JP5621494B2 - Document management apparatus and document management program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a document management apparatus and a document management program, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus in an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation. The present invention also relates to a document management apparatus connectable to a server and a document management program executed by a computer connectable to the image forming apparatus and the server.

  Conventionally, in an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server, a document is registered in the server from an operation terminal such as a personal computer, and an image forming operation of the document registered in the server in the image forming apparatus is performed. An image processing system that can execute a so-called pull print process has been devised. In such a system, the document stored in the server should be deleted as appropriate in order to avoid wasting the storage capacity of the server by continuously registering the useless document in the server. .

  Various techniques have been disclosed for deleting documents stored in a server in such a system.

  For example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-127429), information specifying a retention period of the data is added to print job data registered from an information processing apparatus via a network, and the retention period is A technique for deleting the data of the print job when it is determined that it has elapsed is disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-25970) detects a print result of each print job in the pull print system, and detects that each job data has been printed normally. On the condition that this is done, a technique for erasing is disclosed.

  Further, in Patent Document 3 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-279922), when deleting a document stored in a server, a grace period can be set for the document, and after the document is deleted. However, a technique is disclosed that enables access to a document to be deleted within the grace period.

  Patent Document 4 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-295836) extracts the end date of an event appearing in a document by analyzing the contents of the document for each document registered in the server. A technique for setting a document storage period based on the end date of the document is disclosed.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-244600 discloses a technique for registering a document (group shared document) to be used in a group of a plurality of users. In the technique disclosed in the document, when the storage period of the group shared document elapses, it is determined whether or not there is a person who has not accessed the group shared document in the group, and the unaccessed person If there is, the group shared document is deleted on condition that the administrator and the unaccessed person permit the deletion.

JP 2006-127429 A JP 2007-25970 A JP 2007-279922 A JP 2004-295836 A JP-A-2005-244600

  In an image processing system, generally, it is registered which image forming apparatus in the system forms a document stored in a server. Here, when an error such as a failure of the image forming apparatus or out of paper occurs in the registered image forming apparatus, if the scheduled deletion time of the document comes before the error is resolved, the document It is assumed that the deletion is performed without performing the forming operation. As described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Documents 3 to 5, even if the time for deletion is extended regardless of the operation of the image forming apparatus, the above problem cannot be solved.

  As described in Patent Document 2, if a server job is deleted when printing is normally completed, a situation in which a document of the job is deleted without executing an image forming operation can be avoided. . However, according to such a technique, the deletion time of the document is determined only by the state of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, the user who registered the document cannot predict when the document will actually be deleted. For example, if the user wants to delete the document voluntarily, whether or not an operation for deletion is necessary. It is assumed that a complicated operation is required when managing the document, such as checking whether the document has not yet been deleted, or the like.

  The present invention has been conceived in view of such circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is to ensure that the document stored in the server of the image processing system is the target of the image forming operation, and To provide a document management apparatus and a document management program capable of extending the scheduled deletion time of the document so that the scheduled deletion time can be easily managed.

A document management apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus and a server in an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation. A connectable document management apparatus, which stores information on a server, on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived, and storage means for storing the scheduled deletion time, which is information for specifying when each document is deleted from the server When an information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus and a deletion unit that executes processing for deleting the processed document from the server are received, the image forming operation is the target of the error. the first deletion schedule time of the document is a document, since the period until the first document is deleted is changed to so that is extended by a length corresponding to the embodiment of the error And a change means. The storage means stores the document in association with information for specifying the user and information for specifying the image forming apparatus for executing the image forming operation of the document, and the change means stores the scheduled deletion time of the first document. The period of time until the first document is deleted by the length corresponding to the frequency of use of the image forming apparatus in which an error has occurred in the image processing system by the user stored in association with the document is extended. Change to
A document management apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus and a server in an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation. A document management apparatus that can be connected to the server, and storage means for storing a scheduled deletion time that is information for specifying a time when each document is deleted from the server; A deletion unit that executes a process for deleting a stored document from the server, and a target of the image forming operation in which an error has occurred when information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus is received. The period of time until the first document is deleted corresponds to the mode of error and the time of the day when the error occurred. The length was provided with a changing means for changing to be extended.

  Further, in the document management apparatus of the present invention, the changing means sets the first document deletion scheduled time to the length corresponding to the type of countermeasure required in the image forming apparatus in order to eliminate the error. It is preferable to change so that the period until the document is deleted is extended.

According to still another aspect of the present invention , there is provided a document management program including: an image forming apparatus including: one or more image forming apparatuses; and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation. And storage means for storing the scheduled deletion time, which is information for specifying when each document is deleted from the server, stored in the server on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived. When receiving information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus and a deletion unit that executes processing for deleting a document from the server, the image forming operation is the target of the error. The scheduled deletion time of the first document, which is a document, is extended so that the period until the first document is deleted by a length corresponding to the mode of error. Is a program for functioning as a changing means for further. The storage means stores the document in association with information for specifying the user and information for specifying the image forming apparatus for executing the image forming operation of the document, and the change means stores the scheduled deletion time of the first document. The period of time until the first document is deleted by the length corresponding to the frequency of use of the image forming apparatus in which an error has occurred in the image processing system by the user stored in association with the document is extended. Change to
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a document management program including: an image forming apparatus including: one or more image forming apparatuses; and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation. And storage means for storing the scheduled deletion time, which is information for specifying when each document is deleted from the server, stored in the server on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived. When receiving information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus and a deletion unit that executes processing for deleting a document from the server, the image forming operation is the target of the error. The first document, which is a document, is scheduled to be deleted only for the length corresponding to the error mode and the time zone of the day when the error occurred. Period before being removed is a program for functioning as a change means for changing to be extended.

  According to the present invention, a user who is traveling with a portable terminal can use the destination multifunction machine.

It is a figure which shows the specific example of a structure of the document processing system containing the document management apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the hardware constitutions of a document management server. It is a functional block diagram of a document management server. It is a flowchart of a document management process. It is a flowchart of the subroutine of step S50 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the management table stored in a document information management part. It is a figure which shows an example of the management table stored in a document information management part. It is a figure which shows an example of the management table stored in a document information management part. It is a figure which shows an example of the management table stored in a document information management part.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same parts and components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will not be repeated.

[First Embodiment]
<1. Configuration of document processing system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific example of the configuration of a document processing system including a document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the document processing system according to the present embodiment includes MFPs (Multi Function Peripheral) 200A to 200C that perform an image forming operation on a document, and documents that cause MFPs 200A to 200C to perform image formation. It includes a document management server 100 that stores data, and a client terminal 300 that spools documents to the document management server 100.

  In the document processing system of FIG. 1, the number of image forming apparatuses (MFPs) is three. However, the number of image forming apparatuses constituting the system is not limited to this as long as it is one or more.

  The client terminal 300 only needs to be able to spool the document to the document management server 100 and instruct image formation (printing) of the document, and is configured by, for example, a general-purpose personal computer.

<2. Document Management Server Configuration>
FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a hardware configuration of the document management server 100.

  Referring to FIG. 2, a document management server 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10 that is an arithmetic device for overall control, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) for storing programs executed by the CPU 10 and the like. 11, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12 for functioning as a work area when the CPU 10 executes a program, an HD (Hard Disk) 13 for storing various information, and communication via a telephone line. A communication controller 14 for controlling, a network controller 15 for controlling communication via a LAN (Local Area Network), and a media controller 16 are included.

  The information stored in the HD 13 includes document data for causing the MFP 200 to perform image formation and data constituting a management table described later.

  In the document processing system of the present embodiment, document management server 100 is configured to be able to communicate with client terminal 300 and MFP 200 (hereinafter, MFPs 200A to 200C are collectively referred to as “MFP 200”). The document management server 100 communicates with the client terminal 300 and the MFP 200 via the communication controller 14 and / or the network controller 15. The document management server 100 only needs to include at least a controller used when communicating with the client terminal 300 and the MFP 200 among the communication controller 14 and the network controller 15.

  The CPU 10 writes and reads information to and from the removable medium 900 that can be attached to and detached from the document management server 100 via the media controller 16. The program executed by the CPU 10 may be stored in the removable medium 900 or may be installed in the document management server 100 via a network.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the document management server 100.
Referring to FIG. 3, the document management server 100 stores a document storage unit 107 that stores a document to be printed, processing for storing the document in the document storage unit 107, and deleting the document in the document storage unit 107. The document management unit 105 that performs the process, the document information management unit 103 that stores information about the document stored in the document storage unit 107, and the process for generating and adjusting the information stored in the document information management unit 103 Document information adjustment unit 101, transmission / reception unit 111 for transmitting / receiving information between client terminal 300 and MFP 200, and scheduled deletion time of each document stored in document information management unit 103 by document information adjustment unit 101 (described later) ) Includes a change period acquisition unit 109 that acquires information about a period when changing.

The document storage unit 107 is configured by a storage device such as HD13.
The document information adjustment unit 101, the document management unit 105, and the change period acquisition unit 109 are realized by the CPU 10 executing an appropriate program, for example. Note that the document management server 100 may include dedicated hardware resources (such as a dedicated integrated circuit) for achieving these functions.

The document information management unit 103 is realized by a storage device such as the HD 13.
The transmission / reception unit 111 is realized by appropriately controlling the communication controller 14 and / or the network controller 15 by the CPU 10.

<3. Management table>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a management table stored in the document information management unit 103.

  The management table is information about documents stored in the document storage unit 107. The information for managing the document stored in the document storage unit 107 is not limited to the table format shown in FIG. If each document stores information including the user who registered the document and the time when the document is to be deleted from the document storage unit 107 (scheduled deletion time), the table format shown in FIG. It is not limited.

  Referring to FIG. 6, in the management table, for each document, the state of the document (whether printing has been completed, that is, printed / unprinted), the document name, and the document are stored in document management server 100. Information for identifying the registered user (users “tom”, “mori”, “hiro”, etc. in FIG. 6), the size of each document, the time when each document was stored (registered) in the document management server 100, The scheduled deletion time of the document is stored in association with the document.

  The document information management unit 103 stores a management table for each of the MFPs 200 (MFPs 200A, 200B, and 200C) constituting the document processing system. FIG. 6 is a management table for the MFP 200A, for example.

  The document management unit 105 instructs each MFP 200 to print the document stored in the document storage unit 107 via the transmission / reception unit 111 in the order registered in the management table.

  Receiving the instruction, the MFP 200 executes image formation of the document. When the image forming operation is completed, the MFP 200 notifies the document management server 100 to that effect.

  Upon receiving notification of completion of the image forming operation of the document, the document information adjustment unit 101 changes “status” in the management table for the document to “printed”. FIG. 7 shows the management table when a notification of completion of the image forming operation for the document name “document 1” in the management table of FIG. 6 is received. In FIG. 7, compared with FIG. 6, the “status” for the document name “document 1” is changed to “printed”.

  In the document processing system of the present embodiment, each MFP 200 is notified to the document management server 100 when it detects that an error has occurred in itself. Upon receiving the notification, the document management server 100 changes the “status” of the document that is the target of the image forming operation in the MFP 200 in which an error has occurred in the management table.

  FIG. 8 schematically shows a management table that has been changed by receiving a notification that an error has occurred from the MFP 200 in which image formation of the document 1 has been executed. In FIG. 8, the “status” of the document 1 is “error”. Note that the content of the error is also notified from the MFP 200 to the document management server 100. The error content ("paper JAM" in FIG. 8) is also registered in the management table.

  In the present embodiment, when an error occurs in MFP 200, the period until the document is deleted is extended by a length corresponding to the type of error. Accordingly, the scheduled deletion time of the management table is changed. Comparing FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, due to the occurrence of an error, the scheduled deletion time of document 1 is from 12:58:00 on February 25, 2010 to 14:58 on February 25, 2010. It has been changed to 00 seconds. That is, the period until deletion is extended by 2 hours.

  Further, in FIG. 8, similarly for the documents other than document 1, the period until deletion is extended by 2 hours compared with that shown in FIG. 6.

  Hereinafter, functions of the document management server according to the present embodiment including an extension of a period until such a document is deleted will be described.

<4. Memory Document Management Processing>
The document management server 100 according to the present embodiment accepts a request for spooling a document for image formation by the MFP 200 from the client terminal 300. In response to the request, the document management unit 105 stores the document in the document storage unit 107, and instructs the MFP 200 designated for each document to form an image of each document.

  Information for managing the document stored in the document storage unit 107 is stored in the document information management unit 103 as the management table described above. The management table stored in the document information management unit 103 is appropriately updated by the document information adjustment unit 101.

  The document management unit 105 instructs the MFP 200 to form an image of the document stored in the document storage unit 107 according to the information stored in the document information management unit 103, and deletes the document from the document storage unit 107. .

  Hereinafter, processing (document management processing) executed by the document information adjustment unit 101 to update the management table will be described with reference to FIG. 4 which is a flowchart of the processing.

  Referring to FIG. 4, document information adjustment unit 101 first determines in step S10 whether or not a new document has been stored in document storage unit 107, and if so, the process proceeds to step S20. If it is determined that a new document is not stored at that time, the process proceeds to step S40.

  In step S20, the document information adjustment unit 101 calculates a scheduled deletion time for the newly stored document, and proceeds to step S30.

  In the present embodiment, the scheduled deletion time can be calculated, for example, as a fixed time has elapsed (for example, two hours later) from the time the document was stored. However, the mode of determining the scheduled deletion time is not limited to this, and various modes such as changing for each user who registered the document can be considered. Further, the scheduled deletion time is registered in advance and may be acquired by reading from the registered location, that is, without any calculation.

  In step S30, the document information adjustment unit 101 registers information about the document newly determined to be stored in step S10 in the management table, and advances the process to step S40. Examples of the information registered here include “state”, “document name”, “user”, “size”, “registration time”, and “scheduled deletion time” for each document, as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, since a management table is generated for each MFP 200 that executes image formation for each document, the information is registered in the management table for the MFP 200 designated at the time of document registration.

  In step S40, the document information adjustment unit 101 determines whether there has been a change in the state of the document whose information is registered in the management table. As this determination, for example, whether or not a notification that the image formation for the document is completed is received from the MFP 200, and whether or not a notification that an error has occurred in the MFP 200 during the image forming operation of the document is received. , Etc.

  If it is determined that the state has changed, the process proceeds to step S50. If it is determined that there is no change in the state at this time, the process proceeds to step S60.

  In step S50, the document information adjustment unit 101 updates the management table to reflect the change in the state, and proceeds to step S60. Details of the processing in step S50 will be described later.

  In step S60, the document information adjustment unit 101 determines whether or not the scheduled deletion time has arrived for any of the documents registered in the management table. If it is determined that the deletion has arrived, the process proceeds to step S70. If it is determined that the scheduled deletion time of any document has not arrived, the process returns to step S10.

  In step S70, the document information adjustment unit 101 instructs the document management unit 105 to delete the document for which the scheduled deletion time has arrived, and returns the process to step S10. In response to this, the document management unit 105 deletes the document from the document storage unit 107.

<5. Management table update processing>
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the subroutine of step S50 in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 5, document information adjustment unit 101 first determines in step S510 whether the change in state is completion of image formation (printing), and if so, the process proceeds to step S520. If not, the process proceeds to step S530.

  In step S520, the document information adjustment unit 101 updates the management table so as to change the state of the corresponding document to “printed”, and proceeds to step S530.

  In step S530, it is determined whether or not the change in the state detected in step S40 is an error in the image forming operation of the corresponding document. If so, the process proceeds to step S540. If not, the process proceeds to step S560.

  In step S540, the document information adjustment unit 101 acquires again the scheduled deletion time of the document in which an error has occurred in image formation, and advances the process to step S550.

The mode of reacquisition of the scheduled deletion time in step S540 will be described below.
In this embodiment, when an error occurs in the image forming operation of a document, the length of time for extending the period until the document is deleted differs depending on the type of the error. Specifically, the length to be extended is determined according to the following Table 1.

  As understood from Table 1, in the MFP 200 in which an error has occurred, when the error type is a failure of the MFP 200 itself (for example, malfunction of the motor or sensor), the scheduled deletion time is one week ahead. It is said that time. If a toner empty error occurs in the MFP 200, the scheduled deletion time is changed to a time three days ahead. If the error is out of paper in the MFP 200 or occurrence of JAM, the scheduled deletion time is changed to a time two hours ahead. When the error type is other than the above, the scheduled deletion time is not extended and is not changed.

  Returning to FIG. 5, after the scheduled deletion time is reacquired in step S540, the document information adjustment unit 101 advances the process to step S550.

  In step S550, the document information adjustment unit 101 updates the scheduled deletion time based on the information reacquired in step S540 in the management table, and advances the process to step S560.

  In the present embodiment, not only the scheduled deletion time of a document in which an error has occurred, but also the scheduled deletion times for all documents that cause the MFP 200 in which the error has occurred to execute an image forming operation are updated in the same manner. preferable. This is because the image forming operation of these documents in the MFP 200 is considered to be delayed due to the occurrence of the error.

  In step S560, the document information adjustment unit 101 executes other processing and returns the processing to FIG. If the change in the state of the document detected in step S40 is caused by factors other than those listed in step S510 or step S530, the contents of the management table are updated in step S560 according to the factors. Specifically, for example, when an instruction to delete a document stored in the document storage unit 107 is received from a client terminal, a process of deleting information in the management table for the document is given. In this case, the document information adjustment unit 101 changes the state of the document in the management table to “deleted”, and the process proceeds to FIG. In step S560, the document information adjustment unit 101 deletes the document information from the management table, and instructs the document management unit 105 to delete the document stored in the document storage unit 107. In response to this, the document management unit 105 deletes the document.

  In the present embodiment described above, when an error occurs in the MFP 200 that is executing the image forming operation for the document spooled in the document management server 100, the scheduled deletion time of the document is displayed in the management table. It is updated so that deletion is postponed by the length corresponding to the type.

  The relationship between the type of error and the period during which deletion is postponed is illustrated in Table 1. In Table 1, the length of the period for extending the deletion time is set according to the type of countermeasure required in the MFP 200 to eliminate each error. Specifically, in the case of a failure of the motor, sensor, or the like of the MFP 200, the MFP 200 needs to be repaired by a service person, or the MFP 200 needs to be transported to a predetermined factory or the like for repair. For such errors, an extended period of one week is provided.

  On the other hand, it is considered that out of paper and paper jam (JAM) in the MFP 200 can be resolved by the user of the MFP 200 replenishing paper or removing the jammed paper. That is, it is considered that the user can deal with it without calling a serviceman. Therefore, for such an error, 2 hours, which is the shortest period, is allocated.

  An error that requires the purchase of a consumable part, such as toner empty, is assigned three days, which is an intermediate period between the longest period and the shortest period.

  In the present embodiment, if the length of the extension period is set according to the type of countermeasure required for eliminating the error, the type of error and the length of the extension period are shown in Table 1. It is not limited to what is shown.

[Second Embodiment]
In the present embodiment, only the processing content of reacquisition of the scheduled deletion time in step S540 in the management table update processing (see FIG. 5) in the document management server 100 is different.

  In the present embodiment, the re-acquisition of the scheduled deletion time is performed according to the one shown in Table 2.

  According to Table 2, first, the extension period is determined depending on whether or not the number of MFPs 200 included in the document processing system is one when an error occurs. That is, when the number of MFPs 200 is one, the scheduled deletion time for a document (and other document) in which an error has occurred in the image forming operation is extended by one week.

  On the other hand, when the document processing system includes a plurality of MFPs 200, a period for extending the time until deletion for each of the users registered in the management table according to the usage rate of the MFP 200 in which an error has occurred. Is determined.

  The usage rate of each MFP 200 is calculated for each user and managed by the document management server 100. Table 3 shows an example of the usage rate management mode.

  The document information adjustment unit 101 performs the image forming operation on each of the MFPs 200 </ b> A to 200 </ b> C with respect to each user's document (the number of documents whose state has been printed in the document information management unit 103). As shown in Table 3, the usage rate for each of MFPs 200A to 200C is calculated. In other words, for example, the document information management unit 103 stores a history of documents for which the execution of the image forming operation has been completed (including information specifying the user of each document and the MFP 200 that has performed the operation), and according to the history. The usage rate is calculated.

  The usage rate is a ratio of the number of documents that have been subjected to the image forming operation in each of the MFPs 200 </ b> A to 200 </ b> C to the total number of documents that are registered in the document management server 100 and that have been subjected to the image forming operation. In Table 3, MFP-1 corresponds to MFP 200A, MFP-2 corresponds to MFP 200B, and MFP-3 corresponds to MFP 200C.

  Next, the mode of reacquisition of the scheduled deletion time in the present embodiment will be specifically described.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a management table for MFP 200A is stored in document information management unit 103 as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, as shown in Table 3, the usage rate of each user for the MFP 200A is as follows: the user “tom” is 100%, the user “mori” is 0%, the user “hiro” is 50%, and the user “fuku” "Is 33%.

  In such a situation, it is assumed that an error has occurred in the MFP 200A during the image forming operation for “Document 1” registered at the top of the unprinted document in FIG. At this time, the length for extending the time until deletion of the document registered by the user is determined for each user.

  Specifically, for the user “tom”, since the usage rate of the MFP 200 in which the error has occurred is 100%, the extension period is determined to be 2 hours. For the user “mori”, the usage rate of the MFP 200A is 0% (that is, the MFP 200A has not been used until now), and therefore the time until deletion is not extended. For the user “hiro”, since the usage rate of the MFP 200A is 50%, the extension period is determined to be 1 hour.

  For the user “fuku”, since the usage rate of the MFP 200A is 33%, the extension period is determined to be 40 minutes.

  Thereby, the scheduled deletion time in the management table shown in FIG. 6 is changed as shown in FIG.

  Specifically, for “Document 1” and “Document 5” associated with the user “tom”, the scheduled deletion time is changed so that the time until deletion is extended by 2 hours by 2 hours.

  For the “document 2” and “document 6” of the user “mori”, the scheduled deletion time is not changed.

  The “document 3” of the user “hiro” has the scheduled deletion time changed so that the time until deletion is extended by one hour.

  The “document 4” of the user “fuku” has the scheduled deletion time changed so that the time until deletion is extended by 40 minutes.

  In the present embodiment described above, when an error occurs in any of MFPs 200A to 200C, the document registered by each user is deleted depending on the degree of influence by the error of MFP 200 in which the error has occurred. The period has been extended.

  Specifically, the user “tom” uses only the MFP 200A among the three MFPs 200A to 200C. Therefore, it is considered that the user “tom” prefers to use the MFP 200A from among the three MFPs 200A to 200C, or is in an environment where it is difficult to use other than the MFP 200A. For this reason, it is considered that the user “tom” is greatly affected by the failure of the MFP 200A. As a result, the document registered by the user is extended for the longest time until deletion.

  For the user “mori”, the usage rate of the MFP 200B is 100%, while the usage rate of the MFP 200A is 0%. For this reason, it is considered that the influence caused by the failure of the MFP 200A is small. For this reason, even if the MFP 200A breaks down, the period until deletion of the document registered by the user is not extended.

  The user “hiro” and the user “fuku” use a plurality of MFPs 200 in combination. In this embodiment, these users are considered to be affected by the failure of each MFP 200 depending on the usage rate. Therefore, an error occurs in the MFP 200 having a high usage rate according to the usage rate. The scheduled deletion time is changed so that the period until deletion is extended as long as it occurs.

[Third Embodiment]
This embodiment differs from the first embodiment only in the mode of reacquisition of the scheduled deletion time in step S540 of the management table update process (see FIG. 5).

  In the present embodiment, the length of the period for extending the time until deletion of each document is determined according to the time zone in which an error has occurred in MFP 200.

  Table 4 shows an example of the correspondence between the time zone in which the error occurred and the length of the extended period.

Table 4 shows five time zones (1) to (5) in which errors occur.
According to Table 4, when an error occurs in time zone (1) or time zone (4), the scheduled deletion time of the management table for the MFP in which the error has occurred is extended by 2 hours. To be changed. When an error occurs in the MFP 200 in the time zone (2) or the time zone (5), the scheduled deletion time of each document is extended by 1 hour in the management table for the MFP in which the error has occurred. To be changed. When an error occurs in the time zone (3), the scheduled deletion time in the management table is not changed.

  Time zone (1) and time zone (4) correspond to immediately after the start of work or immediately after the break time. In such a time zone, it is considered that requests for print instructions to the MFP 200 are concentrated in the document processing system. In the present embodiment, when an error occurs in such a time zone, the time until the deletion of each document is extended the longest, so that more documents are waiting for printing due to the concentration of print requests. Correspondingly, all of the many documents are printed before being deleted. On the other hand, regarding the time zone (3) corresponding to the break time, it is considered that the influence of the error of the MFP 200 is small for each user. As a result, the scheduled deletion time is not changed even if an error occurs during the time period in order to avoid an unnecessary increase in the time until the document is deleted.

  Further, regarding the time zone (2) and the time zone (5), although not as much as the time zone (1) and the time zone (4), it is assumed that printing requests are increased to some extent. These time zones are shorter than the time zones (1) and (4), but it is considered that a certain number of documents can be made to wait for printing due to the concentration of print requests. Although it is shorter than 1) or time zone (4), it is configured to extend the period until it is deleted.

  In the present embodiment, the scheduled deletion time only needs to be changed so that the period until the deletion of the document is extended by a length corresponding to the degree of concentration of the print requests for each time zone. The method of dividing the band and the length of the extended time are not limited to those shown in Table 4.

[Modifications, etc.]
In each of the embodiments described above, when an error occurs in the MFP 200, it depends on the type of error (the type of error in the MFP 200, the time zone in which the error occurred, the usage rate for each user of the MFP 200 in which the error occurred). The scheduled deletion time is changed so that the period until the document stored in the document management server 100 is deleted is extended by the length of time.

  In each embodiment, the client terminal 300 is configured to be able to communicate with the document management server 100. Thereby, the user of the client terminal 300 can refer to the management table described with reference to FIG. Thereby, each user can refer to the scheduled deletion time of the document registered by the user.

  In each embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 7, information including the scheduled deletion time is managed for a printed document. In each embodiment of the present specification, the scheduled deletion time for each document is changed. However, it is preferable that the scheduled deletion time is not changed for a printed document. This is because it is considered that it is not necessary to extend the time until deletion because printing has already been performed.

  However, the scheduled deletion time of the printed document may be changed in the same manner as the unprinted document depending on the purpose of the system.

  It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a case where the object is achieved by supplying a program to the document management server 100. Then, a recording medium (removable medium 900) storing a program represented by software for achieving the present invention is supplied to the system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus (or CPU or MPU (Micro-Processing Unit)). The effect of the present invention can also be enjoyed by reading and executing the program code stored in the recording medium.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code However, it is needless to say that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program code read from the recording medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted in the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Recording media include CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk-Read Only Memory), USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, memory card, FD (Flexible Disk), hard disk, magnetic Tape, cassette tape, MO (Magnetic Optical Disc), MD (Mini Disc), IC (Integrated Circuit) card (excluding memory cards), optical card, mask ROM, EPROM, EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), etc. And a medium for storing the program in a nonvolatile manner.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims. In addition, each embodiment is intended to be implemented in combination as much as possible.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Document management server 101 Document information adjustment part 103 Document information management part 105 Document management part 107 Document storage part 109 Change period acquisition part 111 Transmission / reception part 200,200A-200C MFP, 300 Client terminal.

Claims (5)

In an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation, the image forming apparatus and a document management apparatus connectable to the server,
Storage means for storing a scheduled deletion time that is information for specifying a time to delete each document from the server;
Delete means for executing a process for deleting a document stored in the server from the server on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived;
When the information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus is received, the scheduled deletion time of the first document that is a target of the image forming operation in which the error has occurred is and a changing means for a period of up to the first document is deleted is changed to so that is extended by a length corresponding to the mode of the error,
The storage unit stores the document in association with information for specifying a user and information for specifying an image forming apparatus that performs an image forming operation of the document,
The changing unit is configured so that the scheduled deletion time of the first document is a length corresponding to a frequency at which a user stored in association with the document uses the image forming apparatus in which the error has occurred in the image processing system. A document management apparatus that changes the period until the first document is deleted . In an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation, the image forming apparatus and a document management apparatus connectable to the server,
Storage means for storing a scheduled deletion time that is information for specifying a time to delete each document from the server;
Delete means for executing a process for deleting a document stored in the server from the server on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived;
When the information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus is received, the scheduled deletion time of the first document that is a target of the image forming operation in which the error has occurred is Changing means for changing the period until the first document is deleted to be extended by a length corresponding to the mode of the error and the time zone of the day in which the error occurs, Document management device. The changing means deletes the first document by a length corresponding to the type of countermeasure required by the image forming apparatus for eliminating the error, according to the scheduled deletion time of the first document. The document management apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the document management apparatus is changed so that a period until the time is extended. In an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation, the image forming apparatus and a computer that can be connected to the server include:
Storage means for storing a scheduled deletion time that is information for specifying a time to delete each document from the server;
Deletion means for executing processing for deleting a document stored in the server from the server on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived, and
When the information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus has been received, the scheduled deletion time of the first document that is the target of the image forming operation in which the error has occurred is Function as a changing means for changing so that the period until the first document is deleted by a length corresponding to the mode of the error is extended ;
The storage unit stores the document in association with information for specifying a user and information for specifying an image forming apparatus that performs an image forming operation of the document,
The changing unit is configured so that the scheduled deletion time of the first document is a length corresponding to a frequency at which a user stored in association with the document uses the image forming apparatus in which the error has occurred in the image processing system. A document management program that changes so that the period until the first document is deleted is extended . In an image processing system including one or more image forming apparatuses and a server that stores a document that causes the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming operation, the image forming apparatus and a computer that can be connected to the server include:
Storage means for storing a scheduled deletion time that is information for specifying a time to delete each document from the server;
Deletion means for executing processing for deleting a document stored in the server from the server on the condition that the scheduled deletion time has arrived, and
When the information indicating that an error has occurred in the image forming operation of the image forming apparatus has been received, the scheduled deletion time of the first document that is the target of the image forming operation in which the error has occurred is Functioning as a changing means for changing so that the period until the first document is deleted by a length corresponding to the mode of the error and the time zone of the day in which the error has occurred is extended; Document management program.

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