JP5895876B2 - Program and form processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a program and a form processing apparatus.

  Many business management systems have a function of displaying a list of work (jobs) to be executed by each person in charge. In list display, jobs with higher priority are generally arranged at a higher position in the list, which is more easily noticed by the person in charge.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a system for easily finding a target reading result at a correction terminal even when there are a large number of form image reading results waiting for correction, and for quickly shifting to the correction operation. The In this system, narrowing conditions such as the status and important attributes of the correction target batch are set in the correction terminal, and the correction target batches are narrowed down and displayed on the batch list display screen according to these conditions. As the narrowing-down conditions, OCR (optical character recognition) recognition accuracy (if the recognition accuracy is low, it takes time to correct, so it is necessary to start processing early), delivery date, and the like can be specified. Even if there are many batches waiting for correction due to this structure, the target batch can be easily selected by the correction terminal.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a system for managing a plurality of form data handled as one set in a single cover data in order to manage a plurality of form data handled in one business in association with each other. Yes.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a system for creating a document that completes creation by connecting a plurality of documents without delay. In this system, when displaying a document that is linked between multiple documents, one of the multiple documents is displayed, and the creation status of the other documents that are linked to the displayed document and the document A call instruction that is an instruction to call a document displaying the creation status of the document, that is, a link is displayed, and the creation status of the document is displayed between the documents to be linked to prompt the creation of the document.

JP 2001-84312 A JP-A-63-085969 JP 2000-222392 A

  An object of the present invention is to make it easy to preferentially process a form in a process waiting state for a case to be advanced to the next processing stage.

  The invention according to claim 1 shows the computer for each case, the case identifier of the case, the total number of forms of the case, and whether the input form is in a waiting state or a processed state. Storage means for storing status information; when a form is input, a case identifier is detected from the form, and the storage means is associated with the detected case identifier and indicates that the form is waiting for processing When the processing of the form in which the state information indicating the waiting state for processing is registered in the storage means is completed, the state information corresponding to the form in the storage means is updated to the processed state. Update means to generate, list generation means for generating a list in which the waiting documents for each matter are arranged in order of priority, and the total number of waiting documents and processed documents List generating means for giving higher priority to a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case corresponding to the number of all forms of the case than a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case where the total is less than the number of all forms It is a program to make it function as.

  In the invention according to claim 2, the list generation means corresponds to a case in which the total of the number of forms in the waiting state and the form in the processed state matches the number of all forms of the case in the list to be generated. 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the forms waiting for processing are arranged such that forms belonging to the same item are continuously arranged.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, for a case that employs an element number management method for managing the computer based on the number of elements that are targets of the form, the computer manages the number of elements in association with the case identifier of the case. The second storage means for storing the fact that the method is adopted, the total number of elements of the case, the number of elements already input for the case, and the second identifier associated with the case identifier detected from the input form When it is stored in the storage means that the element number management method is adopted, the number of elements described in the form is detected, and the detected number of elements is input to the case in the second storage means Further, the list generating means is configured to add a process-waiting form corresponding to a case where the number of input elements matches the number of all elements to the list of input elements. There than said form pending state corresponding to the less opportunity than the total number of elements, to increase the priority, a program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the list generating means corresponds to a case in which the total is equal to the number of all forms and is in a process waiting state corresponding to a case in which the total number of input elements is smaller than the number of all elements. The program according to claim 3, wherein the priority is set higher than that of a form waiting for processing.

  In the invention according to claim 5, the list generation unit corresponds to a case in which the number of already input elements corresponds to a case corresponding to the case where the total number of elements corresponds to a case in which the total is less than the total number of forms. 5. The program according to claim 3, wherein the priority is set higher than that of a form waiting to be processed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the list generation means obtains a value of a predetermined additional attribute for each case from the means for storing the additional attribute for each case, and forms a waiting list and a processed form. Determining the arrangement order in the list of forms waiting to be processed corresponding to the case in which the total number of cases matches the number of all forms of the case, based on the value of the additional attribute of each acquired case. The program according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

  In the invention according to claim 7, the list generation means acquires the additional attribute of each case from the means for storing the additional attribute for each case, and the total of the number of forms in the waiting state and the form in the processed state is calculated. The order of arrangement in the list of the waiting form corresponding to the case corresponding to the number of all forms of the case and the waiting form corresponding to the case where the number of input elements matches the number of all elements. The program according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the program is determined based on the acquired additional attribute of each item.

  The invention according to claim 8 is, for each case, state information indicating the case identifier of the case, the total number of forms of the case, and whether the input form is in a process waiting state or a processed state, When a form is input, a storage unit that stores a case identifier is detected from the form, and status information indicating that the form is waiting for processing is registered in the storage unit in association with the detected case identifier. And when the processing of the form in which the state information indicating the processing waiting state is registered in the storage unit is completed, the state information corresponding to the form in the storage unit is updated to the processed state. An update means and a list generation means for generating a list in which the waiting documents for each matter are arranged in order of priority, and the sum of the number of waiting tasks and the processed documents is the relevant matter A list generating means for increasing a priority of a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case corresponding to the number of all forms, to a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case where the total is less than the number of all forms; It is a form processing apparatus provided.

  According to the invention according to claim 1 or 8, it is possible to make it easier to preferentially process a form waiting to be processed for a case to be advanced to the next processing stage, compared to a case where the present invention is not used.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to process a form in a process waiting state for an item to be advanced to the next processing stage earlier than when not using the present invention.

  According to the invention of claim 3, even if the number of forms input for a matter is not determined, such a matter is considered when the total number of elements handled in the matter group, that is, the total number of elements is known. Among them, it is possible to easily preferentially process a form waiting for processing for a case to be advanced to the next processing stage.

  According to the invention according to claim 4 or 5, even if a case where priority is determined using the total number of forms and a case where priority is determined based on the total number of elements are mixed, the case is advanced to the next processing stage. It is possible to preferentially process a form that is waiting for processing.

  According to the invention according to claim 6 or 7, when there are a plurality of items to be advanced to the next processing stage, the order on the list of the documents waiting to be processed between the items is determined based on the value of the additional attribute. Can be determined.

It is a figure which shows an example of the apparatus structure of embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the management information of the item which an item management part manages. It is a figure which shows an example of the management information of the job which a job management part manages. It is a figure for demonstrating the request | requirement to a some request destination, obtaining a reply, and demonstrating the several process step of determining a purchase destination. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the progress condition of the estimate confirmation step about the some case which each requested one or more estimates. It is a figure which illustrates the conventional job management information in the progress situation illustrated in FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the job list shown to the person in charge of the conventional estimate confirmation step in the progress situation illustrated in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating management information (case management table) held by the case management unit of the embodiment in the progress situation illustrated in FIG. 5. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating management information (job management table) held by the job management unit of the embodiment in the progress situation illustrated in FIG. 5. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a job list presented to the person in charge at the estimate confirmation stage from the job display unit of the embodiment in the progress situation illustrated in FIG. 5. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing management information held by a case management unit when a new form is input after the progress state illustrated in FIG. 5 (no job waiting to be processed at the time of FIG. 5 is processed). . It is a figure which shows the management information which the job management part corresponding to the management information of the case of FIG. 11 hold | maintains. It is a figure which illustrates the job list which a job display part shows to the person in charge of an estimate confirmation stage based on the management information of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates a part of process procedure of the apparatus of embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the remaining part of the process sequence of the apparatus of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the management information (item management table) which the item management part of a modification holds. It is a figure which illustrates the job list shown to the person in charge at the estimate confirmation stage of a modification. It is a figure which illustrates the case which the 2nd modification makes object and the number of forms regarding a case is not known in advance. It is a figure which shows an example of the progress situation of the inspection stage corresponding to the situation of FIG. It is a figure which shows the management information (case management table) which a case management part hold | maintains in the condition of FIG. It is a figure which illustrates a part of processing procedure of the 2nd modification. It is a figure which illustrates the remaining part of the process sequence of a 2nd modification.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a functional configuration of the form processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. In this specification, a “form” is a document used for performing a business, for example, an estimate or a delivery note. The form may be printed on paper, or may be document data created by an application such as a spreadsheet or a word processor. A matter ID (identifier) is added to the form for matter management of the present embodiment. In the case of a paper form, the case ID is printed on the form in the form of, for example, an image code such as a barcode or QR code (registered trademark) or a character string image.

  The case ID is an identifier for uniquely identifying the case. Here, the item refers to one unit of business managed by the form processing apparatus 100. The case ID included in the form indicates that the form is a form used in the case indicated by the case ID.

  An item includes one or more processing steps, and these processing steps are basically executed in order. Among the processing stages included in the case, there are cases where one or more forms are used.

  A form input unit 101 included in the form processing apparatus 100 is a unit that receives input of form data. In one example, the input form data is form image data read by a scanner. In another example, the input form data is document data created by an application. Further, the input of form data in both forms of scan image data and application data may be accepted.

  The case ID extraction unit 102 extracts a case ID from the form data input from the form input unit 101. When the input form data is scanned image data, the case ID extraction unit 102 analyzes the image data and recognizes the case ID included in the image as an image code or a character string image. If the input form data is application data, the value of the case ID attribute included in the form data is recognized.

  The total form number acquisition unit 103 acquires information on the total number of forms used by the case corresponding to the form data input from the form input unit 101. The “total number of forms” here is not the total number of forms used in the entire case (which may include a plurality of processing stages) but the total number of forms used in one processing stage in the case. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that one or more processing stages included in the case are sequentially advanced one by one, and the latest processing stage in the progress of the case, that is, the processing stage that is the current processing target, The total number of forms used in is “total number of forms”. In one example, the information of “total number of forms” is printed on each form (or included as attribute data), and the total form number acquisition unit 103 uses the form data to perform image analysis (optical character recognition) and the like. Read the number. In another example, the “total number of forms” is registered in the business system 300 that manages the entire business progress (workflow) in association with the case ID, and the total form number acquisition unit 103 is used by the case ID extraction unit 102. The total number of forms corresponding to the extracted case ID is acquired from the business system 300.

  The case management unit 104 manages management information for each case managed by the form processing apparatus 100. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the case management information (hereinafter also referred to as “case management table”) includes a case ID, the number of all forms, the number of processed forms, and the number of forms waiting to be processed. As described above, the total number of forms is the total number of forms used in the processing stage of the current processing target of the case represented by the case ID. Further, the number of processed forms indicates the number of forms in a state where processing of the current processing target has been completed (referred to as “processed state”) out of the total number of forms. The number of forms waiting for processing indicates the number of forms that are currently waiting for processing to be processed (referred to as “waiting for processing”) among all the forms. In the present embodiment, the form is set to “waiting for processing” only after the form is input to the form input unit 101. Before the form is input to the form input unit 101, the form is in a state before “waiting for processing”. The state before this “waiting for processing” state may be called, for example, a state incapable of starting. The person in charge at the current processing stage is in a state that can process the form only after the form is input. This “processable state” is referred to as “waiting for processing” in this specification. It is distinguished from the state where it cannot start. When the person in charge executes a process in the process stage that is the current process target for a form that is waiting to be processed, the form is processed.

  The priority determination unit 105 checks the processing state for each case ID held in the case management unit 104 and determines the priority for each case.

  For each processing stage (or for each person in charge of each processing stage), the job management unit 106 manages the status (status) of each form (job) in that processing stage. The form input to the form input unit 101 is subjected to processing corresponding to the current processing stage by the person in charge, and this “processing” is called a job. In other words, when a form of a case is input, the person in charge of the processing stage of the current processing target of the case (that is, the latest in progress) has a job to execute the processing of the form on the form. Will be assigned. The job management unit 106 manages such jobs.

  An example of job management information (hereinafter also referred to as a “job management table”) held by the job management unit 106 is shown in FIG. In this example, the job management information is associated with the job ID that uniquely identifies the job, the matter ID of the matter corresponding to the job (corresponding to the input form), the status of the job, the job Contains priority information.

  The job status indicates whether the job (form) is awaiting processing or has been processed. In this example, before a form is input, it is assumed that the job corresponding to the form does not exist as a job at the processing stage that is the current processing target. Therefore, the job corresponding to the blank form is not registered in the job management information in the job management unit 106.

  The job priority indicates the priority in the job arrangement order in the job list presented to the person in charge. In this embodiment, the job of the matter in which all the forms used in the processing stage currently being processed have been input is not the case (that is, one or more of the forms used in the processing stage currently being processed has not been input). The display order in the job list is higher than that of the current job. A matter in which at least one form to be used is not input cannot proceed to the next processing stage until the input form is input, no matter how fast the input form is processed. On the other hand, the case where all the forms to be used have already been entered is advanced to the next processing stage if all the entered forms are processed. In this way, it can be seen that if the person in charge preferentially works on a form for a case in which all the forms to be used have been entered, the processing efficiency of the entire plurality of cases is improved. Therefore, in this embodiment, by setting the priority of the case where all the forms to be used have been entered higher than the priority of the case that is not so, the former case will be displayed higher in the job list than the latter case. To.

  The “job list” is a list (list) in which jobs to be executed by the person in charge (that is, jobs in the “waiting for processing” state) are arranged from the top according to the priority (or priority) of each job. .

  The “priority” managed by the job management unit 106 is a priority based on whether or not all the forms used in the case have been input as described above. In the illustrated example, the priority is in two stages: “high” (all forms used in the case have been entered) and “low” (one or more of the forms used in the case have not been entered).

  FIG. 3 shows a job management table of a group of jobs (form) corresponding to one processing stage (for example, “estimation confirmation” stage illustrated later). A job list generated based on this table is presented. The job management unit 106 holds a similar job group management table for each processing stage. For example, in a business that includes the three stages of an estimate request stage, an estimate confirmation stage, and an estimate determination stage, 4 projects have progressed to the estimate request stage, 3 projects have progressed to the estimate confirmation stage, and an estimate determination stage. If there are two projects that are in progress, the job management information at the request for quotation stage has information for each of the four jobs, and the job management table at the estimate confirmation stage has information for each of these three jobs. The stage job management table includes information on each of the two jobs.

  The job display unit 107 generates a job list that provides the job held in the job management unit 106 to the person in charge at each processing stage according to the priority. A job list at a certain processing stage is a list of each job at that processing stage. In the present embodiment, a case in which all the forms used in a case have been input (priority “high”) has a higher order of arrangement in the job list than a case that does not (priority “low”).

  The additional attribute acquisition unit 201 is a component of a modified apparatus described later, and acquires additional attributes of the form such as delivery date and form configuration from the business system and stores them in the case management unit 104.

  The form processing apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 may be incorporated as, for example, software in a digital multifunction peripheral (multifunctional apparatus having a plurality of functions such as a copier, a printer, and a scanner) or a digital multifunction peripheral. It may be implemented as software on a PC (personal computer) connected to a machine or a scanner.

  The business system 300 is a basic system that manages business in an organization such as a company in which the form processing apparatus 100 is installed, and performs workflow management of the business. The form processing apparatus 100 receives information on each item (total number of forms, progress status, etc.) from the business system 300, and notifies the business system 300 of the progress status of each item (each job).

  Hereinafter, an example of processing executed by the form processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with specific examples.

  First, an example in which a plurality of forms are used in one processing stage will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, two companies, Company A and Company B, are selected as the phase estimation request destinations. A request for quotation is sent to each of Company A and Company B (“Quotation Request” stage), and a quotation is received from each of these companies (“Quotation Response” stage). When the estimate is received in the form of a paper document, the person in charge of the receipt scans the estimate with a scanner and digitizes it.

  In this digitization, optical character recognition (OCR) processing is performed on the image of the scan result to automatically recognize numerical information and character information of each item included in the estimate, and to recognize the various information recognized in the estimate Electronic estimate data is configured by setting the value of each item in the electronic format. Since OCR is not 100% accurate, humans (persons in charge of confirmation work) check whether the numbers and character strings recognized by OCR match those described in the paper estimate, and the recognition results If there is an error, correct the electronic estimate data. Each electronic quotation data generated through this scanning and confirmation stage is sent to the person in charge of the quotation determination stage, who decides which company to place an order by looking at the data of each quotation. To do.

  In the example of FIG. 4, the quotation request document and the “quotation request number” included in the quotation are the project ID of this ordering business transaction. The QR code (registered trademark) on the right side of the title of the request for quotation (character string “quotation request”) represents the request for quotation (= case ID). The “estimate management number” indicates the total number of forms (that is, the estimate request form) issued at the estimate request stage of this ordering business item (that is, the total number of forms at the estimate request stage of this case). The total number of quotation requests is equal to the total number of quotations answered from each company. In this embodiment, the format of the request for quotation and the estimate is negotiated between the request source and the request destination, and the “request for quotation” and “estimate management number” included in the request for quotation are quotes. It is assumed that it is also included.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a case progress situation in which three ordering processes based on such phase estimation are simultaneously in progress.

  FIG. 5 exemplifies the progress of three cases whose case IDs are “M0001”, “M0002”, and “M0003”, respectively. In the ordering process of this example, when a requesting department such as a development department intends to purchase an article, it makes a purchase request (“purchase request” stage) to the purchasing department, and the purchasing department responds accordingly by the purchasing department. A request for quotation is sent to one or more vendors that handle (quotation request stage). Thereafter, an estimate is sent as an answer to the request from each of the requested suppliers (“estimate answer” stage), and the person in charge in the purchasing department inputs the estimate into the form processing apparatus 100. Here, if the estimate is paper, the receptionist causes the scanner to read the estimate, and the OCR result for the image of the scan result is collated with a paper form, so that the electronic estimate that is the OCR result Confirm that each item value is correct (“estimate confirmation” stage). Each confirmed electronic estimate is sent to the person in charge of the quotation decision, who examines the contents of each quotation of the phase quotation and decides which supplier to order ("Quote Determination" Stage). It is assumed that the form processing apparatus 100 manages an estimate confirmation stage, which is a stage in charge of the purchasing department, among these stages (in addition, an estimate request stage and an estimate determination stage may be managed). ).

  In the example of FIG. 5, for the case “M0001”, two companies have been requested for quotation, and one of them (Company A) has received an estimate, but “estimation confirmation” for the estimate has not yet been received. Not done. For project "M0002", we have requested quotations from 3 companies, of which 2 companies (C and D companies) have received quotations, and for C company's quotations, "quote confirmation" has been completed. However, “estimate confirmation” has not yet been completed for D's estimate. For the case “M0003”, an estimate request has been made to one company, and an estimate has been received from that one company (Company F), but “estimation confirmation” for the estimate has not yet been completed.

  When the form that is the target of the estimate confirmation stage (that is, the estimate) is input, the form processing apparatus 100 generates a job called “estimate confirmation” for the form (that is, a new job ID is assigned to the “estimate confirmation”). Assigned to the work). In the illustrated example, the job ID is obtained by adding a 4-digit serial number after the letter “J” representing a job. The serial number portion indicates the order in which the form is input.

  In the example of FIG. 5, four of the estimates used in the three cases have already been input to the form processing apparatus 100, and jobs “J0001” to “J0004” are input in order of input for each of the input estimates. An ID is assigned. Of these four, the estimate of the job ID “J0001” has been confirmed (for example, because the person in charge of the check happens to have free time and the estimate can be processed ahead of schedule). However, the remaining three quotations have not yet been confirmed.

  In the case of a conventional general business management system, the job management information at the “estimate confirmation” stage in the situation of FIG. 5 will be, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, even in the conventional technology, the case ID corresponding to the job ID (that is, information indicating which case the estimate is from) and the estimate confirmation processing for the estimate corresponding to the job ID have been completed (“Process Information ") or not (" waiting for processing ") will be managed. However, the prior art does not manage whether all the forms used in the project have been input. Therefore, in the job list presented to the person in charge at the estimate confirmation stage in the prior art, information other than “whether or not all the forms used in the matter have been entered”, such as the order of job delivery and the order of arrival of the forms, etc. It will be decided based on. FIG. 7 shows a display example of the job list when jobs waiting to be processed among the jobs included in the job management information of FIG. 6 are arranged according to the arrival order of the estimate. In this example, each job waiting to be processed is displayed in a list together with the case ID in ascending order of job ID number.

  The person in charge of the estimate confirmation who sees this job list will work in order from “J0002” having the highest priority. However, even if “J0002” is processed early, another estimate (for company B) of the same item “M0001” has not yet arrived, and therefore the next “estimate determination” stage cannot be performed.

  The case management table and the job management table managed by the case management unit 104 and the job management unit 106 of this embodiment for the same situation (see FIG. 5) are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in this situation, the case “M0001” has the number of processed forms out of the total number of forms 2 and the number of forms waiting to be processed is 1 (the remaining one form is not input). In “M0002”, the number of processed forms out of the total number of forms 3 is 1, and the number of forms waiting to be processed is 1 (the remaining one form is not input). In the case “M0003”, the number of processed forms out of the total number of forms 1 is 1, and the number of forms waiting to be processed is 0.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, the priority of a case in which all the forms used in the processing stage have been input is relatively higher than the priority of a case that is not. In other words, the fact that all the forms used in the processing stage have been input means that the sum of the number of processed forms and the number of forms waiting to be processed matches the number of all forms. If even one form used in the processing stage is not input, the sum of the number of processed forms and the number of forms waiting to be processed becomes a value smaller than the number of all forms.

  When the management information of each case in FIG. 8 is applied to this processing method, the case “M0001” is the sum of the number of processed forms (= 0) and the number of forms waiting to be processed (= 1) (= 1) is the number of all forms. Smaller than (= 2). Therefore, it can be seen that at least one of the forms of this case has not been entered, and the priority of this case is “low”. Similarly, the priority of the project “M0002” is also “low”. On the other hand, for the case “M0003”, the sum (= 1) of the number of processed forms (= 0) and the number of waiting forms (= 1) is equal to the total number of forms (= 1). The priority of this project is “high”.

  In the management information of the job management unit 106 shown in FIG. 9, the priority value of the matter to which the job belongs is set in the “priority” of each job. For example, the priority value “low” of the case “M0001” is set for the job “J0002”, and the priority value “high” of the case “M0003” is set for the job “J0004”.

  The job display unit 107 refers to the status and priority of each job shown in FIG. 9, and each job whose status is “waiting for processing” is higher than each job whose priority is “high” is “low”. The job list information arranged in the following order is generated and displayed on the screen (for example, the screen of a PC or digital multifunction peripheral operated by the person in charge of quotation) that is viewed by the person in charge of quotation estimation.

  An example of the job list screen displayed according to the information of FIG. 9 is shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 10, the job “J0004” of the matter “M0003” in which all the forms to be processed have been input is positioned at the highest position in the job list, and some forms are not input below this. Jobs “J0002” and “J0003” of certain projects “M0001” and “M0002” are located. When the person in charge of the quotation check sees the job list and processes the job “J0004” preferentially, all the quotations (only one) of the case “M0003” are digitized and the contents are confirmed. Will proceed to the next “estimate” stage.

  In the case of the conventional job list screen illustrated in FIG. 7, the person in charge processes the job “J0004” after the jobs “J0002” and “J0003”. , After processing of jobs “J0002” and “J0003”. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the job “J0004” is processed first, so that the timing at which “estimate determination” of the case “M0003” becomes possible is advanced. On the other hand, for jobs “J0002” and “J0003”, even if the estimate is confirmed until all of the quotes for the corresponding cases have been prepared, it is not possible to proceed further, so even if it is postponed from job “J0004”, it proceeds to estimate determination. Will not be delayed.

  Next, as a further specific example, let us consider a case where an estimate is received from the company E in response to an estimate request to the company E in the project “M0002” in the situation of FIG. Assume that no other estimate arrives before the arrival of this estimate after the situation shown in FIG. 5, and no job waiting to be processed has been processed.

  When the estimate from the company E is input to the form processing apparatus 100 by the person in charge, the “estimate confirmation” job “J0005” for the estimate is registered in the job management unit 106. In addition, the number of processing waiting forms of the management information of the case “M0002” held by the case management unit 104 is increased by one. The management information held by the case management unit 104 and the job management unit 106 at this time is as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, respectively.

  By inputting the estimate from the company E, all the estimate documents subject to estimate confirmation in the case “M0002” have already been entered, so the priority of the case “M0002” is changed to “high”. As a result, in the job management information shown in FIG. 12, the priority of each job “J0001”, “J0003”, and “J0005” included in the item “M0002” is set to “high”.

  The job display unit 107 generates a job list display illustrated in FIG. 13 based on the job management information in FIG. In the job list display of FIG. 13, the jobs “J0003”, “J0004”, and “J0005” having “processing waiting” and the priority “high” are ranked higher than the job “J0002” having the priority “low”. Is located.

  In the example of FIG. 13, jobs having the same priority are grouped for each case ID, and jobs belonging to the same group are continuously arranged. In other words, if jobs having a priority of “high” are arranged in the order of input, jobs are arranged in the job list in the order of “J0003”, “J0004”, and “J0005”. On the other hand, in the example of FIG. 13, the jobs “J0003” and “J0005” belonging to the same item ID “M0002” form one group. Therefore, these jobs “J0003” and “J0005” are consecutive in the job list. Then, another group “M0003” of the priority “high” (only the job “J0004”) is arranged after that. In the example of FIG. 13, the arrangement order of the “high” priority groups is determined according to the input order of the jobs with the earliest input order in each group. However, the method of determining the arrangement order between groups is not limited to this. Instead of this, a determination method based on additional attributes described later may be employed.

  In the example of FIG. 13, since jobs belonging to the same matter with the priority “high” are consecutive in the job list, if the person in charge processes the jobs according to the order of the job list, the job with the same priority “high” The case can be advanced to the next processing stage more quickly than when the jobs to which it belongs are not continued.

  Next, an example of a processing procedure executed by the form processing apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15.

  First, when a form arrives, as shown in FIG. 14, the person in charge reads the form with a scanner, and takes the form image of the scan result and the OCR result into the form processing apparatus 100 from the form input unit 101 (S10). Next, the case ID extraction unit 102 extracts the case ID from the form image or its OCR result (S12). Next, the case management unit 104 searches the case management table for the extracted case ID (in principle, “the number of all forms corresponding to the case ID”) (S14), and determines whether or not it has been searched (S14). S16).

  If the case ID does not exist in the case management table, the form read in S10 is the first read form in the case. In this case, the total form number acquisition unit 103 acquires the total number of forms corresponding to the case ID (S18). In one example, the total form number acquisition unit 103 reads a case ID included as an image code or a character string image in a form. In another example, the total number of forms registered in the business system 300 in the processing stage (for example, “quotation request” in FIG. 5) before the current processing stage (for example, “estimation confirmation” in FIG. 5) Acquisition unit 103 acquires.

  Then, the case management unit 104 registers the pair of the case ID and the total number of forms in the case management table (S20). At this time, the values of the number of processing waiting forms and the number of processed forms corresponding to the case ID are both initialized to 0. Next, the case management unit 104 increments the value of the number of processing waiting forms corresponding to the case ID by 1 (S22). This means that the form entered this time is registered as waiting for processing. Then, the job management unit 106 assigns a job ID to the form input this time, and registers the case ID and the status value “waiting for processing” in association with the job ID in the job management table (S24). . At this point, the “priority” column corresponding to the job ID is empty.

  If the case ID extracted in S12 is in the case management table, it means that the record of the case ID already exists, so the processes of S22 and S24 are performed without performing the processes of S18 and S20.

  After S24, the process proceeds to the flow of FIG. In the flow of FIG. 15, the priority determination unit 105 reads out the total number of forms, the number of processed forms, and the number of forms waiting to be processed corresponding to the case ID extracted in S12 from the case management table, and the number of processed forms and the waiting state are processed. It is determined whether the sum of the number of forms matches the number of all forms (S26). If they match, the priority determination unit 105 determines the priority of the case as “high”, and sets the priority of all jobs corresponding to the case ID in the job management table as “high”. (S28). Then, the record of the case ID is deleted from the case management table (S30). The reason for deletion is that since all the forms corresponding to the case ID have already been input, it is no longer necessary to perform the determination of S26 with reference to the record in the future.

  If it is determined in S26 that the sum of the number of processed forms and the number of forms to be processed does not match the number of all forms, the priority determination unit 105 determines that the priority of the case is “low” and performs job management. The priority of the job generated this time in the table is set to “low” (S32).

  After S30 or S32, the job display unit 107 generates a job list in which jobs waiting to be processed are arranged according to priority (S34), and displays the generated job list on the screen (S36). For example, when the form processing apparatus 100 is incorporated in a digital multi-function peripheral, when a form is scanned by the scanner function of the digital multi-function peripheral, a job list is displayed on the screen of a display device provided in the digital multi-function peripheral.

  In the processing procedure described above, priority is set for a job corresponding to a scanned form (S30 or S32), and then a job list is generated (S34) and displayed (S36). This is an example. Not too much. Instead, when the form is scanned, only the processing from S10 to S30 or S32 (that is, registration of the job in the case management table and job management table and update of various information corresponding thereto) is performed. When there is a job list display request, the job display unit 107 generates a job list from information such as the status and priority of the job management table at that time, and provides it to the terminal operated by the person in charge. Also good.

  Thus, one embodiment of the present invention has been described. Next, a modification of the above embodiment will be described.

  In this modification, in determining the order of jobs in the job list, the order of jobs having the same priority based on whether or not all the forms of the matter have already been input is set as an additional attribute of the job (that is, its priority). Attribute information other than degrees). In other words, the priority is used as the first sort key in the job arrangement order, and the additional attribute of each job is used as the second sort key for determining the order of jobs having the same priority. As the additional attribute, for example, the delivery date of the job or item, the recognition accuracy of the OCR, or the like is used. For example, a job or an item with an earlier delivery date is given a higher rank in the job list. Also, the job list with a lower OCR recognition accuracy (because it will take more time for rework), the rank in the job list is increased so that it can be started sooner.

  For example, assume that the delivery date for each case is set as shown in FIG. FIG. 16 shows a case management table, to which a delivery date attribute is added. The delivery date of the case is acquired from the business system 300 and registered in the case management table. Assume that the job management table is the same as that illustrated in FIG. In this case, the job display unit 107 groups the jobs with the same priority “high” for each case, and sets the order of the groups in the order of early delivery of the corresponding cases. Therefore, in the job list of this example, as shown in FIG. 17, among the jobs “J0003”, “J0004”, and “J0005” with the priority “high”, the job “J0004” of the item “M0003” with the earliest delivery date. "Is the highest, followed by the jobs" J0003 "and" J0005 "of the" M0002 "project whose delivery date is later than that.

  In this modification, the user determines which additional attribute is used as the second sort key, and registers the information of the determined second sort key in the form processing apparatus 100 as setting information. When the job display unit 107 generates a job list, the additional attribute acquisition unit 201 acquires the value of the additional attribute corresponding to the second sort key of each case from the business system 300. The job display unit 107 sorts each job waiting for processing according to the priority (first sort key) based on whether or not all the forms used in the matter have been input, and then selects a job group having the same priority as the first job group. 2 Sort further according to the value of the sort key. Then, the job list as a sorting result is presented to the user.

  Next, as a second modification, an example will be described in which the priority of the job management table is determined based on data in a form that dynamically changes, instead of the number of forms determined in advance in the case.

  In this modification, the flow of delivery work as shown in FIG. 18 is considered. In the example of FIG. 18, one order form for one item “M0011” is sent to one request destination, but the first delivery corresponds to the delivery of “10” for the number of orders “15”. In the second delivery, all the orders “15” are completed, and it becomes possible to proceed to the next manufacturing step. In this example, payment is allowed for the request destination, so the requester does not know in advance how many payments will be made for a single purchase order (that is, how many invoices will be received). . For this reason, the management system of the above embodiment using the number of forms does not function.

  Therefore, in this modification, a mode is prepared in which the display priority in the job list is switched using the number of elements handled by the form instead of the number of forms. In the above example, the element handled by the form is an article ordered from the request destination. Therefore, the number of elements is the number of orders or the number of deliveries in the above example. Then, for each case, the total number of elements described in one or more input forms is managed, and while the total is less than the total number of elements registered in advance, the priority of the case If the total is equal to the total number of elements, the priority of the case is raised to “high”.

  In the example of FIG. 18, the number of orders described in the order form corresponds to the total number of elements, and the number of deliveries described in the invoice for each partial delivery corresponding to the order is the number of elements that have been distributed.

  In the example of FIG. 18, inspection of each delivery note when it is divided into two parts from the requesting company A (matching the delivery note with the delivered item, whether the type of article and the number of deliveries match) (Confirmation work) Here, as shown in FIG. 19, it is assumed that the acceptance for the first delivery has been completed, and the delivery for the second delivery has been completed but the acceptance has not yet been performed. In this case, the contents of the case management table for the “acceptance” stage for this case “M0011” are as shown in FIG.

  In the case management table shown in FIG. 20, the total number of elements, the number of processed elements, and the number of elements waiting to be processed are registered in association with the case ID. In the situation shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the total number of elements (that is, the “order number”) is 15, the number of processed elements (the number of first delivered delivery) is 10, and the number of elements waiting for processing (already delivered). The number of undelivered second deliveries) is 5.

  The item management table of FIG. 20 also includes a “form configuration” attribute that defines a management method corresponding to the item ID. The form configuration of the case “M0011” is “number of elements”. This is because the priority of the case is based on the number of elements (instead of the method of the above-described embodiment based on the number of forms). It means to judge with. In this modification, the user selects which method to use between the “number of elements” method and the management method based on the number of forms used in the above embodiment (for example, the “number of forms” method). It can be so. That is, the user decides which of these two methods is used to manage the form of the matter in accordance with the business content of the matter, and associates the information specifying the decided method with the matter ID of the matter. 300 or the form processing apparatus 100. Information of this method is registered as one item of the record when the record of the case is created in the case management table.

  When the form management method can be selected, the third and fourth columns from the left of the case management table (see FIGS. 8 and 16) are “processed form number” and “processing” in the “form number” method. In the case of the “number of elements” method, it may be interpreted as “number of processed elements” and “number of elements waiting for processing”.

  21 and 22 show an example of the processing procedure of this modification. In FIG. 21, the same steps as those in the procedure of FIG. 14 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  In this example, the case management unit 104 determines whether the form management method corresponding to the case ID detected from the scanned form is the “number of elements” method or the “number of forms” method (S40). This determination is made by referring to the form management method information registered in the business system 300 or the case management table in association with the case ID.

  When it is determined that the form management method is the “number of forms” method, the matter management unit 104 executes the processes of S16 to S36 (see FIGS. 14 and 15) already described.

  When it is determined that the form management method is the “number of elements” method, the matter management unit 104 determines whether a record corresponding to the matter ID detected in S12 already exists in the matter management table (S42). If it does not exist, the case management unit 104 reads the value of the total number of elements described in the form from the form image or the OCR result (S44). For this purpose, the “total number of elements” is determined in advance between the side that issues the form (request destination in the example of FIG. 18) and the side that receives it (request source in the example of FIG. 18) in advance. ”To be included. For example, in the example of FIG. 18, it is determined that the value of “order quantity” of the order form is described in association with the item name “order quantity” in the delivery note.

  Then, the case management unit 104 registers a new record including the pair of the case ID detected in S12 and the total number of elements in the case management table (S46). At this time, the values of the number of elements waiting for processing and the number of processed elements corresponding to the case ID are both initialized to zero.

  Next, the matter management unit 104 determines the number of elements described in the form from the form image or OCR result (that is, the number of target elements handled by the form out of the total number of elements. For example, the actual number of deliveries with respect to the number of orders). Is detected (S48). For this purpose, it is agreed in advance that the “number of elements” is described in a predetermined manner for the form between the side that issues the form and the side that receives it. For example, in the example of FIG. 18, it is determined that the number of target articles that are actually delivered together with the delivery note is described in the delivery note in association with the item name “delivery number”. According to this agreement, the number of elements is recognized from the form.

  Then, the case management unit 104 adds the number of elements detected in S48 to the value of the number of elements waiting for processing corresponding to the case ID in the case management table (S50). Then, the job management unit 106 assigns a job ID to the form input this time, and registers the case ID and the status value “waiting for processing” in association with the job ID in the job management table (S52). . At this point, the “priority” column corresponding to the job ID is empty.

  If the determination result in S42 is Yes, that is, the case ID extracted in S12 is in the case management table, it means that the record of the case ID already exists, so the processing in S44 and S46 is not performed, and the processing in S48 to S52 is performed. I do.

  After S52, the process proceeds to the flow of FIG. In the flow of FIG. 22, the priority determination unit 105 reads the total number of elements, the number of processed elements, and the number of elements waiting for processing corresponding to the case ID extracted in S12 from the case management table, and processes the number of processed elements and waits for processing. It is determined whether the sum of the number of elements matches the number of all elements (S54). If they match, the priority determination unit 105 determines the priority of the case as “high”, and sets the priority of all jobs corresponding to the case ID in the job management table as “high”. (S56). Then, the record of the case ID is deleted from the case management table (S58).

  If it is determined in S54 that the sum of the number of processed elements and the number of elements waiting to be processed does not match the total number of elements, the priority determination unit 105 determines that the priority of the matter is “low” and performs job management. The priority of the job generated this time in the table is set to “low” (S60).

  After S58 or S60, the job display unit 107 generates a job list in which jobs waiting to be processed are arranged according to priority (S62), and displays the generated job list on the screen (S64).

  In the second modification, the priority “high” in the “number of forms” method and the priority “high” in the “number of elements” method are treated as the same value. In either case, if a job waiting to be processed for a high priority item is processed, the item is advanced to the next processing stage. Ranking on the job list between the cases of the “number of forms” method and the “number of elements” method having the priority “high” may be performed based on an additional attribute such as a delivery date.

  In the above description of the second modification, the “number of processed elements” and “number of elements waiting to be processed” of the matter are recorded and updated according to the input of the form corresponding to the matter, but this is only an example. . Instead of separately recording “number of processed elements” and “number of elements waiting for processing”, the total of both is recorded as “number of input elements” representing the number of elements input to the form processing apparatus 100. It may be. In this example, the initial value of the “number of input elements” of the case is set to 0, and the number of elements read from the form is added to the “number of input elements” each time the form corresponding to the case is scanned. . The priority determination unit 105 sets the priority of the case to “high” if the “number of elements already entered” of the case matches the “total number of elements”, and sets the priority of the case to “high” otherwise. Low ”. The method of recording the “number of input elements” is equivalent to the method of recording the “number of processed elements” and the “number of elements waiting for processing” with respect to the priority determination.

  The form processing apparatus 100 described above is realized, for example, by causing a general-purpose computer (for example, one built in a PC or a digital multi-function peripheral) to execute a program representing the processing of each functional module described above. Here, the computer includes, for example, a microprocessor such as a CPU, a memory (primary storage device) such as a random access memory (RAM) and a read only memory (ROM), a secondary storage device (hard disk drive, solid state) as hardware. A network interface that performs control for connection to a network such as a drive, a flash memory, and the like, various I / O (input / output) interfaces, a local area network, and the like has a circuit configuration connected via a bus, for example. Also, portable non-volatile recording of various standards such as a disk drive and a flash memory for reading and / or writing to a portable disk recording medium such as a CD or a DVD via the I / O interface, for example. A memory reader / writer for reading from and / or writing to a medium may be connected. A program in which the processing contents of each functional module exemplified above are described is stored in a secondary storage device via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a communication means such as a network, and installed in a computer. . The program stored in the secondary storage device is read into the RAM and executed by a microprocessor such as a CPU, thereby realizing the functional module group exemplified above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Form processing apparatus, 101 Form input part, 102 Case ID extraction part, 103 Total form number acquisition part, 104 Case management part, 105 Priority determination part, 106 Job management part, 107 Job display part, 201 Additional attribute acquisition part, 300 Business system.

Claims (8)

Computer
Storage means for storing, for each case, a case identifier of the case, the number of all forms of the case, and status information indicating whether the input form is in a process waiting state or a processed state,
When a form is input, a registration unit that detects a case identifier from the form and registers state information indicating that the form is waiting to be processed in association with the detected case identifier in the storage unit;
An update unit that updates the state information corresponding to the form in the storage unit to a processed state when the processing of the form in which the state information indicating the processing standby state is registered in the storage unit is completed;
A list generation means for generating a list in which the queued documents for each item are arranged in order of priority, and the total number of the queued documents and the completed documents is the number of all the documents of the item A list generation means for giving a higher priority to a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case corresponding to the case than a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case where the total is less than the total number of forms,
Program to function as.   In the list to be generated, the list generation means, for the forms waiting for processing corresponding to the case where the sum of the number of forms waiting for processing and the number of forms already processed matches the number of all forms of the case, The program according to claim 1, wherein forms belonging to the same item are arranged in a row. The computer,
For an item that uses an element number management method that manages a form based on the number of elements that are the subject of the form, the fact that the element number management method is used in association with the item identifier of the item indicates that the total number of elements in the item , Second storage means for storing the number of input elements for the case,
If the fact that the element number management method is adopted is stored in the second storage means in association with the case identifier detected from the input form, the number of elements described in the form is detected, Adding means for adding the number of detected elements to the number of elements already input for the case in the second storage means;
And further function as
The list generation means is configured to process a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case in which the number of input elements matches the number of all elements, and to wait for processing corresponding to a case in which the number of input elements is less than the total number of elements. Make the priority higher than the form,
The program according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above-mentioned. The list generation means is a process waiting state corresponding to a case where the total matches the number of all forms, and a list waiting for processing corresponding to a case where the number of input elements is less than the total number of elements. , Increase the priority,
The program according to claim 3. The list generation means is configured to process a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case in which the number of input elements matches the number of all elements than a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case in which the total is less than the total number of forms. , Increase the priority,
The program according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that.   The list generation means obtains a value of a predetermined additional attribute for each case from a means for storing the additional attribute for each case, and the total number of forms in the waiting state and processed forms is the sum of the number of the case. 6. The arrangement order in the list of forms waiting for processing corresponding to the number of cases corresponding to the total number of forms is determined based on the value of the additional attribute of each acquired case. The program according to any one of the above items.   The list generation means acquires the additional attributes of each case from the means for storing the additional attributes for each case, and the total of the number of forms waiting to be processed and the forms in the processed state is the total number of forms of the case. Additional attributes of each acquired matter for the order of arrangement in the list of forms waiting for processing corresponding to the matching case and the list of waiting forms corresponding to cases where the number of input elements matches the total number of elements The program according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the program is determined based on the program. Storage means for storing, for each case, a case identifier of the case, the total number of forms of the case, and status information indicating whether the input form is in a process waiting state or a processed state.
When a form is input, a registration unit that detects a case identifier from the form and registers state information indicating that the form is waiting for processing in association with the detected case identifier in the storage unit;
An update unit that updates the state information corresponding to the form in the storage unit to a processed state when the processing of the form in which the state information indicating the processing standby state is registered in the storage unit is completed;
A list generation means for generating a list in which the queued documents for each item are arranged in order of priority, and the total number of the queued documents and the completed documents is the number of all the documents of the item A list generation means for giving a higher priority to a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case that matches the case than a form waiting for processing corresponding to a case where the total is less than the total number of forms,
A form processing apparatus comprising:

Images