JP4861795B2 - Business collaboration scan solution system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a business cooperation scan solution system capable of managing a business process using a paper document by a person.

  In recent years, it has become possible to design and manage system linkages while verifying the efficiency to some extent by designing and simulating a linkage between a plurality of various systems with a business process management system or the like for business efficiency.

  Many of the systems that can be designed are automatic services, but recently, the handling of activities involving humans has also been considered.

On the other hand, in Patent Documents 1 and 3, a bar code is attached to a part of a document to be copied or transmitted by a copying machine or a facsimile machine, and reading the contents makes it easy for a user to set copying conditions and a transmission destination. A technique for extracting a barcode printed on a document is disclosed in Patent Document 2.
JP 11-119597 A JP 2004-303223 A JP 2004-343564 A

  By the way, there are many things that use a form (paper) among the work that a person intervenes.

  However, it is currently difficult to construct and manage a paper-based business using an electronic system such as a business management system.

  On the other hand, none of the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 are directed directly to form processing, and cannot solve the above problems.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a business cooperation scan solution system capable of managing business processes using paper documents by humans. .

In order to solve the above-described problem, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, based on a document template and a data source, first metadata including user interface generation data in embedded information is included . Document data generating means for generating embedded document data, printing means for printing the document data as a paper document, business process management means for managing a business process, and the paper document subjected to predetermined processing after printing. Scanning to obtain a scanned image, and when a scan instruction is given by the user at the time of scanning, displays a user interface for selecting processing for the paper document from the user interface generation data embedded in the paper document, A data indicating the result of approval / disapproval selected by the user according to the user interface. The data scan means for acquiring a second metadata, based on the second meta data obtained at the time of the first metadata and scan decoded from the scanned image, for the above business process management unit, the The gist of the present invention is a business cooperation scan solution system comprising business process reflection means for reflecting business process contents relating to the paper document, including updating of approval / denial status data for the paper document.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the business cooperation scan solution system according to the first aspect, design means for designing the document template can be provided.

  Further, as described in claim 3, in the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 1, design means for designing the business process can be provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the business cooperation scan solution system according to the first aspect, the document template is dynamically generated by connecting layout information for designating an item position and the data source. It is possible to include data set information for generating data values, and embedded information that supports various embedded formats and can describe embedded metadata.

  Also, as described in claim 5, in the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 4, the embedded information indicates a description indicating an encoding type, a description indicating a place to be embedded, and a type of data to be embedded. It is possible to include a description and a description indicating the embedded data itself.

  Further, as described in claim 6, in the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 5, the data to be embedded is used to generate a UI for performing processing in accordance with a business flow when scanning a paper document. UI data can be included.

  Further, as described in claim 7, it can be configured as a business cooperation scan solution management apparatus.

  Further, as described in claim 8, it can be configured as a business cooperation scan solution management method.

  In the business cooperation scan solution system of the present invention, business logic can be easily described even in business via paper documents, and can be designed and managed by a business process management system or the like. Further, it is possible to conceal the settings of the form management system and the scan system used when digitizing paper information and electronic information into paper, and to facilitate system construction.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a business cooperation scan solution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a business cooperation scan solution system includes a Web browser 1 as a client operated by a user, a form management system 2 that generates form data, and a business system 3 that manages work including issuance and reception of forms. MFP (Multi Function Printer) 4 that prints and scans forms, printer 6 that prints forms, and scan data processing that performs predetermined processing based on scanned images and metadata (described later) distributed from MFP 4 A system 5 and a business process management system 7 for uniformly managing business processes across a plurality of business systems 3 are provided.

The MFP 4 includes a printer unit 401 that prints a form, an operation panel 402 that is operated by a user, and a scan delivery unit 405 that scans the form and delivers a scanned image and metadata. The operation panel 402 includes a Web browser 403 that displays a UI (User Interface) screen and an embedded GUI (Graphical User Interface) 404. The scan distribution unit 405 includes a scanner unit 406 that scans a form, and a scanned image file using various information at the time of scanning (login user information, operation date and time, contents selected on the operation panel 402, IP address of the MFP 4, etc.) as metadata. Add to name or XML (eXtensible
A metadata adding unit 407 for adding a separate file such as Markup Language) and a data transmitting unit 408 for transmitting the scan image and metadata to the scan data processing system 5 are provided.

  The business system 3 includes a business UI providing unit 301 that provides a business UI, a logic processing unit 302 that performs data processing in accordance with logic according to the business content, and a data connection unit 303 for connecting to data storage inside and outside the system. And a data source 304 such as various databases, and a scan image storage unit 305 that accumulates scan images of forms.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the form management system 2, the business process management system 7, and the scan data processing system 5. In FIG. 2, a form management system 2 includes a form designer 201 for designing a form by the operation of a business management user, a form management unit 205 for managing a form, and an embedded plug for embedding metadata in a form image. IN 214, a metadata storage unit 215 that holds metadata embedded in the form image, and a form template storage unit 216 that holds a form template. Although not shown in the drawing, the form designer 201 is a management that calls the form management unit 205 in a UI providing unit that provides a UI, a template creation unit that creates a form template, and various inquiries and registration of the created form template. And a part call section. The form management unit 205 includes a management service providing unit 206 that provides a form management service, a form image output unit 207 that outputs the generated form data in a format such as PDF (Portable Document File), and a form based on the form template. The template processing unit 208 that performs the generation process, the external resource connection unit 212 that connects to external resources in order to include external resource data in the form, and the form template created by the form designer 201 are stored in the form template storage unit 216. A template storage unit 213. The template processing unit 208 includes a data set processing unit 209 that processes a data set that is a source of data to be included in a form, a layout processing unit 210 that performs layout processing of each item of the form, and a two-dimensional barcode ( An embedding processing unit 211 for embedding data by various methods such as QR code.

  The business process management system 7 includes a business process designer 701 that designs a business process by an operation of a business management user, and a business process management unit 702 that manages the business process according to the designed business process. The business process management unit 702 includes a WS I / F unit 703 that interfaces with a Web service (WS), a Java I / F unit 704 that interfaces with a Java program, and a JSP (Java Server Pages) / Servlet. A Jsp / Servlet I / F unit 705 that performs an interface, a business process engine unit 706 that performs a main control operation of a business process, and an external system connection unit 707 that connects to an external system are provided.

  The scan data processing system 5 includes a scan image / metadata receiving unit 501 that receives a scan image and metadata from the MFP 4, and a meta data that manages decoding of metadata embedded in the scan image or file name or added as a separate file. A metadata decoder that decodes metadata and includes various decoders such as a two-dimensional barcode decoder, a barcode decoder, a dot embedding decoder, a file name metadata decoder, an invisible decoder, an XML decoder, and the like. 503 and a metadata integration unit 504 that integrates metadata decoded by various decoders of the metadata decoder 503. The scan data processing system 5 also includes a metadata processing unit 505 that performs predetermined processing corresponding to the integrated metadata, and metadata processing that includes various plug-ins that actually execute the predetermined processing corresponding to the metadata. And a plug-in 506. In the present embodiment, in particular, a UI generation plug-in 508 that generates a UI corresponding to a business flow when a form is scanned, and a scanned image of the form are stored in the business system 3, and one activity is processed using metadata as a parameter. And the business process linkage plug-in 509 that reflects the status in the business process management system 7.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a form template managed in the form management system 2. In FIG. 3, the form template refers to data set information internally, layout information that specifies the position of items, data set information that dynamically generates data values by connecting to data sources, It includes embedded information that supports an embedded format and can describe embedded metadata. The embedded information can also refer to the data set information.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of layout information. The left side shows layout information, and the right side shows a corresponding form. In this example, the position corresponding to the form item a1 and the reference data set are described by a11 and a12, respectively, and the position corresponding to the form item a2 and the reference data set are described by a21 and a22, respectively.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data set information, a description b1 that refers to an external RDB (Relational Data Base), a description b3 that refers to an external XMLDB, and a description b2 that refers to a data set based on the description b3. An example including

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of embedded information. (A) is an example in which the embedded information includes UI data such as an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) form, Xforms, etc. Since the destination URL can be described in the form, it corresponds to the case where a business process cooperation plug-in is not required. Yes. In this case, however, the business process management system must have a jsp I / F and can directly update the process.

  (B) is an example in which embedded data includes data for a business process cooperation plug-in in addition to UI data. When the business process management system does not have a jsp I / F, data conversion or protocol conversion is necessary. Correspondingly, data for starting the business process linkage plug-in is embedded.

  FIG. 7A shows an example of UI data, which includes a description c1 indicating the plug-in type and a description c2 based on HTML indicating the contents of the UI. A UI displayed based on this UI data is shown in FIG.

8 to 10 are diagrams illustrating examples of data for business process cooperation plug-ins. FIG. 8 shows an example in which the data acquired by the JSP is transferred to the business process management system 7 designated by the destination. FIG. 9 shows a SOAP (Simple) for calling one service.
(Object Access Protocol) message is included, and it is possible to realize SOAP messaging via a paper form over a network and to use a SOAP processing system, which has an advantage of low development cost. Figure 10 shows BPEL (Business
This is an example in which collaboration between multiple services using Process Execution Language) is described.

  The operation of the above embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a business flow including a form processing by a person as a premise. In FIG. 11, e1 to e9 are individual activities constituting the business flow, and each activity (except for the root activity e1) is in a standby state upon completion of the immediately preceding activity, and a predetermined process is performed. To complete. Here, e4 to e7 are activities using the business system, and the processing is completed by performing predetermined processing on the business system. Activities e2 and e3 are activities that include processing of a form by a person, and the situation cannot be grasped systematically only by a person creating a form or performing confirmation / correction / addition. However, by printing the form under the management of the system and making it mandatory to perform scanning by the MFP 4 after confirmation / correction / addition, etc., it is possible to grasp systematically that the form has been created at the time of printing. It is possible to grasp the completion of the activity systematically using the metadata embedded in the form at the time of scanning or the metadata acquired at the time of scanning.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a specific example of a business flow. In FIG. 12, when a user (Mr. Tanaka) selects a predetermined task using the function of the business system 3, a form with metadata embedded is printed by the MFP 4 and the printer 6 (step S1). The printed form is to be handed over to a predetermined person (Mr. Yamada) and sent accordingly (step S2).

  The person who has received the form (Mr. Yamada) checks, modifies, and adds to the form (step S3), and then scans the form with the MFP 4 (step S4). At this time, when scanning is instructed according to the UI displayed on the operation panel 402 of the MFP 4, a UI for dynamically selecting a check on the form from the embedded UI data is displayed (step S5). Deny.

  The MFP 4 transmits the scanned image of the form and the metadata such as the approved / denied form data to the scan data processing system 5 (step S6), and the business process management system 7 as one activity process using the metadata as a parameter. And the scan image of the form is stored in the scan image storage unit 305 of the business system 3 (step S7).

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example in which the present invention is applied between different companies. Even if paper is received in business cooperation with another company, the BPEL subflow can be executed, and the cost is low for the business that must use paper. Incremental solutions can be provided. In addition, since a framework that makes full use of standard technology and image-related technology can be provided, the total integration cost can be reduced.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a processing example of the business cooperation scan solution system. In FIG. 14, the business management user designs a form template using the form designer 201 of the form management system 2 (step S <b> 101), and designs a business process using the business process designer 701 of the business process management system 7. (Step S102). FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a screen example in the form designer 201. A radio button f1 for selecting an embedding method, a display f2 for referring to a data set, an area f3 for designing an embedded UI, and a button for instructing saving or canceling. An example in which f4 is included is shown. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a screen example in the business process designer 701. The activities e1 to e9 corresponding to the business flow shown in FIG. 11 can be designed graphically, and the paper exchange and the business system between the human activities e2 and e3. It is possible to define a UI for returning to the screen.

  Returning to FIG. 14, when the normal user accesses the business system 3 from the Web browser 1 and instructs the output (printing) of the form, the form management system 2 controls the form template storage unit 216 under the control of the business system 3. The form data is generated based on the form template and the data source 304 stored at the same time, the metadata is generated, the embedded plug-in 214 embeds the metadata in the form image, and outputs it (step S103).

  The form data is printed by the MFP 4 and the printer 6 via the Web browser 1 or the like or directly from the form management system 2 (step S104).

  The printed form is corrected and added as appropriate (step S105). This correction / addition may be performed at a place not far from the place where the form is printed, or may be performed after being sent to the other party by mail, personal delivery, FAX, or the like.

  Next, as a business flow after correction / addition, the form 4 is scanned by the MFP 4 (step S106). At this time, the Web browser 403 of the MFP 4 connects to the business system 3 and presents an interface screen according to the business flow.

  Next, the MFP 4 obtains a scanned image of the form, logs in user information, operation date and time, contents selected on the operation panel 402 (Web browser 403) (including template ID indicating the type of form, process ID, etc.), The IP address or the like is added as metadata to the file name of the scanned image or as a separate file such as XML and distributed to the scan data processing system 5 (step S107).

  The scan data processing system 5 extracts metadata from the received data (scanned image file, file name, attached file, etc.), and activates (initializes) the UI generation plug-in 508 and the business process cooperation plug-in 509 ( Step S108). The UI generation plug-in 508 dynamically generates a UI (step S109), displays it on the Web browser 403 of the MFP 4 via the business system 3 (step S110), and the user performs business processing (approval based on the generated UI). / Denial etc.) (step S111). The business process result is transmitted as form data from the MFP 4 to the scan data processing system 5 (step S112). FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transmission message.

  Returning to FIG. 14, the business process cooperation plug-in 509 reflects the business processing content in the business process to the business process management system 7 (step S <b> 113), and the scanned image of the form is stored in the scan image storage unit 305 of the business system 3. Save (step S114). FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a processing example of the business process cooperation plug-in 509.

  The present invention has been described above by the preferred embodiments of the present invention. While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Obviously you can. In other words, the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the details of the specific examples and the accompanying drawings.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the business cooperation scan solution system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a form management system, a business process management system, and a scan data processing system. It is a figure which shows the example of a form template. It is a figure which shows the example of layout information. It is a figure which shows the example of data set information. It is a figure which shows the example of embedding information. It is a figure which shows the example of UI data. FIG. 5 is a diagram (part 1) illustrating an example of data for a business process cooperation plug-in. FIG. 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of data for a business process cooperation plug-in (part 2); FIG. 6 is a diagram (part 3) illustrating an example of data for a business process cooperation plug-in. It is a figure which shows the example of the business flow including the process of the form by a person. It is a figure which shows the specific example of a business flow. It is a figure which shows the example which applied this invention between different companies. It is a figure which shows the example of a process of a business cooperation scan solution system. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen in a form designer. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen in a business process designer. It is a figure which shows the example of a transmission message. It is a figure which shows the process example of a business process cooperation plug-in.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Web browser 2 Form management system 201 Form designer 205 Form management part 206 Management service provision part 207 Form image output part 208 Template processing part 209 Data set processing part 210 Layout processing part 211 Embedding process part 212 External resource connection part 213 Template storage part 214 embedded plug-in 215 metadata storage unit 216 form template storage unit 3 business system 301 business UI providing unit 302 logic processing unit 303 data connection unit 304 data source 305 scan image storage unit 4 MFP
401 Printer 402 Operation Panel 403 Web Browser 404 Embedded GUI
405 Scan distribution unit 406 Scanner unit 407 Metadata addition unit 408 Data transmission unit 5 Scan data processing system 501 Scan image / metadata reception unit 502 Metadata decode management unit 503 Metadata decoder 504 Metadata integration unit 505 Metadata processing unit 506 Metadata processing plug-in 508 UI generation plug-in 509 Business process linkage plug-in 6 Printer 7 Business process management system 701 Business process designer 702 Business process management unit 703 WS I / F unit 704 Java I / F unit 705 Jsp / Servlet I / F part 706 Business process engine part 707 External system connection part

Claims (8)

Document data generating means for generating document data in which first metadata including data for generating a user interface is embedded in embedded information based on a document template and a data source;
Printing means for printing the document data as a paper document;
Business process management means for managing business processes;
The paper document that has undergone predetermined processing after printing is scanned to obtain a scanned image, and when the user instructs scanning at the time of scanning, the user interface generation data embedded in the paper document is converted into the paper document. A scanning unit that displays a user interface for selecting processing for the second metadata and displays data indicating the result of approval / disapproval selected by the user according to the user interface as second metadata;
Based on the obtained the second metadata when the first metadata and scan decoded from the scanned image, for the above business process management unit, including updating the status data of the approval / denial of the paper document , business collaboration scanning solution system, characterized in that it includes a business processing reflecting unit to reflect the business process contents according to the paper document. In the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 1,
A business cooperation scan solution system comprising a design means for designing the document template. In the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 1,
A business cooperation scan solution system characterized by comprising a design means for designing the business process. In the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 1,
The above document template
Layout information to specify the position of the item,
Data set information to dynamically generate data values by connecting to the data source,
A business-linked scan solution system that supports various embedding formats and includes embedding information capable of describing embedding metadata. In the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 4,
The above embedded information
A description indicating the encoding type,
A description indicating where to embed,
A description indicating the type of data to be embedded,
A business cooperation scanning solution system characterized by including a description indicating the embedded data itself. In the business cooperation scan solution system according to claim 5,
The business-embedded scan solution system, wherein the embedded data includes UI data for generating a UI for performing processing according to a business flow when scanning a paper document. Based on the document template and the data source, the scanned image is scanned from the document data that is printed from the document data in which the first metadata including the user interface generation data is embedded in the embedded information and subjected to predetermined processing after printing. When scanning is instructed by the user during scanning, a user interface for selecting processing for the paper document from the user interface generation data embedded in the paper document is displayed. Scanning means for acquiring data indicating the result of the approval / disapproval selected by the second metadata,
Based on the obtained the second metadata when the first metadata and scan decoded from the scanned image, for the business process management unit for managing a business process, the status data of the approval / denial of the paper document A business cooperation scan solution management apparatus comprising business processing reflecting means for reflecting business processing contents relating to the paper document, including update of the paper document. Based on the document template and the data source, the scanned image is scanned from the document data that is printed from the document data in which the first metadata including the user interface generation data is embedded in the embedded information and subjected to predetermined processing after printing. When scanning is instructed by the user during scanning, a user interface for selecting processing for the paper document from the user interface generation data embedded in the paper document is displayed. A scan step executed by the scanning means for acquiring , as second metadata, data indicating the approval / disapproval result selected by :
Based on the obtained the second metadata when the first metadata and scan decoded from the scanned image, for the business process management unit for managing a business process, the status data of the approval / denial of the paper document A business cooperation scan solution management method comprising: a business process reflection step that is executed by a business process reflection unit that reflects the business process contents of the paper document including the update of

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