JP2012088903A - Document management device, document management method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress increase in management target document IDs due to issuance of the document IDs with no restrictions in a technique for managing documents, attaching a document ID to each document.SOLUTION: A device for executing a job specified by a user and managing a document generated by executing the job with a document ID includes: means for identifying the user; means for determining whether or not the identified user matches a person who prepared a target document of the job; and means for, only when a result of the determination shows that the identified user matches the prepared person, obtaining a document ID of the document generated by executing the job.

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, and program for managing a document with identification information.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, managing documents by assigning information (document ID) that can uniquely identify a document to each document has been widely performed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a document in which a document ID is added to a document and stored, and a document to be referred to is acquired by optically reading a page to which the document ID is keyed or document ID is attached. A management method is disclosed.

JP 2000-339298 A

  In the prior art as described above, a unique document ID is basically assigned to each document. That is, a new document ID is issued each time a new document is generated by copying a document (paper document → paper document), transmission by a SEND / BOX function (paper document → electronic document), or the like. When a new document ID is issued, the relevance with the existing document ID is not considered. For example, in the case of copying, the relationship with the document ID of the document that is the copy source is not considered at all, and the document ID is issued without limitation each time it is copied. As a result, there is a concern that the number of document IDs to be managed becomes enormous and the management load increases.

  In consideration of an actual use case, it may be desirable to divert an existing document ID without issuing a new document ID. For example, when you repeatedly print an electronic document you created or copy it to another storage area, if you issue different document IDs each time, all of them are managed as separate documents, and the relationship between the documents I can't figure it out. In such a case, rather than managing with the same document ID, the operations (jobs) performed on the electronic document are managed as a history, so how to use a certain electronic document It is desirable to know if you did.

  The present invention provides a device for executing a job designated by a user and managing a document generated by the execution of the job by a document ID, means for specifying the user, the specified user and a target document of the job Means for determining whether or not the creator of the document matches, and means for acquiring a document ID of a document generated by execution of the job in accordance with the result of the determination .

  According to the present invention, since a new document ID is issued as necessary, the management load of the document ID can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the document management system which concerns on this invention. 2 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of an MFP. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the paper document (original) to which the two-dimensional code was added. It is a figure which shows an example of a data structure of the electronic document (electronic data) preserve | saved at an image server. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when a job is executed in the MFP. It is a flowchart which shows the detailed flow of the process in step 504 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the update result of metadata when new document ID is not acquired. It is a figure which shows an example of the update result of metadata when new document ID is acquired. It is a figure which shows an example of a user operation history. It is the figure which showed the state of the log registered into a log server.

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

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document management system according to the present invention.

  The document management system 100 includes a configuration in which a PC 101, an MFP 102, an image server 103, a document ID server 104, a log server 105, and an authentication server 106 are connected to each other via a network 107.

  The PC 101 is a personal computer that can generate various electronic documents.

  The MFP 102 is a multifunction peripheral as an image forming apparatus equipped with a copying function, a printing function, a BOX function, a SEND function, and the like. Here, the BOX function is a function for storing image data acquired by scanning or the like in an image forming apparatus, a server HDD, or the like. The SEND function is a function for transmitting image data acquired by scanning or the like to an external device. The image forming apparatus may be anything as long as it can form an image on a memory or paper, and is not limited to an MFP.

  The image server 103 is a server that stores an electronic document (electronic data) sent from the PC 101 or the MFP 102.

  The document ID server 104 is a server that issues a document ID.

  The log server 105 is a server that manages a history (log) of jobs specified and executed by the user from the PC 101 or the MFP 102.

  The authentication server 106 is a server that performs a process of authenticating whether the user who is logging in to the PC 101 or the MFP 102 is an authorized user. The authentication server stores various types of information (hereinafter referred to as “user identification information”) that can identify individual users. The user specifying information includes information such as a user ID, a password, a user name, and an e-mail address that can directly specify the user and information that can indirectly specify the user, in addition to information that can directly specify the user. For example, if the person who exclusively uses an MFP is determined, if the serial number of the MFP is known, the person who is attempting to copy an original using the MFP can be indirectly identified even if the user ID is unknown. can do. Therefore, information such as the serial number of the MFP that is normally used and the name of the manufacturer can be included in the “user specifying information” as information that can indirectly specify the user.

  In the document management system according to the present embodiment, as described above, an individual server is provided for each function such as storage of electronic documents, issuance of document IDs, log management, and user authentication. However, not all functions need to be configured by individual servers. For example, these functions may be provided inside the MFP 102 without providing the authentication server 106 or the document ID server 104. One server having both functions of the image server 103 and the log server 105 may be used. As described above, the document management system according to the present invention can change the system configuration as necessary.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the MFP 102.

  The CPU 200 is a processor that comprehensively controls each device described later, and executes programs such as an OS and applications stored in the memory 204.

  The display device 201 is a device for displaying a screen such as a touch panel. The user performs an input operation at the time of login, an instruction for performing desired processing such as BOX copying and printing, and the like via an operation screen (not shown) displayed on the display device 201.

  The scanner device 202 is a document reading device for obtaining image data by scanning (scanning) a document set on a document table (not shown).

  A network I / F 203 is an interface for communicating with each server and PC to exchange various instructions and data.

  The memory 204 includes a ROM and a RAM, and stores various commands (OS and application programs) executed by the CPU 200 to control the MFP 101, execution results, and the like.

  The HDD 205 is used to store image data scanned by the scanner device 202.

  The printer device 206 prints out the image data.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper document (original) 301 to which a two-dimensional code 302 is added. There are various types of two-dimensional codes, but here, examples of QR codes that are generally used are shown.

  As is apparent from FIG. 3, the two-dimensional code 302 is printed as a visualized image on a paper document. Information included in the two-dimensional code is decoded and attached to the image data. That is, in the case of an electronic document, the two-dimensional code 302 is separated from the image data of the original 301.

  First, the two-dimensional code 302 includes a document ID composed of a character string or a number that makes it possible to uniquely identify a document and distinguish it from other documents. By storing this document ID in the image server 103 in association with the image data of the document 301, it is possible to identify specific image data from a large amount of image data. The document ID is basically assigned for each document. In other words, one unique document ID is assigned to one document, but it may be given in page units or job units. For the document ID, a known mechanism in which duplication or coincidence cannot occur, for example, a UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) may be used.

  The two-dimensional code also includes information on the name (document name) of the document given by the user.

  Information (hereinafter referred to as “tracking information”) necessary for tracking who instructed output (creation) of the document is included as part of the metadata. The contents of the tracking information include, for example, the user name (creator) and e-mail address of the user who instructed the document output, the document output date and time, the MFP serial number and the production company name. In this specification, the “creator” means a person who has instructed the output of the document. Accordingly, the “creator” when the user B pull-prints using the image data of the document created first by the user A is the user B. In this case, the user A is separately stored as “original creator”.

  Further, as part of the metadata, information on the security of the document (hereinafter referred to as “security information”) such as whether the document is copy-inhibited, copy-permitted, or conditional copy-permitted by password is included. In addition to copying permission / non-permission, the security information includes, for example, information regarding scanning permission / non-permission, information regarding permission / non-permission of transmission to the outside, and permission / non-permission of storage in a memory in the MFP. Information about the content may also be included.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of an electronic document (electronic data) stored in the image server 103.

  The electronic document data includes a document ID field, a document name field, and an image information field. The image information field includes image data and metadata associated therewith.

  The image data is saved in a format such as PDF or PDL. Since the metadata is assumed to change from time to time, the metadata is stored separately from the image data. Here, the metadata includes the original creator, the creator, the mail address of the creator, the output date and time, the serial number of the MFP that performed the output, and information indicating whether copying is possible.

  In the example of FIG. 4, image data having a document ID “Ox00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff” and a document name “document1” is stored in PDF format. The metadata field stores information on the original creator “Hiroshi Makino”, the creator “Taro Yamada”, and the mail address “t-yamada.ABC.co.jp”. Furthermore, information of the output date and time “September 7, 2010, 10:57” and the serial number “A10093831” of the MFP is stored. Information indicating that copying is possible is stored as security information.

  Next, how a document is managed in the document management system according to the present embodiment will be described using a specific example.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when the MFP 102 executes a job. In the present embodiment, an application (program) stored in the memory 204 is activated by a user operation instruction, and the following steps are realized by the CPU 200 executing the application.

  When the MFP 102 is activated, in step 501, the CPU 200 makes an inquiry to each server and confirms whether each server is operating normally. If it is confirmed that each server operates normally, the process proceeds to step 502.

  In step 502, the CPU 200 performs authentication processing for a user who intends to log in. Specifically, the CPU 200 first prompts the user who wants to log in via the operation screen of the display device 201 to input information such as a user ID and a password, and transmits the input information to the authentication server 106. When the authentication server 106 confirms that the user is a legitimate user from the received information, the authentication server 106 transmits a notification that the authentication is successful and user identification information of the user to the MFP 102. Then, the CPU 200 stores the received user identification information in storage means (memory 204, HDD 205, etc.).

  In step 503, the CPU 200 receives a job designation from the login user. For example, in the case of pull printing, the user designates the pull print function on the operation screen of the display device 201, selects a document to be printed from electronic documents registered in the image server 103, and prints out the print output. Give instructions. A document to be printed can be selected by inputting a document name or document ID, or by designating an arbitrary image from a preview image displayed on the operation screen.

  In step 504, the CPU 200 acquires the image data and metadata of the selected document from the image server 103 via the network I / F 203 and stores them in the storage unit. Then, information related to the image data is extracted from the stored metadata. Then, the extracted information and the user identification information of the login user stored in step 502 are compared and determined, and a new document ID is acquired from the document ID server 104 according to the determination result. Further, necessary metadata update processing is performed. Details of the processing in step 504 will be described later.

  In step 505, the CPU 200 executes a designated job using the image data of the selected document. When the designated job is pull print, the updated metadata is encoded to create a two-dimensional code, and then the two-dimensional code is combined with the image data and printed out from the printer device 206.

  In step 506, the CPU 200 transmits information regarding the executed job to the log server 105 via the network I / F 203. Specifically, the information regarding the executed job is the content of the job specified in step 503 (for example, a pull print of document ID: Ox001122334455666778899aabbccddeeff). The log server 105 that has received the information of the executed job stores it in a predetermined storage area as history information (log). How the log is stored in the log server 105 will be described later.

  If it is determined as a result of the inquiry in step 501 that the image server 102 is down, the electronic document registered in the image server 104 cannot be accessed. In this case, it is impossible to process a type of job such as pull printing or box copying. Therefore, for example, when a job is accepted in step 503 described above, only jobs that do not require access to the image server 103 can be executed, such as printing performed by transmitting print data from a PC or copying from a paper document to a paper document. Is displayed on the display device 201.

  If it is determined as a result of the inquiry that the document ID server 104 is down, a new document ID cannot be acquired. Therefore, at the time of accepting a job in step 503, for example, a message to that effect is displayed on the display device 201. Alternatively, the job itself may not be accepted in step 503 described above.

  Further, when it is determined as a result of the inquiry that the log server 105 is down, the log cannot be registered in the log server 105. Therefore, a message to that effect is displayed on the display device 201 when the job is accepted in step 503 described above, and the information of the job executed in step 506 is temporarily stored in the HDD 205 without being transmitted to the log server 105. You may make it do. In this case, after the log server 105 is restored, the MFP 102 may transmit the stored job information to the log server 105 to be registered. Alternatively, the job itself may not be accepted in step 503 described above.

  Furthermore, if it is found as a result of the inquiry that the authentication server 106 is down, it is impossible to confirm whether the user is a legitimate user. In this case, for example, the MFP 102 displays a message indicating that the MFP 102 cannot be used on the display device 201, and performs processing such as preventing the job itself from being accepted in step 503 described above.

  Next, details of the processing in step 504 of the flowchart of FIG. 5 which is a feature of the present embodiment will be described by taking the case of pull printing as an example.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a detailed flow of processing in step 504.

  In step 601, the CPU 200 determines whether or not the input mode (input information source) of the document that is the target of the designated job is electronic data. When the designated job is pull print, print output is performed using an electronic document registered in the image server 103. Therefore, it is determined that the input mode of the target document of the job is electronic data, and the process proceeds to step 602. If the specified job is a copy print of a paper document set on the platen, the copy print output uses image data obtained by scanning the paper document. It is determined that the data is not electronic data, and the process proceeds to step 608.

  In step 602, the CPU 200 sends an electronic document (that is, electronic data of the document selected in step 503 in FIG. 5) to be used for processing the designated job to the image server 103 via the network I / F 203. Request and get.

  In step 603, the CPU 200 determines whether the acquired electronic data includes metadata. If the metadata is included, the process proceeds to step 604. If not, the process proceeds to step 608.

  In step 604, the CPU 200 determines whether the acquired electronic data includes a document ID. If the document ID is included, the process proceeds to step 605; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 608.

  In step 605, the CPU 200 reads and acquires the user identification information of the login user stored in the storage unit in step 502 described above.

  In step 606, the CPU 200 compares the acquired user specifying information with the creator information in the metadata, and determines whether or not the login user and the creator of the target document of the job match. For example, it is assumed that the acquired user identification information includes information on a user name, an e-mail address, and a serial number of the MFP to be used. Therefore, when the user name as the creator is known from the metadata, the determination here is made by comparing the user names. On the other hand, it is also conceivable that there is no data in the creator column of metadata for some reason or the contents cannot be recognized. Therefore, when it is impossible to determine whether or not both match from the user name, this determination process may be performed using information other than the user name. For example, the determination may be made using “mail address” or “serial number of MFP to be used”. Specifically, the user identification information and the information included in the metadata are compared, and if either or both of them match, it is determined that the login user and the creator of the target document of the job match. It may be. If it is determined that the login user and the creator of the target document of the job match, the process proceeds to step 608. If it is determined that they do not match, the process proceeds to step 607.

  In step 607, the CPU 200 requests the document ID server 104 to issue a new document ID via the network I / F 203, and obtains a new document ID to be given to the document generated by executing the job. To do.

  In step 608, the CPU 200 updates the metadata and generates metadata to be added to the current output image data. At this time, if a new document ID is acquired in step 607, the metadata is updated based on the new document ID. If a new document ID is not acquired, the metadata is updated based on the document ID of the target document of the job. In other words, if a new document ID is not acquired in step 607, the document ID of the target document of the job is inherited and only necessary information in the metadata is updated.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a processing result in step 608 when a new document ID is not acquired. Here, the processing result when “Document1” in FIG. 4 is pulled-printed by the creator “Taro Yamada” using the same MFP at 13:02 on September 22, 2010 is shown. . Most contents including the document ID have not changed from the electronic data of the document that is the subject of the job, and only the output date information is changed to the current output date.

  On the other hand, FIG. 8 is an example of a processing result in step 608 when a new document ID is acquired. In this example, “Document1” in FIG. 4 is pulled by “Seiji Suzuki” who is not its creator at “9:33 on September 28, 2010” using a different MFP (serial number: B10073816). The processing result of is shown. In addition to the output date and time information, the document ID is newly issued "Tx99887766554433221100gghhiijjkkll", the document name is "Document2", the creator is "Seiji Suzuki", the email address is "s-suzuki.ABC.co.jp", serial The number has been changed to “B10073816”. Incidentally, when “Hiroshi Makino” who is the original creator of “Document1” performs pull-printing using “Document1”, it is determined that the creator does not match, so the same processing result is obtained. However, when the original creator needs a printed matter of the document he / she created, it is sufficient to execute a job using the document (electronic data) created by himself / herself. It is rare.

  The case where the user instructs pull printing has been described above as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable to all types of jobs. For example, the present invention can be applied to any job such as “scan to memory” in which a paper document is read by a scanner and converted into image data and then stored in a memory, or “SEND” in which converted electronic data is transmitted by e-mail. However, when a paper document is used as the input information source, it may be necessary to add operational restrictions such as not adding or modifying the paper document in order to maintain the identity of the paper document.

  Next, log management in the log server 105 will be described.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of the user operation history for a certain document. The contents of the user operations shown in this figure are arranged in chronological order as follows.

1) BOX saves electronic document (image data a) created by user A on PC 2) User A BOX copies image data a 3) User A prints image data a 4) User B BOX image data a BOX Copy (generate image data b)
5) User A prints image data a 6) User B copies image data b to BOX 7) User B prints image data b 8) User C prints image data b (generates image data c)

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing how logs are registered in the log server 105 when jobs by user operations are sequentially executed.

  In the conventional technique, a new document ID is assigned each time a job is executed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10B, the information (log) of the executed job is simply registered and managed in time series.

  In the present embodiment, when the logged-in user and the creator of the target document for the job match, a new document ID is not issued, and therefore, as shown in FIG. Logs are managed with a single document ID. In FIG. 10A, “LOG1” indicates history information when a person who executes the job using the document is the creator himself, and “LOG2” indicates that the person who executed the job using the document is the creator. The history information in the case of a user other than is shown. Therefore, when a creator of certain image data repeatedly executes a job using the same image data, all the operation histories are stored in “LOG1”.

  From (a) of FIG. 10, for example, the following can be understood for the image data a having the document ID “1”. First, it can be seen that the user A is the creator, and the user A himself has executed the “Box in”, “Box copy”, “print”, and “print” jobs. It can also be seen that a user other than user A performed “Box copy” using the image data a. It is impossible to grasp such a fact from FIG.

  As described above, according to the document management system according to the present embodiment, as long as the “creator” is the same, documents (image data) having the same contents are managed in a unified manner based on one document ID. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the load on document ID management. In the present embodiment, if history information registered in units of document IDs is viewed, how the creator himself / herself uses the document (electronic data) and how it is used by users other than the creator. It is easy to know.

  Furthermore, since it is sufficient to store only one image data corresponding to one document ID, a storage area such as an image server for storing image data can be used efficiently.

[Embodiment 2]
In the first embodiment, the mode in which an existing document ID is used without issuing a new document ID when the login user and the creator of the input information source match is described.

  However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described mode, and for example, the issuance of a new document ID can be suppressed in the following cases.

  First, the login user is a person having a certain authority such as a system administrator or a service person. In this case, for example, instead of issuing a new document ID, a unique document ID different from the document ID given to a general user may be given.

  In addition, there may be a case where it is not necessary to specify a user for each job and it is sufficient to specify an operational user. In this case, for example, during one login period by the same user, only one document ID may be assigned to documents output in all jobs during that period. As a result, a plurality of jobs can be managed together.

  Further, when image data is transmitted / received to / from an external device outside the log management range, such as outside the company, whether or not to newly issue a document ID may be determined according to the contents of the job. . Specifically, first, in the case of a job that uses image data received from outside the log management range, the document ID assigned to the image data is assigned within the log management range. If so, a new document ID is issued. This is because the content of the image data may have been edited and the document identity cannot be guaranteed. On the other hand, in the case of a job that transmits image data outside the log management range, such as FAX and SEND, the existing document ID is used without issuing a new document ID. This is because the document is transmitted to the outside, and there are few merits to issue and manage a new document ID.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the document ID issuance can be suppressed according to various situations, the burden on the management of the document ID can be reduced.

(Other examples)
The object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the following processing. That is, a storage medium that records a program code of software that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus is stored in the storage medium. This is the process of reading the code. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention.

Claims (6)

In a device that executes a job specified by a user and manages a document generated by the execution of the job by a document ID,
Means for identifying the user;
Means for determining whether the identified user and the creator of the target document of the job match;
Means for acquiring a document ID of a document generated by execution of the job according to the result of the determination;
A device characterized by comprising:   The obtaining means inherits the document ID of the target document as the document ID of the document generated by executing the job when it is determined that the identified user and the creator of the target document match. When it is determined that the specified user and the creator of the target document do not match, a new document ID is acquired as a document ID of a document generated by executing the job. Item 2. The apparatus according to Item 1.   The determining means identifies the creator of the target document of the job from the information in the metadata of the target document, and whether or not the identified user and the creator of the target document of the job match. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is determined.   4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information in the metadata is information that can indirectly identify a user. In a device that executes a job specified by a user, a method of managing a document generated by executing the job by a document ID,
Identifying the user;
Determining whether the identified user and the creator of the target document of the job match;
Obtaining a document ID of a document generated by execution of the job according to the result of the determination;
A method comprising the steps of:   A program for causing a computer to execute the method according to claim 5.