JP2008078819A - Paper processing apparatus and paper processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper processing apparatus and a paper processing system for controlling a processing operation at the time of re-inputting printed paper, and capable of electronically establishing the propriety of processing to the printed paper at an arbitrary time of a need and restricting according to setting to control an operation to a paper document when actual paper is read according to the setting. <P>SOLUTION: The paper processing apparatus for processing paper comprises an operation interpretation portion 103, a paper information management portion 110, a printing portion 109, and a paper control portion 106. The operation interpretation portion 103 sets processing determination information for each paper. The processing determination information is information indicative of propriety for the execution of predetermined processing to paper. The paper information management portion 110 receives the processing determination information and performs management for the information. The printing portion 109 records a code 702 (identification) matched with the processing determination information acquired from the paper information management portion 110 on paper. The paper control portion 106 reads the code 702 currently recorded on the inputted paper, and determines the propriety of the execution of predetermined processing according to the processing determination information corresponding to the code 702 managed by the paper information management portion 110, when the predetermined processing is performed to the inputted paper. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper processing apparatus and a paper processing system, and more particularly to a paper processing apparatus and a paper processing system that control processing operations when re-inputting printed paper.

  In recent years, electronic documents have been created using information devices such as computers, and the amount and frequency thereof tend to increase. Various document management systems have been developed to manage such a large number of electronic documents, and these electronic documents are often printed on paper.

  In the conventional document management system, the main purpose is to manage the electronic document, and the electronic document performs various managements such as the user and the revision, whereas the printed paper document is printed as print information. It was a degree to keep and was hardly managed.

  For this reason, it is difficult to know how a printed paper document is used, such as being copied, faxed, or an image attached to an e-mail. In addition, it is impossible to control the contents (contents) after paper printing without knowing how they were used.

Corresponding to this, the inventions disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have been proposed. In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, an identifier is determined when printing from an electronic document, and the paper and the electronic document are uniquely identified by printing with the identifier on the paper. It is made to know what kind of contents are. The invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 is configured to control the copy process by counting print requests from the output paper and permitting up to the first specified number of sheets.
JP 2005-122682 A JP 2004-216863 A

  In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, an identifier determined when printing from an electronic document is printed on the paper to uniquely identify the paper and the electronic document. It became possible to know. However, in the invention of Cited Document 1, the identifier is used to perform control related to the processing of the paper that the user is going to perform, such as copying the paper, sending a fax, or attaching the image to an e-mail. It is not possible.

  In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2, only the apparatus that performs the copy process is controlled only by the setting at the time of printing on paper, and the copy process control is performed only when the first printing is performed. There are problems such as being unable to set.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is possible to electronically set whether or not the printed paper can be processed when necessary, and to limit the setting when the actual paper is read accordingly. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper processing apparatus and a paper processing system that control operations on paper documents.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is characterized by the following measures.

The invention described in claim 1
In a paper processing apparatus that executes processing on paper,
A processing determination information setting unit that sets processing determination information, which is information indicating whether or not to execute predetermined processing on the paper, for each paper;
A paper information management unit that receives and manages the processing determination information;
A recording unit that records an identifier associated with the processing determination information acquired from the paper information management unit on the paper;
When the identifier recorded on the input paper is read and the predetermined processing is performed on the input paper, according to the processing determination information corresponding to the identifier managed by the paper information management unit, And a paper control unit that determines whether or not to execute the predetermined process.

The invention according to claim 2
The paper processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The paper control unit 106
When the predetermined process includes a plurality of processes, even when a process is requested by designating any of the plurality of predetermined processes, the execution of the process is performed based on the process determination information managed by the paper information management unit. It is characterized by determining availability.

The invention according to claim 3
The paper processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The process determination information setting unit sets, as the process determination information, the number of times the predetermined process has been executed and the execution limit number of times of the predetermined process,
The paper information management unit manages the processing determination information including the number of times information and the execution limit number of times information,
The paper processing control unit prohibits execution of the predetermined processing when it is determined that the number of the predetermined processing on the paper exceeds the execution limit number.

The invention according to claim 4
The paper processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The process determination information setting unit sets user information indicating whether or not the predetermined process is permitted for each user as the process determination information,
The paper information management unit manages the processing determination information including the user information;
In addition, when the paper processing control unit determines that the predetermined processing on the paper is prohibited for the user who is going to perform the predetermined processing based on the user information, the paper processing control unit prohibits execution of the predetermined processing. It is characterized by doing.

The paper processing system according to the invention of claim 5 is
A first paper processing control device having a processing determination information setting unit for setting processing determination information, which is information indicating whether or not execution of a predetermined process on paper is performed,
A paper information management unit that receives and manages the processing determination information, a recording unit that records the identifier associated with the processing determination information acquired from the paper information management unit on the paper, and records on the input paper Whether or not the predetermined process can be executed according to the process determination information corresponding to the identifier managed by the paper information management unit when the predetermined process is performed on the input paper. A second paper processing control device having a paper control unit to determine;
A communication means for transmitting at least the processing determination information is provided between the first paper processing control device and the second paper processing control device.

  According to the present invention, based on the identifier recorded on the input paper, it is possible to determine in advance whether or not the predetermined processing is permitted for the paper, and thus the user's request for the paper can be handled. The predetermined process can be executed or the predetermined process can be prohibited.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between functional blocks of a paper processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and related hardware and external devices. In addition, the paper processing system shown in the figure shows an example in which one paper processing apparatus 101 is configured.

  The paper processing apparatus 101 receives a user input input from an input / output device 112 such as a display or a keyboard via the user I / F control unit 102 and passes this to the operation interpretation unit 103 as a request, or an operation interpretation unit In response to the output request 103, the output contents are displayed on the input / output device 112. The operation interpretation unit 103 interprets the input user request and sends the print file to the disk I / F control unit 111 or sends the paper processing setting information to the paper information management unit 110.

  In addition, the image processing apparatus 101 includes a paper input I / F control unit 105 that is connected to a paper input device 113 such as a scanner and performs control for acquiring a paper image by operating the paper input device 113. Yes. Further, the paper input device 113 is provided with a card authentication reader 116 so that the user ID read from the user's card can be acquired.

  The paper control unit 106 identifies a printed code 702 (for example, a barcode) from a paper image 701 (see FIG. 7) obtained from the paper input device 113 via the scanner I / F control unit 105, and assigns the code 702 to the code 702. Whether to execute the corresponding process is determined using the process setting information acquired from the paper information management unit 110 (this will be described in detail later). The paper processing execution unit 107 actually executes the processing.

  The paper information management unit 110 manages (registers, deletes, references, etc.) the table 801 (see FIG. 8) so that the relationship between the electronic document stored in the disk device 115 and its ID (identifier) is one-to-one. . The paper information management unit 110 also requests the ID code printing of the image given to the printing unit 109 (corresponding to the recording unit described in the claims) by a request from the operation interpretation unit 103 (this will be described in detail later). Describe).

  The printing unit 109 adds an ID code to an electronic document stored in the disk device 115 or the like, and creates an image to be printed by the paper output device 114 (printer or the like). The paper output device 114 is operated by the paper output I / F control unit 108 to perform control for acquiring a paper image.

  Further, a disk device 115 is connected to the printing unit 109 via a disk I / F control unit 111. The disk I / F control unit 111 controls the disk device 115 to store various files such as an electronic document in the disk device 115, or to transfer the designated file from the disk device 115 to the request source. It plays the function to send.

  FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the functional blocks of the paper processing system and paper processing apparatuses 201 and 202, which are another embodiment of the present invention, and the related hardware and apparatus.

  The paper processing apparatus 101 described with reference to FIG. 1 is configured such that functions such as storage of electronic documents, printing of electronic documents, and processing of scanned paper are all realized by directly connected hardware. .

  In contrast, the paper processing system according to the present embodiment includes hardware blocks and devices related to a user input unit (such as the input / output device 112) and a storage unit for disks (such as the disk device 115). Are arranged on a network 203 that is external to the network, and they are used remotely.

  2, functional blocks, hardware, and apparatuses having the same basic functions as those of the paper processing apparatus 101 illustrated in FIG. 1 are assigned the same numbers, and descriptions thereof are omitted. .

  Each of the paper processing apparatuses 201 and 202 includes a part of the functional blocks of the paper processing apparatus 101 described above, and each is connected to a network 203 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) via the network I / F control units 204 and 205. Has been. A computer device 206 that operates as a file server that can communicate with the paper processing devices 201 and 202 exists on the network 203, and operations such as storage and acquisition of documents are remotely operated by an operation request from the image processing devices 201 and 202. This is realized.

  Subsequently, the control procedure of the operation interpretation unit 103, the paper control unit 106, the paper processing execution unit 107, the printing unit 109 and the paper information management method of the paper information management unit 110, which are particularly characteristic in the present invention, will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. explain. Note that the paper information management method described below is applicable to a paper processing system using either the paper processing apparatus 101 or the paper processing apparatuses 201 and 202 described above.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure performed by the operation interpretation unit 103 (corresponding to the processing determination information setting unit described in the claims) when a user input is received from the user I / F control unit 102.

  The operation interpretation unit 103 first receives the content (request) input by the user using the input / output device 112 (S301). Subsequently, the operation interpretation unit 103 determines whether the content input by the user is a print operation request for acquiring paper for use in the paper processing apparatus 101 from an electronic document or a processing setting request for already printed paper. Is determined (S302, S305).

  If the input is a print operation request, the operation interpretation unit 103 passes the electronic document data that is simultaneously passed during the input operation to the disk I / F control unit 111 (S303). In addition, the disk I / F control unit 111 sends the received electronic document data to the disk device 115 and stores it, and also passes the input contents (including the stored electronic document name) to the paper control unit 106 for processing. The process ends (S304).

  On the other hand, when the request is a process setting operation for paper, the operation interpretation unit 103 passes the data input from the input / output device 112 to the paper information management unit 110 and stores it. Note that the type of input data depends on items managed by the paper information management unit 110, which will be described later.

  FIG. 4 shows that when the input from the user I / F control unit 102 is a printing operation in the operation interpretation unit 103 and the data input from the input / output device 112 is sent from the operation interpretation unit 103 (see S304). 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure executed by a paper control unit 106.

  When the paper control unit 106 receives a print request including an electronic document name from the operation interpretation unit 103 (S401), the paper control unit 106 requests the paper information management unit 110 to register an ID with the electronic document name and acquires the ID (S401). S402). Next, the paper control unit 106 passes the acquired ID, electronic document name, and page number to be printed to the printing unit 109, and ends the process (S403).

  FIG. 8 illustrates an example of information stored in the ID table 801 (corresponding to the processing determination information described in claims) managed by the paper information management unit 110. In FIG. 8, each row (for example, a range of 806) is one unit of an ID registration record, and each column (802 to 805) is a registration element. A column 802 stores a unique ID in the table 801.

  A column 803 stores information for uniquely determining an electronic document (here, a path name indicating a position in the mass storage device unit 115 in the image processing apparatus 101). Further, the printed page number is stored in the column 804. A column 805 stores permission (OK) or non-permission (NG) permission / denial setting information for a predetermined process (for example, copying of the paper) to be performed by the paper processing system according to the present embodiment. Yes.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure executed by the printing unit 109 when a print request is received from the paper control unit 106 (see S403).

  When the printing unit 109 acquires the ID, electronic document name, and page number to be printed acquired from the paper control unit 106 (S501), the electronic document passed from the disk device 115 via the disk I / F control unit 111 is obtained. Name data is retrieved (S502). Then, the ID is imaged into, for example, a barcode (S503), and a print image is created by superimposing it on the page to be printed with the timing mark for correcting the skew of the scanned image (S504). The print image is sent to the printing apparatus 114 via the paper output I / F control unit 108 (S505), and the paper output apparatus 114 performs a printing process.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a paper image created by the printing unit 109. A content portion 707 included in the electronic document is drawn on the paper image 701. Further, black squares 703, 704, 705, and 706 are provided as timing marks at the four corners of the paper image 701.

  The black squares 703, 704, 705, and 706 define the position of the content portion 707 in the paper image 701. As a result, even if an image read by the scanner device 113 or the like is distorted, correction can be performed. In this embodiment, a code 702 (corresponding to the identifier described in the claims) is provided at the upper right position of the content unit 707 by pasting the ID acquired by the paper control unit 106 from the paper information management unit 110 as a code image. .

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a control procedure executed by the paper control unit 106 when an input operation by scanning is given from the paper input I / F control unit 105.

  When a paper scan image 701 read by the paper input device 113 is received from the paper input I / F control unit 105 (S601), the paper control unit 106 determines the timings of the four corners whose coordinates are defined for the scan image 701. Marks (black squares 703, 704, 705, and 706) are identified and image skew correction is performed (S602). Subsequently, the paper control unit 106 searches for the code 702 from the scanned image 701, decodes it, and acquires the ID (S603).

  Next, the paper control unit 106 passes the acquired ID to the paper information management unit 110, and receives information of the electronic document corresponding to the ID from the table 801 stored and managed in the paper information management unit 110 (S604). Specifically, when the acquired ID is ID = 0001, a path name indicating the position of the electronic document in the mass storage device unit 115 is received from the column 803 of the table 801 (see FIG. 8).

  Subsequently, the paper control unit 106 checks whether a predetermined process is permitted for the input paper as described above (S605). The “predetermined process” in the present embodiment is a copy process for the paper. Information on whether or not to permit the copy processing (processing determination information) is stored in a column 805 of the table 801.

  As described above, when the acquired ID is ID = 0001, the row of the table 801 is 806, and “OK” is stored in the column 805 in the row 806 in which the “predetermined processing” permission / denial information is stored. Stored. Therefore, the paper control unit 106 determines that copy processing is permitted for the paper input from the processing determination information stored in the table 801.

  If it is determined that copy processing is permitted for the input paper, the paper image 701 and the electronic document information read from the disk device 115 are transmitted to the printing unit 109, and the paper output device 114 prints (copies) the electronic document or the like (S606). On the other hand, if it is determined that the copy process is not permitted, the process ends without executing the process of S606.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine in advance whether or not to permit predetermined processing (copy processing) on the paper based on the code 702 (identifier) recorded on the input paper. Therefore, it is possible to execute predetermined processing (copy processing) corresponding to the user's request for the paper, or prohibit predetermined processing (copy processing).

  9 to 11 show tables 901, 1001, and 1101, which are other embodiments of the table 801 shown in FIG. 9 to 11, items having the same meaning as in FIG. 8 are given the same numbers.

  FIG. 9 is another example of a table managed by the paper information management unit 110. In the table 901 illustrated in FIG. 9, there is a column 902 representing permission / denial of processing different from the column 805. Here, the column 805 stores information as to whether or not copying of the input paper is permitted, as in the table 801 shown in FIG.

  A column 902 of the table 901 stores information on whether or not to permit a process (one of predetermined processes) for sending a scanned image by e-mail. As described above, if an arbitrary number of columns for storing information regarding the availability of the predetermined process are prepared, it is possible to perform a plurality of permission / rejection determinations in the determination of the availability of the predetermined process (S606) by the paper control unit 106.

  In the table 1001 shown in FIG. 10, information for determining whether or not predetermined processing is permitted is stored in the column 1002 in a format different from the column 805 of the table 801 shown in FIG. The column 1002 has a configuration in which the column 805 shown in FIG. 8 is subdivided and has information of the permitted setting number and the currently permitted number.

  Therefore, in the table 1001, for example, when ID = 0001, the permitted number is 1, and the permitted number is 0 so far, which means that it has never been permitted. According to this embodiment, in the permission determination (S605) of the predetermined processing by the paper control unit 106, it is possible to determine that the permission is permitted if the permitted setting number exceeds the permitted number, and that it is not permitted otherwise. Become. In the present embodiment, when the permission determination is made and the process is actually performed, it is necessary to perform a process of incrementing the currently permitted number.

  In the table 1101 shown in FIG. 11, there are columns 1102 and 1103 representing information for determining whether or not predetermined processing is permitted in a format different from the column 805 of the table 801 shown in FIG. 8. In the present embodiment, information on whether or not the user A is permitted for the predetermined process (OK or NG) is stored in the column 1102. Similarly, the column 1103 stores information indicating whether or not the user B is permitted for the predetermined process.

  Specifically, in the case of ID = 0001 shown in FIG. 11, for example, the user A is permitted to perform predetermined processing and the user B is not permitted to perform the predetermined processing. In this way, for example, if data including user information is stored in the paper control unit 106 using the card authentication reader 116 or the like, the user information and the columns 1102 of the table 1101 are used in the permission determination (S605) of the predetermined process. From the information stored in 1103, it is possible to determine whether or not the predetermined process is permitted.

  In each table 301, 901, 1001, 1101 in FIGS. 8 to 11, the number of unique management item strings is increased, the number of permission judgment items is increased by specifying a separator in the management item string, and the paper information management unit By combining judgment criteria at 110, it is possible to easily cope with a plurality of judgment conditions.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between functional blocks of a paper processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and related hardware and external devices. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the functional blocks of the paper processing system and the paper processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, and the hardware and apparatus. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure performed by the operation interpretation unit when a user input is received from the user I / F control unit. FIG. 4 shows a control procedure executed by the paper control unit when the input from the user I / F control unit is a printing operation and the data input from the input / output device is sent from the operation interpretation unit in the operation interpretation unit. It is a flowchart to show. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure executed by the printing unit when a print request is received from the paper control unit. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure performed by the paper control unit when an input operation by scanning is given from the paper input I / F control unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper image created in the printing unit. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the ID table managed by the paper information management unit (part 1). FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the ID table managed by the paper information management unit (part 2). FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the ID table managed by the paper information management unit (part 3). FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the ID table managed by the paper information management unit (No. 4).

Explanation of symbols

101, 201, 202 Paper processing device 102 User I / F control unit 103 Operation interpretation unit 105 Paper input I / F control unit 106 Paper control unit 107 Paper processing execution unit 108 Paper output I / F control unit 109 Printing unit 110 Paper information Management unit 111 Disk I / F control unit 112 Input / output device 113 Paper input device 114 Paper output device 115 Disk device 203 Network 204, 205 Network I / F control unit 206 Computer device 701 Scanned image 702 Code 707 Content unit 801, 901 1001,1101 table

Claims (5)

In a paper processing apparatus that executes processing on paper,
A processing determination information setting unit that sets processing determination information, which is information indicating whether or not to execute predetermined processing on the paper, for each paper;
A paper information management unit that receives and manages the processing determination information;
A recording unit that records an identifier associated with the processing determination information acquired from the paper information management unit on the paper;
When the identifier recorded on the input paper is read and the predetermined processing is performed on the input paper, according to the processing determination information corresponding to the identifier managed by the paper information management unit, And a paper control unit that determines whether or not to execute the predetermined process. The paper processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The paper control unit 106
When the predetermined process includes a plurality of processes, even when a process is requested by designating any of the plurality of predetermined processes, the execution of the process is performed based on the process determination information managed by the paper information management unit. A paper processing apparatus for determining whether or not to permit. The paper processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The process determination information setting unit sets, as the process determination information, the number of times the predetermined process has been executed and the execution limit number of times of the predetermined process,
The paper information management unit manages the processing determination information including the number of times information and the execution limit number of times information,
The paper processing control unit prohibits execution of the predetermined processing when it is determined that the number of the predetermined processing on the paper exceeds the execution limit number. The paper processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The process determination information setting unit sets user information indicating whether or not the predetermined process is permitted for each user as the process determination information,
The paper information management unit manages the processing determination information including the user information;
In addition, when the paper processing control unit determines that the predetermined processing on the paper is prohibited for the user who is going to perform the predetermined processing based on the user information, the paper processing control unit prohibits execution of the predetermined processing. A paper processing apparatus. A first paper processing control device having a processing determination information setting unit for setting processing determination information, which is information indicating whether or not execution of a predetermined process on paper is performed,
A paper information management unit that receives and manages the processing determination information, a recording unit that records the identifier associated with the processing determination information acquired from the paper information management unit on the paper, and records on the input paper When the predetermined identifier is read and the predetermined processing is performed on the input paper, whether or not the predetermined processing can be executed according to the processing determination information corresponding to the identifier managed by the paper information management unit is determined. A second paper processing control device having a paper control unit to determine;
Communication means for transmitting at least the processing determination information between the first paper processing control device and the second paper processing control device;
A paper processing system comprising:

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