality of form IDs are output using the same output method, a problem in development efficiency occurs.

  Consider the following example. As a result of the output process using the “inventory list” in the above example as a form, it was output by the direct output method. Another “sales voucher list” may be a direct output method with similar output processing results. At this time, although both forms are output in the same output method and output destination, since similar output processing functions are individually developed for each business application, unnecessary development costs are consumed.

  Furthermore, in this case, there is a problem of convenience for the user that the user cannot select an output method other than the output method pre-built in the business application.

  In order to alleviate such operational problems and user convenience problems, the form output system disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a specific printer as a mechanism for controlling the output method. Is stored in advance as an output destination, so that it is sufficient to change this association even when the usage environment changes, and a mechanism that eliminates the need for the user to specify the output destination. Disclose. However, when performing business, one output destination does not always correspond to a certain form format. For this reason, there is a demand for a mechanism for flexibly selecting an output destination from a plurality of output destinations even in one form format.

  In general, the direct output method is suitable for outputting a relatively small data size form, and the center output method is suitable for outputting a relatively large data size form. In the technique described in Patent Document 2, the output method is selected. Until is not considered. In this case, there is a problem that a mismatch between the form size and the output method occurs. This problem will be described below.

  For example, in the business of inventory, consider a case where the form format is “inventory list”. For corners of items that are often inventoried, a large inventory list form can be created. On the other hand, small-sized inventory forms can be created for the corners of items that are not subject to inventory. However, there is only one output destination and output method corresponding to the form format “inventory list”. Therefore, if the direct output method is fixed for a certain form according to the settings at the time of business application development, when outputting a large size form, it is output with a direct output method that is suitable for outputting a small form. If the center output method is set to a fixed value, the center output method is suitable for outputting a large size document even if it is a small size document output. It can be output and wait for output.

  Even if one step is advanced from the technique of Patent Document 2 and the user can select the output method, the user does not necessarily know the size of the form to be output and can select the appropriate output method. In other words, the following problems can occur. People who are actually taking inventory know which corners have more or less inventory. However, there is no guarantee that a person who executes the form output of the inventory list will always know whether there are many items to be inventoried or not, except for those who actually perform the inventory work. Then, in order to select an output method suitable for the form size, the person who executes the form output of the inventory list must guess the size of the form and set the output method.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 shows a print attribute determination unit that determines a print attribute by applying a print attribute determination rule that determines a print attribute based on a document attribute of a text to be printed, and a print unit that follows the print attribute determination unit.

  However, the following problems are not taken into consideration when the form output is performed by the system of Patent Document 3.

  In order to stabilize the form output system, it is necessary to dynamically determine the output method according to the system status. According to Patent Document 3, when a print attribute is determined, there are only default options other than that, and therefore output cannot be performed when a failure occurs.

  Furthermore, in a conventional general form output processing system, there is a technique of knowing at which stage and where it occurs when a failure occurs in the output destination. However, a system that uses this to control the output method is not known. Therefore, there is a risk that the output of the form output system stops when a failure occurs.

  For example, if a failure occurs in the output destination of the form output system that outputs the inventory list, the output destination corresponding to the center output method has a temporary storage location for the output form data, but it is newly allocated. If there is no temporary data storage location at the output destination, that is, as a result of trying to output to the output destination not compatible with the center output method by the center output method, there is a problem that the form cannot be output.

A form output device connected to a terminal device and a form output destination via a communication line, wherein the form output device outputs the form to the output destination and has an output method and a judgment condition for outputting the form. The method determination policy is stored in advance in the storage device in association with the form identification information for identifying the form of the form and the business identification information for identifying the business application executed on the terminal device. The form output request information having the business identification information is received from the terminal device, the output method determination policy is read from the storage device using the form identification information and the business identification information in the received form output request information as a key, and the read output method Judgment conditions for decision policies, output result data related to the history of form contents data of past forms, system status information indicating the status of output destinations, Or a form that outputs a form by an output method associated with a determination condition in which a result obtained by comparing a value extracted from any one of the form output request information is true in the output method determination policy. Output device.

  According to the present invention, the user can flexibly add or change the output destination and output method of a form in accordance with changes in business and situation by using a rule called policy setting information.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

<Overall system configuration>
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a form output system according to this embodiment. The client terminal 100 and the management terminal 130, the form output server 110 and the database server 120 are connected to each other by a local area network (LAN). The output destinations 150 and 160 are not limited to output devices such as printers and screens, but widely include electronic data files, electronic mail, FAX, and Web servers. “Output” means not only narrow output such as printing by a printer, display on a screen of a display device, but also saving to a storage device as an electronic data file, replying to a user of a client terminal by e-mail, e-mail It means file conversion such as transmission of mail to the server or transmission by FAX, uploading to the Web server.

  The configuration shown in FIG. 1 is an example. In the present invention, the existing technology can be used for the network configuration and protocol, and the configuration other than that shown in FIG. 1 is not limited. The contents of the present embodiment can be realized even if the network is a LAN or other information communication means. There may be a plurality of terminals / servers. In FIG. 1, the functional configuration blocks of the system are described separately as shown in FIG. 1 for convenience, but each block may be divided or integrated.

  The client terminal 100 may be a PC (personal computer) that handles a business application for a user to output a form or a terminal device conforming thereto, and includes a business application unit 101 and an output monitoring unit 103. The business application unit 101 and the output monitoring unit 103 can be implemented as programs, and these programs are loaded into the main storage device of the client device 100 and executed by the CPU of the client device 100.

  A business application program (hereinafter referred to as business application) running on the client terminal 100 stores a business ID for each business application. A user who uses the client terminal 100 outputs a form by using a business application. Each form is identified by a form ID for each form type.

  The form output server 110 is responsible for receiving a form output request from the client terminal 100, creating a form, determining an output method, and transmitting it to an output destination. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the form output server 110 includes a policy determination unit 111, an output method determination unit 114, a form creation unit 117, an output monitoring unit 119, a communication monitoring unit 140, and a primary data storage unit 118.

  FIG. 2 shows a hardware configuration example of the form output server 110. The form output server 110 may be a server computer, a PC, or the like, a CPU 215, a main storage device 220, a storage means 230 such as an external storage device, a communication means such as a NIC (network interface card) 240, an output of a monitor or the like. Means 250, input means such as a keyboard 260 and a mouse 270, and a bus 280 connecting them are provided.

  The external storage device 230 stores a policy setting information database 113, a system status information database 115, an application setting information storage unit 112, an output result storage unit 116, a temporary data storage unit 116, and a candidate area 290. However, this is only an example, and it is only necessary to read out these pieces of information as necessary, and it is not necessary that these databases and storage units are all present on the same external storage device. For example, these pieces of information may be stored on individual storage devices.

  The policy determination unit 111, the output method determination unit 114, the form creation unit 117, the output monitoring unit 119, and the communication monitoring unit 140 can be implemented as programs, and these programs are stored in the main storage device 220 of the form output server 110. It is loaded and executed by the CPU 215.

  The management terminal 130 is an apparatus equipped with an application for performing new registration / content change of policy setting information, management of environmental information data, and confirmation of system status / update of failure recovery information by an administrator. A management unit 131 is included. The management terminal 130 may be a PC or the like as long as it can edit the contents of the policy setting information database 113 stored in the database server 120 via the policy management unit 131. The management terminal 130 has a hardware configuration similar to that of the form output server 110 shown in FIG. 2, for example, and includes a CPU, a main storage device, an external storage device, communication means such as a NIC, output means such as a monitor, a keyboard, It is configured with an input means such as a mouse and can also be used as the client terminal 100. The policy management unit 131 can be implemented as an application program having a function of managing policy setting / environment information data. However, the policy management unit 131 only needs to have a policy setting function, and can be implemented as independent hardware.

  Hereinafter, a case where the business application unit 101, the output monitoring unit 103, the policy determination unit 111, the output method determination unit 114, the form creation unit 117, the output monitoring unit 119, the policy management unit 131, and the communication monitoring unit 140 are implemented by programs will be described. However, it need not be implemented by a program. Each unit may be implemented as independent hardware as long as the functions described below can be realized.

  Each process is actually executed by a CPU that operates in accordance with various programs. In the following description, in order to simplify the description, each part implemented as a program is described as an operating entity in the processing flow of each part.

<Outline of processing of form output system>
An outline of processing performed by each terminal / server of the form output system will be described. Details of each processing unit will be described later.

  The user instructs “start output” on the client screen 1300 using the input device of the client terminal 100. The client terminal 100 transmits (1) business ID and form ID for policy setting information for determining the output method, (2) application setting information for determining the output method, and an output request to the form output server 110. . Hereinafter, the contents of the policy determination table 200 and the output method determination rule table 201 are collectively referred to as policy setting information.

  The form output server 110 receives (1) a form business ID and form ID, (2) application setting information and an output request from the client terminal 100, and passes the business ID and form ID to the policy determination unit 111. The form output server 110 stores application setting information in the application setting information storage unit 112. The form output server 110 performs a process of outputting a form based on information stored in the policy setting information database 113 through a series of processes described in detail later. The policy determination unit 111 selects (4) an applicable policy from the business ID and form ID received from the client terminal 100 and (3) the policy determination table 200 read from the policy setting information database 113, and sends it to the form creation unit 117. send.

  An application policy is a collection of output determination conditional expressions 602 for determining an output method. The application policy is determined according to the type of form corresponding to the form ID and the type of work corresponding to the work ID. Each application policy is stored in the policy setting information database 113 in association with the output method determination conditional expression 602 and the application priority. As a variable of each output method determination conditional expression 602, there is “average output data” or the like that represents the load status of the output destination.

  The output method determination unit 114 reads the content of the selected (5) application policy from the output method determination rule table 201 of the policy setting information database 113, and the content of the read policy and (6) “application setting information”, ( 7) Based on “system status information” and (8) “output record data”, (9) determine the output destination, output format, and output method, and pass them to the form creation unit 117.

  The form creation unit 117 obtains (11) business information data, which is data to be inserted into the form, from the business information DB 121 and creates a form. At this time, the capacity and elapsed time of the form content data created for each form ID are stored in the output record storage unit 116 as (10) output record data. The form creation unit 117 that has created the form sends the form to the output destination according to the determined output method. In the case of the direct output method, the form creation unit 117 sends the output data ((12), (14)) to the direct output method corresponding output destination 160 via the output monitoring unit 103 in the client terminal 100. In the case of the center system, the form creation unit 117 temporarily stores the output data (14) in the temporary data storage unit in the form output server 110, and monitors the output in the form output server 110 according to a predetermined trigger. The output data ((15), (16) is passed to the center output method compatible output destination 150 via the unit 119.

  The administrator operates the policy determination table information 200 and the output method determination rule table information 201 in the policy setting information database 113 using the screen of the management terminal 130 (1600 in FIG. 16 and 1700 in FIG. 17). Details of the screen will be described later. The management terminal 130 or an administrator who operates the management terminal 130 has an authority to access and change policy setting information.

Also, the management terminal 130 or an administrator who operates the management terminal 130 has the authority to access, edit, and view the current system status information when creating a new policy or when a failure occurs.
<Data structure of various tables in the form output system>
Hereinafter, data handled by each terminal / server in the present embodiment will be described. The data used in the present embodiment is roughly five, that is, a policy setting information database 113, an application setting information storage unit 112, an output result storage unit 116, a system status information database 115, and a business information database 121.

  In this embodiment, information called policy setting information is managed. The policy setting information is information serving as a reference for determining a form output method in relation to the situation of various surrounding systems. This policy setting information includes a criterion for determining which policy is applied to one form, and a criterion for selecting an output method based on an output method determination conditional expression 602 that uses system status and performance data.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the policy setting information database 113 located in the form output server 110 includes two types of data tables. One is a policy determination table 200 for determining a policy from a form ID and a business ID, and the other is an output method determination consisting of a group of output method candidates to be applied when a condition matches a judgment condition expression of each policy. This is the rule table 201. The former is used by the policy determining unit 111 and the latter is used by the output method determining unit 114. Details of how these processing units are used will be described later.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the policy determination table 200, and the data structure will be described. The policy determination table 200 includes a business ID 510 that identifies the function of the business application in the business application unit 101 of the client terminal 100, a form ID 520 that uniquely identifies the type of the form, and an application policy name 530 that is a rule for determining the output method. Is provided.

  In this embodiment, for simplicity of explanation, the name of the business application (business name) is used as the business ID, and the name of the business format (form name) is used as the business form ID. Things can be used. In the interface with the user, the business name or form name is used, and such an identification code can be used internally. The business ID and the business name, and the business ID and the business name may be converted to each other by using an appropriate conversion table in the business form output server 10.

  The name of the application policy may be any information as long as it can uniquely identify the application policy. By registering and changing the policy setting information expressed in this table according to the business content, it is possible to realize a form output method independent of the business application.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the output method determination rule table 201, and the data configuration will be described. The output method determination rule table 201 includes an application policy name 601, an output method determination conditional expression 602 that is a conditional expression expressed by a variable (item), a comparison value, and an equality / inequality comparison operator, an output method determination conditional expression When the condition 602 is satisfied, an output method candidate 603 that is a candidate for an output method, and a priority 604 when the output method candidate 603 is finally selected as an output method.

  In the output method determination conditional expression, a condition variable (item) is set to system status information 115 including an average output data amount and failure information calculated from application setting information 112 and output result data 116 described later. The comparison value is associated with a constant such as a numerical value or a true / false value. The output method determination conditional expression 602 is associated with items such as the output method candidate 603 and the priority order 604 of the determination expression. The output method determination conditional expression 602 cannot use the same expression within the same application policy. Further, it is assumed that there are no output method candidates having the same priority in the same policy. The output method determination conditional expression 602 does not use the same expression. It is also assumed that there are no output method candidates having the same priority.

  The business information database 121 linked with the form creation server 110 has master data of form data to be output.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the data configuration of the application setting information. The application setting information stored in the application setting information storage unit 112 is comparison value data used when applying a policy set on the business application side before starting output of a form in the client terminal 100. The application setting information represents an application setting information ID 701 that uniquely identifies the application setting information, an emergency output 702 indicating the urgency of output, an output format 703 such as a print / mail / file, a device scheduled as an output destination, and the like. Output destination 704, output destination candidate 705 that is a candidate for an alternative output destination when the output destination 704 cannot be used for some reason, and an output destination fixing option that indicates that the output destination is fixed regardless of circumstances such as failure of the output destination 705. The set information is used in the determination of the output method using the determination condition formula 602 of the data in the policy setting information database 113.

  For example, the judgment condition formula 602 is “emergency = yes / no”, “output format = printer (PDL / PS2) / file (PDF / TIFF / JPG) / mail (MIME) / text (TEXT / CSV)” or “default”. This can be used in the case of a judgment condition expression such as “output destination = printer / display / mail server / web site / folder” or “output destination candidate = printer / display / mail server / web site / folder”. The output destination candidate 705 will be described as being fixed in advance for each business application in the form server 110, but if it is set from the setting screen 1300 of the client terminal 100 or the setting screen of the management terminal 130, the system It is possible to deal more flexibly with changes and the like.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the data structure of the output record data stored in the output record storage unit 116. The output result data is data of history information accumulated when data for a form is generated on a form data generation server (not shown).

  The history information will be described. The form is created by combining the form format and the business information in the business information database 121. By calculating average output data 802 representing the average data size of the form contents file created by extracting the data from the business information database 121 synthesized in the past form format. In general, it is possible to know which data size a certain form has in general. In the output method determination unit 114, the average output data 802 is calculated using the form ID as a key, and is collected for determining the output destination. The output record data has a form ID 801 and average output data 802.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of the data configuration of the business information database 121. The business information database 121 stores data that is combined with a form format to form a form. For example, it has an application date 901, a name 902, and an address 903.

  The system status information stored in the system status information storage unit 115 is obtained by the output monitoring units (104 and 119) collecting the output destination information 210 and the network information 211 regarding the network status. Information related to the output destination and the network load to the output destination and the failure are used by the output method determination unit for the output method determination conditional expression 602 and the failure processing.

  FIG. 10 shows a data configuration example of the output destination information 210. The output destination information 210 includes the output destination 1001, which is the identification information of the output destination device, the output format 1002, the output destination network address 1003, whether or not it corresponds to the center output method, and the maximum output data allowed by the output destination. Output destination maximum allowable amount 1005 that is a quantity, output destination load 1006 that is a load currently applied to the output destination, and failure information 1007 that represents a situation such as a failure in the output destination.

  FIG. 11 shows a data configuration example of the network information 211. A network name 1101 for identifying a network, an “output destination that exists in the network” 1102 that associates each network with an output destination that exists in the network, a line state 1103 that indicates a connection state of the network, and failure information that indicates a failure state of the network 1104.

  FIG. 12 shows a data configuration example of the candidate area 290. The candidate area 290 includes an output destination 1201, an output format 1202, an output method candidate 1203, and a priority 1204 for selecting each candidate.

The overall configuration of the form output processing system of the present invention has been described above.
<Specific example of processing of form output system>
Next, based on FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a specific example of the processing of the form output system in the company inventory will be described.

  In this example, the user is a company system equipment operation manager, and the administrator is a form output system manager. The business will be an inventory of internal infrastructure. The business application to be used is “inventory”.

  First, when designing the form output system of this example, the administrator newly registers and sets policy setting information as a reference for determining an output method, and stores it in the external storage device 230 in advance.

  The user activates the business application from the client terminal 100 and requests output of the form ID “inventory list”. Upon receiving the request, the business application sends a business ID “inventory” and a form ID “inventory list” to the form output server 110.

  The client terminal 100 may send the application setting information 112 to the form output server 110 at the timing of this output request, or may send it to the form output server 110 at an appropriate timing in advance. The form output server 110 stores the received application setting information 112 in association with the application setting information ID 701. In this embodiment, the application setting information storage unit 112 is described as being located in the external storage device 230, but may be stored in the main storage device 220.

  In order for the form server 110 to read the application setting information 112 set by the client terminal 100, the application setting information ID 701112 is notified to the client terminal 100 in advance, and the client terminal 100 uses the application setting information ID 701 to notify the application setting information ID 701. Is specified as appropriate. Alternatively, the form output server 110 may store the client terminal 100 and the application setting information ID 701 in association with each other, and read the application setting information 112 according to the client terminal that has issued the output request.

  When the form output server 110 receives the data, it passes it to the policy determination unit 114. The policy determination unit 114 determines a policy to be applied by referring to the policy setting information 113 set by the administrator with the business ID “product A inventory” and the form ID “inventory list” as keys (301). Since the policy corresponds to a plurality of business IDs and form IDs, even if the business applications are the same, different policies may be determined. According to the figure, this time's policy applies “inventory overall output policy”.

  The output method determination (302) processing by the output method determination unit will be described with reference to FIG. First, a candidate area 290 for storing output method candidates is initialized (401). It is determined whether the output destination fixing option 705 is ON (402). The output destination fixing option 705 is “ON” when the change of the output destination is not permitted even if a failure has occurred in the output destination. If the output destination fixing option 705 is ON, the process proceeds to step 406.

  When the output destination fixed option 705 is OFF, the output destination information 210 is acquired from the system status information database 115 (403). If the output destination is in operation, the process proceeds to step 406. If the output destination is not in operation, another output destination is selected from the output destination candidates 404, and the process returns to step 403 (404).

  In step 406, the policy output method determination rule table information 201 determined by the policy determination unit 111 is expanded on the memory (406).

  It is checked whether there is an output method determination conditional expression 602 that has not been determined yet (407).

  If there is an output method determination conditional expression 602 that has not been determined, the system status information 115 application setting information 112 and output result data 116 required by the output method determination conditional expression 602 are read (408), and determination is made (409) ). If the determination condition expression 602 is satisfied (step 409: YES), the output method candidate 603 corresponding to the output method determination condition expression 602 is stored in the candidate area 290 (411). Thereafter, the process returns to the determination of the presence / absence of the undetermined output method determination conditional expression 602 (step 407). If not satisfied (step 409: NO), the process returns to the determination (step 407) as to whether or not there is an undetermined output method determination conditional expression 602.

  When there is no undetermined output method determination conditional expression 602 (step 407: None), a default output method candidate is stored in the candidate area 290 (411). The default output method candidate has the lowest priority. A default output method is predetermined for each business application, for example.

  Finally, the output method candidate 1203 having the highest priority 1204 in the candidate area 2 is determined as the current “output method”.

  The processing method of the output method determination unit 111 described in FIG. 4 is an example. Besides, a method of selecting another policy instead of the output method candidate corresponding to the output method determination conditional expression 602 and performing the processing again, or the same priority order can be given to the output method candidates. When it becomes the first, the method of selecting the next highest output method candidate can be considered.

  Hereinafter, the processing of the output method determination unit 111 will be described with a specific data example. The form ID is “inventory list”, the business ID is “product A inventory”, and the policy determined by the policy determination unit 114 is “total inventory output”. The output method determination rule table information 201 is sorted in the priority order. The application setting information ID 701 is “11111111”.

  First, the candidate area 290 is initialized (401). Since the output destination fixing option 706 is OFF, the process proceeds to step 403 (402). It is determined whether the output destination is in operation (405). Since the output destination 704 of the application setting information 112 is “PR01” and the data of “PR01” in the output destination information 210 is read, the failure information 1007 is “standby” and “PR01” is in operation, so step 406 Proceed to In this example, the application setting information ID 701 is “11111111”, but if the application setting information ID 701 is “222222222”, the output destination 704 is “PR02” and the failure information 1007 of the output destination information 210 is “ Since it is “paper jam error” and not in operation (step 405: NO), other output destinations are sequentially selected from the output destination candidates 705 of the application setting information 112 (404).

  The output method determination rule table information 201 is expanded on the memory (406). The “inventory entire output policy” includes an output method determination conditional expression 602 with priorities 1 to n and an output method candidate 603 corresponding thereto. Since the determination using the output method determination conditional expression 602 has not been performed yet, the output method determination conditional expression 602 is read sequentially from the top this time (407: present).

  In the output method determination rule table information 201, the output method determination conditional expression 602 in the first column corresponding to the entire inventory output policy is “emergency = present”. When the application setting information 112 is read (408), “emergency output = none” is displayed. Therefore, this output method determination conditional expression 602 is not satisfied (409: NO). The next output method determination conditional expression 602 that has not yet been determined is read.

  The next output method determination conditional expression 602 is “output destination load <100%”. Looking at the output destination load of the output destination information 210 of the system status information 115, the load of PR01 (= output destination load 1006 / maximum allowable output destination 1005) is less than 100%. Therefore, the center output method of the output method candidate 603 with the priority 2 is stored in the candidate area 290 (410). Then, the next unjudged output method judgment conditional expression 602 is read (407).

  The next output method determination conditional expression 602 is “output destination = PR01”. When the application setting information 112 is read (408), PR01 is designated as the output destination 704 (409: YES). Therefore, the output method candidate 603 having the priority 3 is stored in the candidate area 290 (410).

  Here, the information PR01 is the application setting information 112, but such information may not be set in the application setting information 112 (NULL is set). The output method determination conditional expression 602 for those not set is treated as not being satisfied. Therefore, in this case, the output method determination conditional expression 602 is not satisfied.

  The above is repeated, and when the output method determination conditional expression 602 disappears, the output method determination conditional expression 602 refers to “none” (407: none). The output method candidate “direct output method” with the priority n (n is the number with the lowest priority) is stored in the candidate area 290 (411).

  Among the output method candidates in the candidate area 290, “priority 2, center output method” having the highest priority is selected as the output method (412).

  This time, the output destination set in the application setting information 112 is “PR01”. First, it is confirmed that it is within the output destination candidate of the application setting information storage unit 112. Next, with reference to the output destination information 210 from the system status database, it is confirmed whether the output destination corresponds to the “center output method” selected this time. Since this time is within the output restriction and the output destination also corresponds to the center output method, PR01 is set as the output destination.

  For the determination of the output destination, it is possible to select a stricter output destination by providing output destination restrictions for each output method such as the direct output method and the center output method, for each floor, and for each network. The above is the description of the output method determination unit 114.

  Returning to FIG. 3, the description will be continued. After the output method is determined, the form output server 110 uses the form creation unit 117 to create a form to be output (303). The form creation unit 117 accesses the business information database 121. The form creation unit 117 extracts the data requested by the form format from the business information database 121 as form content data to be output. This data is not only for the form to be output, but also the average of the data contents of the form contents data is calculated and recorded as the output result data 116. By leaving the history information, the output method determination conditional expression 602 is output when the next form is output. use. The form creation unit 117 creates a form from the received data.

  The form creation unit 117 creates a “form” by combining the form format selected in the business application with the form content data extracted for the form. The form creation unit 117 passes the form to the center output method compatible output destination 150 via the output monitoring unit 119 according to the determined form output method. Alternatively, the data is directly transferred to the output destination 160 corresponding to the output method via the output monitoring unit 103 (305). According to this example, since the output method is determined as the center output method, the form creation unit 117 passes the form to the temporary data storage unit 119. If a printer is specified as the output destination, the printer prints. If another electronic data format is specified, the electronic file is output to the screen. In this embodiment, since the output destination is PR01 in the output format printing, the form is printed from the printer.

  The output monitoring unit 119 monitors whether the form has been output as scheduled. If it fails, the output destination error information is written in the system status database 115 as the output destination information 210.

  The above is the form output process.

<Setting / information change procedure>
Next, setting / information changing procedures when policy setting or environment information is changed will be described through the transition between the client terminal screen and the management terminal screen.

  The form output setting in the client terminal 100 will be described using the screen configuration diagrams of FIGS. 13, 14, and 15.

  FIG. 13 shows an example of the form output setting screen 1300. In the client terminal 100, when the user performs an output operation through a business application, the client terminal 100 displays an output setting screen 1300. The purpose of this screen is to select a form to be output and start the form output process. The output setting screen 1300 includes an output form name 1301, an output format 1302, an output destination 1303, an emergency output check box 1304 for inputting the necessity of emergency output, and an output destination fixing for setting ON / OFF of an output destination fixing option. A graphical user interface for creating “application setting information” such as a check box 1305 is provided. This screen is an example, and a plurality of items related to “application setting information” can be set. When the output start button 1306 is depressed, the screen moves to a confirmation screen (1400). The client terminal 100 passes the application setting information, the business ID, and the form ID to the form output server 110. In the application setting information, an output format 703, an output destination 704, an emergency output 702, and an output destination fixing option 706 are an output format 1302, an output destination 1303, an emergency output check box 1304, and an output destination fixed check box on the form output setting screen 1300, respectively. 1305).

  FIG. 14 shows an example of a form output confirmation screen 1400. The form output confirmation screen 1400 is for the user to confirm the output destination, output format, output method, and scheduled output time determined by the form output server 110. The displayed information is transmitted from the form output server 110 to the client terminal 100 after the output method is determined and before the form is created. If there is no problem with the displayed content 1401, the selection of the “Yes” button 1402 is accepted from the user, and a transition is made to the output method notification screen 1500.

  If the displayed content is not in accordance with the user's intention, the selection of the “No” button 1403 is accepted from the user, the output method determination conditional expression 602 is determined again, and another output pattern is displayed. . When re-determination is performed, the client terminal 100 transmits information indicating that re-determination is requested to the form output server 110. The form output server 110 transmits, to the client terminal 100, the output method candidate having the second highest priority after the previously determined output candidate among the candidates in the candidate area 290. However, the form output server 110 can also transmit a plurality of output method candidates 1203 stored in the candidate area 290 to the client terminal 100. In this case, the candidate list is displayed on the output confirmation screen 1400, and the user Can be accepted.

  In the output confirmation screen 1400, when the user selects the “Cancel” button 1404, the form output process is terminated.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of the output method notification screen 1500. The output method notification screen 1500 is a screen that the client terminal 100 displays when the form output method is determined. Reference numeral 1501 displays the determined form output method. When a “close this screen” button 1502 is pressed, the screen 1500 is closed. Close, but execute the output process. When a “view determination log” button 1503 is pressed, the result of matching / mismatching of the output method determination conditional expression 602 can be viewed.

  When a “cancel” button 1504 is pressed, the output command displayed on the screen can be canceled. In order to display the determination log on the client terminal 100, the form output server 110 stores in advance the determination result of the output method determination condition expression 602 as a determination log in the main storage device 220 or the like for each determination condition expression 602. The determination log may be transmitted at the timing when the information on the output confirmation screen 1400 is transmitted to the client terminal 100.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a policy setting flow in the management terminal 130. Hereinafter, the flow of policy setting by the management terminal 130 will be described with reference to FIG. 18 while referring to the examples of the management terminal screens of FIGS. 16 and 17 as appropriate.

  The management terminal 130 displays the policy determination table information setting screen 1600 on the display screen of the management terminal 130 (1801). In displaying the display screen, the information of the policy determination table 200 is read from the policy setting information database 113 and displayed on the display screen in the format of the table 1601. If no policy decision table 200 has been created, a blank table 1601 is displayed on the display screen without being read from the policy setting information database 113.

  FIG. 16 shows an example of the policy determination table information setting screen 1600. The policy determination table information setting screen 1600 is a screen for determining which form ID and business ID should be combined with an existing policy.

  The management terminal 130 inputs the setting of the policy determination table information by receiving input from the user such as a keyboard to the table 1601 (1802). When the “end” button 1604 on the screen 1600 is selected (1803: end), the policy setting process is ended.

  When a “registration / change” button 1602 on the screen 1600 is selected (1803: registration / change), the policy determination table information is transmitted to the form output server 110, and the policy determination table 200 of the policy setting information database 113 is updated ( 1804). When an “output method determination condition expression setting” button 1603 on the screen 1600 is selected (1803: output method determination condition expression setting), the process proceeds to step 1805 to display the output method determination rule table information setting screen 1700 (1805). In displaying the output method determination rule table information setting screen 1700, the output method determination rule table 201 is read from the policy setting information database 113 (1805).

  FIG. 17 shows an example of the output method determination rule table information setting screen 1700. The output method determination rule table information setting screen 1700 is a screen for setting an output method determination conditional expression 602 inside each policy. It is possible to accept selection of a policy to be edited from the user via the policy item list 1701 and edit the output method determination conditional expression 602 corresponding to the selected policy in the table 1702. When a policy different from the currently displayed policy is selected (1806: YES), the output method determination rule table 201 is read and displayed using the newly selected policy as a key (1805).

  “New policy” exists as an option in the policy item list 1701. When creating and registering a new policy, the user selects “new policy”, inputs an output method determination conditional expression 602 into the table 1702, and presses a registration button 1703.

  In response to selection of the registration button 1703 (1807: registration / change), a “save as” dialog box is displayed on the screen. In the case of a new policy, a set of a plurality of output method determination condition expressions 602 is named and saved as one policy. A transition is made to the policy determination table information setting screen 1600, and a combination of a form ID and a business ID is set for a newly registered policy. If it is not a new policy, overwrite it.

  These screens are examples of the policy management screen, and there are no problems regarding the number of items to be displayed and the arrangement as long as the policy setting information can be edited without omission.

  In addition, the management terminal can display a screen for displaying system status information to be used as a reference value for creating a judgment condition expression when a failure is recovered or a policy is newly created.

  As described above, the form output processing system can automatically determine the form output processing method that matches the output situation from the policy. Since the user can manage the form on a business unit basis according to the present invention, it is not necessary to change the form output system corresponding to the business change. Since another form output processing method can be covered without developing a business application, it is possible to contribute to the reduction of man-hours in the development of a form output processing system. In addition, a form output system is provided that can output a form safely and reliably by making a policy decision again even when a failure occurs at the output destination.

  The above embodiment can be paraphrased as follows.

  First, the user requests the start of form output from the business application unit 101 in the client terminal 100. Upon receiving this output request, the client terminal 100 passes the business application ID and the form form 102 ID to the policy determination unit 111 in the form output server 110. The policy determination unit 114 in the form output server 110 uses the business ID for identifying the business application and the form ID for identifying the form to create a policy corresponding to the business to be compared with the policy in the policy setting information database 113. Obtained using the decision table information 200. The policy acquired at this time gives the correspondence between the system status determination condition and the output method for the specific job and the specific form.

  The output method determination unit 114 determines the output method determination conditional expression 602 in the policy acquired by the above processing. In this determination, necessary data is collected from the application setting information storage unit 112, the application setting information 112, the system status information database 115, and the output record storage unit 116, and the output method determination unit 114 outputs the policy setting information output method determination rule table. To determine the output destination and output method.

  The form creation unit 117 creates a form based on the business information from the business form database 121 and the business information database 121 of the database server 120. The form creation unit 117 sends the form data to the output destination determined by the output method determination unit. In the middle, the output data is obtained through the output monitoring unit 103 or 119 that monitors the failure of the output destination and the network state up to the output destination.

  As described above, this embodiment realizes a form output system that can select a plurality of output methods corresponding to external information such as system status by realizing policy setting information and processing using the policy setting information.

  In this embodiment, simple output processing of a user is performed by performing batch management of form output processing by policy and using three types of information of “application setting information”, “output result data”, and “system status information” described later. Management and response to changes in business.

  By managing the form output process according to the policy, it is possible to change the output method according to the change even if the business contents change. It is possible to reduce the man-hours for developing additional functions of the form output system that accompanies changes in business without depending on the user application.

  In addition, even when a failure occurs when failure information is acquired using a known method such as communication monitoring 140, the form output system can control the output method using the policy setting information and the failure information.

  The reprocessing procedure when a failure occurs on the system after the output method is determined will be described with reference to FIG. Usually, the data of the output method determination rule table information is read, and the output method determination unit determines the output method. In the output process, the form creation unit 117 reaches the “output monitoring unit” via communication such as a network and outputs the form.

  Fault detection points that can be assumed after the output method is determined are “form creation” 303 for creating a form from the data shown in FIG. 3, “send to output destination” 305 such as a network, and the status of the output destination. “Output monitoring” 307 or 119 is assumed to be three places. If a failure occurs at these three locations, the output process updates the failure information in the system status information 115 and reports the failure to the terminal that issued the output command (310). The person who has received the report notifies the system administrator of the failure report (311). Upon receiving the notification, take measures against the failure. The administrator confirms the completion of the failure recovery work (312). The administrator updates the status information from the administrator terminal (313). The system status information that is restored is not applied to the output command that has entered the processing of the output method determination unit before the update.

  A specific example will be described with examples of information collected at the output method determination unit (when a failure occurs). Referring to the system status information 115, a failure has occurred in the output destination printer “PR02” this time. The output method determination conditional expression 602 that refers to the information of the output destination in which a failure has occurred in the failure information item becomes invalid. When the same application policy “entire inventory output” as in the first embodiment is selected and the third priority “output destination = PR01” is “output destination = PR02”, for example, this output The method judgment conditional expression is invalid.

  As a countermeasure against the failure, the system status information 115 can be viewed from the management terminal 130. The location where the failure has occurred can be determined from the system status information 115. The administrator takes recovery measures for the failed part. After confirming the completion of the recovery work, the administrator updates the system status information from “failure” to “normal”.

It is a figure which shows an example of the whole schematic diagram of the form output system of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the form output server of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the flowchart of the process in the form output server of this invention. An example of a flowchart of output method determination processing of the present invention It is a figure which shows an example of the policy determination table of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output system determination rule table of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the application setting information of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output performance data of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the business information database of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output destination information of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the network information of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output system determination rule table of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the form output setting screen of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output confirmation screen of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing system notification screen of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the policy determination table information setting screen of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the output method determination rule table information setting screen of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the policy setting flow of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

110: form server, 100: client terminal, 130: management terminal, 111: policy determining unit, 114: output method determining unit, 117: form creating unit, 119: output monitoring unit, 140: communication monitoring unit, 113: policy Setting information database 115: System status information database 112: Application setting information storage unit 116: Output result storage unit 290: Candidate area

Claims (6)

In the form output device connected to the terminal device and the output destination of the form via a communication line, comprising a communication device, a storage device, and a processing device, and outputting the form to the output destination,
The storage device identifies a plurality of sets of output methods and determination conditions for outputting the form, form identification information for identifying the format of the form, and business application executed on the terminal device Stored in association with business identification information for
The determination condition includes an item to be compared, a comparison operator, and a value to be compared.
The communication device receives form output request information including the form identification information and the business identification information from the terminal device,
The processor is
Using the form identification information and the business identification information in the received form output request information as key information, obtain the determination condition from the storage device,
The processor is
The item to be compared in the acquired determination condition is stored in the storage device, output record data that is history information acquired when a form was output in the past, system status information indicating the state of the output destination, Obtained from the business setting data that specifies the output method and the output destination included in any one of the form output requests,
The processing apparatus outputs a form by an output method paired with a determination condition in which a comparison result between the acquired item to be compared and the value to be compared is true according to the comparison operator. A form output device. In the form output device according to claim 1,
The storage device stores the form identification information and the business identification information in association with policy identification information for identifying a policy that is a set of the determination conditions, and
By associating and storing a plurality of determination conditions in the same policy identification information, the form identification information and the business identification information are associated with the determination conditions,
The storage device stores rank information that does not overlap between determination conditions associated with the same policy identification information,
A form output device characterized in that the comparison processing is performed in descending order. The form output device according to claim 2 is further connected to a business information database,
In the creation of the form, the processing device creates a form by combining the data of the form format and a file storing the data items necessary for the creation of the form, read from the business information database,
The output result data is stored in the storage device for each form output request having the same form ID and business ID, and the data size of a file storing data items necessary for creating the form,
In the system status information, the processing device acquires the load information, name, and system date and time of the output destination, and stores the acquired information for each identification information of the output device in the storage device. A form output device characterized by that. The form output device according to claim 3, further comprising an output data storage unit for storing data in a format that can be output by the output destination,
The output method is a direct output method or a center output method,
In the direct output method, the processing device outputs data in the form output format to the output destination in response to an input of the form output request by the user,
In the center output method, the processing apparatus stores the output format data of the form in response to an input of information requesting the user to save the output format data of the form in the output data storage unit. When the processing apparatus stores the output data storage unit in the apparatus and receives the input of the information requesting to output the output format data to the output destination or when a predetermined time arrives, the processing apparatus Read the stored output format data from the output data storage unit, output to the output destination,
Candidates for outputting a form to the output destination include printing by a printer, replying as an electronic form to a terminal operated by a user of the system, sending as an electronic form to a mail server,
By providing an upload to a web server,
A form output device characterized by providing a plurality of output methods and a plurality of output destinations as options. In the form output device according to claim 4,
When obtaining a plurality of information for determining the output destination,
If a failure has occurred in the output destination with the highest priority as a result of acquiring the failure information of the communication line or the output destination and collecting the failure information, an output different from the output destination in which the failure has occurred A form output device characterized by reselecting the destination and output method. A form output method in a form output device that is connected to a terminal device and an output destination device via a communication line, includes a communication device, a storage device, and a processing device, and outputs a form to the output destination device.
The storage device identifies a plurality of sets of output methods and determination conditions for outputting the form, form identification information for identifying the format of the form, and business application executed on the terminal device Stored in association with business identification information for
The determination condition includes an item to be compared, a comparison operator, and a value to be compared.
The communication device receives form output request data including the form identification information and the business identification information from the terminal device,
The processor is
Using the form identification information and the business identification information in the received form output request data as key information, obtaining the determination condition from the storage device,
The processor is
The item to be compared in the acquired determination condition is stored in the storage device, output history data that is history information acquired when a form was output in the past, system status information indicating the state of the form output system, Obtained from the information related to the output method and the output destination device included in any one of the form output requests,
The processing apparatus outputs a form by an output method paired with a determination condition in which a comparison result between the acquired item to be compared and the value to be compared is true according to the comparison operator. A form output method.

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