JP5942649B2 - Image forming apparatus and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a program.

  Conventionally, as a technique for presenting advice information necessary for image formation of a document to a user when printing using the image forming apparatus, a characteristic in which the image forming apparatus reads the document and represents an attribute of the read document. A technique for extracting values and displaying advice information (setting job parameters) corresponding to the extracted characteristic values prior to print setting has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-201712 A

  An object of the present invention is to extract and present a document related to a document based on the priority of the document prior to executing image processing on the document.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is set corresponding to each attribute value of the attribute of the document stored in the execution unit for executing the image processing specified by the user on the acquired document and the document storage unit Priority information storage means for storing priority information, attribute value extraction means for extracting attribute values set with priority information satisfying preset extraction conditions from the priority information storage means, and keywords are set Of the keywords set by the setting means and the keyword set by the setting means, the document storage means is searched for based on the keyword that matches the character string extracted by analyzing the read image of the acquired document. a narrowing section Filter document as a candidate for a document, by searching based on the attribute values extracted by the attribute value extracting means, down by the narrowing section A related document extraction means for extracting the relevant documents related to the document from the filled-in documents, the related documents of the document extracted by the related document extracting means before the image processing is performed by the execution unit Presenting means for presenting information to be identified to the user, first operation for a button to which a function is assigned, and reception means for receiving a second operation different from the first operation; and A screen for instructing execution of the one function when a first operation is received, and a screen for setting the keyword when the second operation is received by the receiving means. It is characterized by that.

In the program according to the present invention, execution means for executing image processing designated by the user on an acquired document on a computer mounted on the image forming apparatus, and priority information satisfying preset extraction conditions are set. Attribute value extracting means for extracting priority value information stored in the document storage means corresponding to each attribute value of the document attribute stored in the document storage means , setting for setting a keyword Means for searching the document storage means based on a keyword that matches the character string extracted by analyzing the read image of the obtained original document among the keywords set by the setting means. narrowing means Filter document as a candidate, by searching based on the attribute values extracted by the attribute value extracting means, said narrowing means Ri related document extraction means for extracting the relevant documents related to the document from the narrowed document, the related documents of the document extracted by the related document extracting means before the image processing is performed by the execution unit Presenting means for presenting information to be identified to the user, first operation for a button to which a function is assigned, and reception means for receiving a second operation different from the first operation; A screen for instructing execution of the one function is displayed when the operation is received, and a function for displaying a screen for setting the keyword when the second operation is received by the receiving means. Is.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to extract and present a document related to a document based on the priority of the document prior to executing image processing on the document. In addition, based on the characteristic value of the document, documents that are candidates for the document related to the document can be narrowed down in advance.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to extract and present a document related to a document based on the priority of the document prior to executing image processing on the document. In addition, based on the characteristic value of the document, documents that are candidates for the document related to the document can be narrowed down in advance.

1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. It is the figure which showed the data structural example of the priority information memorize | stored in the priority information storage part in this Embodiment. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a main menu (first page) prepared in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a main menu (second page) prepared in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the image processing in this Embodiment. It is the figure which showed an example of the keyword setting screen in this Embodiment. It is the figure which showed an example of the related document list screen in this Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a configuration in which an image forming apparatus 20 and a document server 15 are connected via a network 16. The document server 15 stores an electronic document (hereinafter also simply referred to as “document”). The network 16 may be connected to a plurality of server computers as document storage destinations and a plurality of image forming apparatuses 20 as document use destinations, as long as they have similar configurations and functions. For convenience, FIG. 1 shows one unit at a time.

  FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. The image forming apparatus 20 is a multifunction machine having various functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function, and is an apparatus having a built-in computer. In FIG. 2, the CPU 1 controls the operation of various mechanisms mounted on the apparatus such as the scanner 4 and the printer engine 6 in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 9. The address data bus 2 is connected to various mechanisms to be controlled by the CPU 1 and performs data communication. The operation panel 3 receives instructions from the user and displays information. The scanner 4 reads a document set by a user and stores it as electronic data in an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 5 or the like. The HDD 5 stores a document read using the scanner 4, a document acquired from the document server 15, and the like. The confidential box used in the present embodiment is provided in the HDD 5. The printer engine 6 prints an image on output paper in accordance with an instruction from a control program executed by the CPU 1. A network interface (I / F) 7 connects the network 16 and is used for transmission / reception of electronic data, transmission / reception of electronic mail, access to the apparatus via a browser, and the like. The RAM 8 is used as a work memory during program execution and a communication buffer during electronic data transmission / reception. The ROM 9 stores various programs having control of the apparatus and various functions. By executing various programs, each component described later exhibits a predetermined processing function. An external media interface (I / F) 10 is an interface with an external memory device such as a USB memory or a flash memory.

  The document server 15 may be realized by a general-purpose hardware configuration having a CPU, ROM, RAM, HDD, input / output means, communication means, and the like.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 20 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes an instruction receiving unit 21, an image processing unit 22, a priority information update unit 23, a control unit 24, a keyword storage unit 25, a priority information storage unit 26, and a document. An information holding unit 27 is included. FIG. 1 shows only the components necessary for the description of the present embodiment. The instruction receiving unit 21 receives an instruction input by the user by operating the operation panel 3 such as selection of an image processing function or the like, parameter setting operation, and the like. The image processing unit 22 executes image processing for realizing various functions mounted on the image forming apparatus 20 such as copying and scanning. The priority information update unit 23 updates the priority information stored in the priority information storage unit 26. The control unit 24 performs overall control of various processing functions installed in the image forming apparatus 20.

  The image processing unit 22 in this embodiment includes a keyword setting unit 221, a document narrowing unit 222, an attribute value extraction unit 223, a related document extraction unit 224, a presentation processing unit 225, and a process execution unit 226. The keyword setting unit 221 sets a keyword used when narrowing down related documents related to a document by referring to the keyword storage unit 25 or the like. The document narrowing unit 222 is provided as a narrowing unit, and searches the document server 15 based on the characteristic value indicating the characteristic of the original obtained by analyzing the acquired read image of the original, thereby relating to the original. Documents that are candidates for related documents are narrowed down, and information about the narrowed documents is registered in the document information holding unit 27. In the present embodiment, a keyword for searching for a character string in a document is used as a characteristic value. The attribute value extraction unit 223 is provided as an attribute value extraction unit, and extracts from the priority information storage unit 26 an attribute value in which priority information satisfying a preset extraction condition is set. The related document extracting unit 224 is provided as a related document extracting unit, and searches based on the attribute value extracted by the attribute value extracting unit 223 to search the related document related to the manuscript from the documents stored in the document server 15. Extract documents. In the present embodiment, the related document extraction unit 224 directly stores the document narrowed down by the document narrowing unit 222, that is, the document information holding unit 27, without directly accessing the document server 15 to extract the related document of the manuscript. The document related to the manuscript is extracted from the documents specified from the information regarding the selected document. The presentation processing unit 225 is provided as a presentation unit, and presents information specifying a related document of the document extracted by the related document extraction unit 224 before image processing is executed by the processing execution unit 226 to the user. The process execution unit 226 is provided as an execution unit, and executes image processing designated by the user on the acquired document.

  The keyword storage unit 25 stores in advance keyword candidates that are used when the image forming apparatus 20 narrows down related documents related to a document. The document information holding unit 27 holds information related to the document narrowed down by the document narrowing unit 222. The information related to the document may be electronic data of the document itself, but in the present embodiment, information for specifying the document such as the document name and storage destination information is assumed. The priority information storage unit 26 is provided as priority information storage means, and stores priority information set in association with each attribute value of the document attribute stored in the document server 15. This priority information will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data configuration example of priority information set in the priority information storage unit 26 in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, priority information is set with an index value representing the attribute of the document and the reliability of the document itself. FIG. 3 shows a document creator as an example of document attributes. As illustrated in FIG. 3, evaluation values (high, medium, low) are set as the reliability for each creator. The reliability for the creator is set by the document manager or the like with reference to the use frequency, evaluation, etc. for the document created by the user. The creator of the higher evaluation value has higher reliability and is more likely to be extracted by the attribute value extraction process described later. In the present embodiment, the reliability is set in three stages of high, medium, and low, but it is not necessary to limit to this.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the reliability is set for each document. Specifically, the reliability is expressed using index values such as the number of citations and the number of references for each document specified by the attribute of the document name. The “quotation count” is the number of times cited from another document. The “reference count” is the number of times the document has been browsed. The greater the number of citations and the number of references, the higher the reliability, and the higher the possibility of extraction in attribute value extraction processing described later. As will be described later, the number of times of reference is automatically accumulated when image processing is executed by one of the users and the document is referred to when printing or the like. The number of citations is accumulated automatically or by a document creator or the like when it is detected that the document has been cited.

  In the present embodiment, priority information is set for the attributes of a document such as a creator and a name. However, priority information may be set for attributes other than or including the attribute. In addition, the reliability of each document is not limited to the index examples of the citation count and the reference count, and may be expressed in combination with other indexes or other indexes.

  Each component 21 to 24 in the image forming apparatus 20 is realized by a cooperative operation of each apparatus such as a computer and the scanner 4 mounted on the image forming apparatus 20 and a program operating on the CPU 1 mounted on the computer. The storage units 25 to 27 are realized by the HDD 5 or the RAM 8 mounted on the image forming apparatus 20.

  The program used in the present embodiment can be provided not only by communication means but also by storing it in a computer-readable recording medium such as an external memory device that can be connected to the external media interface 10. . The program provided from the communication means or the recording medium is installed in the computer, and various processes are realized by the CPU 1 sequentially executing the program.

  Documents are accessed by citations, references, etc. from a plurality of users. In this embodiment, it is estimated that a document that is accessed many times is a document that is worthy to be trusted objectively. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as will be described later, a document that satisfies a certain standard among documents stored in the document server 15, specifically, an attribute value included in priority information satisfies a predetermined extraction condition. If the condition is satisfied, the attribute value is extracted, and a document matching the attribute value is extracted and presented to the user as a related document of the document to be processed. In the present embodiment, a document having a highly reliable attribute value is preferentially extracted. In the present embodiment, “reliability” is treated as the same as “priority”.

  Next, the operation in this embodiment will be described.

  In the present embodiment, a main menu over two pages illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B is prepared in advance in the image forming apparatus 20. When the main menu of the first page illustrated in FIG. 4A is displayed on the operation panel 3, a predetermined flick operation, for example, with one fingertip touching any part on the main menu in the right direction When moved, the main menu of the second page illustrated in FIG. 4B is displayed. Further, when the main menu of the second page is displayed on the operation panel 3, when a predetermined flick operation is performed, for example, when one fingertip is touched on any part of the main menu and moved to the right. Since there is no main menu for the third page, the process returns to the main menu for the first page. Or you may make it return to the main menu of the 1st page by flicking to the left.

  Then, when a predetermined flick operation, for example, one fingertip is moved downward with the fingertip touching the button corresponding to the function executed from the function selection buttons displayed on the main menu, the touch is performed. You can start executing the function that corresponds to the button you had. Here, the case where “copy” is selected will be described as an example, and image processing (that is, copy processing) in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the user flicks downward with one fingertip touching the “copy” button, the instruction receiving unit 21 receives this operation. When the control unit 24 recognizes that the operation instruction is the execution of the copy function, it starts the copy function process. As a result, the image processing unit 22 starts executing the copy function process.

  When the copy function process is started, first, keywords are set by the keyword setting unit 221 (step 101). That is, the keyword setting unit 221 displays the keyword setting screen shown in FIG. 6 on the operation panel 3 in accordance with a predetermined flick operation by the user. Then, the user inputs a keyword for extracting a related document related to the copy original from the keyword setting screen. The keyword setting unit 221 sets a keyword by receiving the keyword input and specified from the keyword setting screen in this way.

  By the way, regarding the setting of the keyword, a method other than the above may be adopted. For example, the keyword setting unit 221 reads a character string that is a keyword candidate stored in the keyword storage unit 25 and displays the character string as a list on the keyword setting screen. Then, the keyword may be selected by the user from the keyword candidates. Alternatively, only a character string preset as an initial value may be displayed on the keyword setting screen. The user can select a keyword by selecting a character string to be set as a keyword from character strings that are keyword candidates displayed on the screen, or deleting a character string other than the keyword to be set. Good.

  In this embodiment, the keyword setting process is automatically performed when the copy function is selected by flicking downward with one finger. For example, the selection of the copy function is It may be possible to shift to a keyword setting process by performing a different predetermined operation, for example, by moving one fingertip upward while touching any part on the main menu. In this case, the execution of the copy function is separately instructed by performing a downward flick operation with one finger after executing the keyword setting process.

  As described above, when the execution of the keyword setting process is assigned to a user operation different from the execution of the copy function process, when it is desired to use the simple copy function from before without using the function described in the present embodiment, Alternatively, when it is not necessary to execute the keyword setting process in order to use the keyword that has been initially set as it is, it is not necessary to start the keyword setting function, which is useful.

  In the above example, the processing to be executed in the direction of the flick operation is instructed. For example, the flick operation with one finger starts the copy function with keyword setting, and with two fingers. The flick operation may be selectively used depending on the start of the copy function without setting a keyword and the number of fingers performing the flick operation.

  Subsequently, the image processing unit 22 sets parameters according to the user operation (step 102). The parameters used here are, for copying, enlargement / reduction ratio, number of copies, paper selection, and the like. In addition, since the parameter is normally set to an initial value, if it is not necessary to execute the parameter setting process as described in the above keyword, a predetermined flick operation, for example, a downward direction with two fingers is performed. By performing the flick operation, the job (here, copy) may be activated without setting the parameter in addition to the keyword setting. That is, it may be possible to shift to step 103 without executing steps 101 and 102.

  Here, when a predetermined flick operation corresponding to a copy execution start instruction is performed, the instruction receiving unit 21 receives the start instruction (step 103). In general, the copy is started by clicking the execution start button, but in the present embodiment, the copy is started by a flick operation without the button operation.

  When the scanner 4 reads a document placed on the document table in response to the predetermined flick operation, the document narrowing unit 222 performs an OCR process on the read image, so that a character string is obtained from the read image. Is extracted (step 104). Subsequently, the document narrowing unit 222 compares the keyword set by the keyword setting unit 221 with the character string extracted from the read image, and determines whether there is a character string that matches the keyword. If there is no character string that matches the keyword (N in Step 105), normal image processing, in this example, copy processing of the read document, is executed by the processing execution unit 226 (Step 115). On the other hand, if there is a character string that matches the keyword (Y in step 105), the document narrowing unit 222 searches for a document stored in the document server 15 based on the keyword that matches any character string. Then, a document including the keyword is extracted. As described above, in the present embodiment, as a first step, documents that are candidates for related documents related to the manuscript are narrowed down based on the keywords (step 106). Then, the document narrowing unit 222 registers information regarding the narrowed document in the document information holding unit 27. Information related to a document includes information for specifying a document storage destination, document attribute information, and the like. Although the document body may be acquired and held, the narrowed-down document is not efficient because it is still a related document candidate at this stage.

  If there is no corresponding document due to the above-described narrowing process (N in Step 107), normal image processing, in this example, copy processing of the read original is executed by the processing execution unit 226 (Step S107). 115). On the other hand, when the document exists (Y in Step 107), the attribute value extraction unit 223 reads out the attribute value included in the priority information that matches the extraction condition from the priority information storage unit 26 (Step 108). . The extraction condition is a condition set in advance by the image forming apparatus 20 or a document administrator. As the extraction condition, for example, a fixed threshold is set such that the creator reliability is “high” or higher, or the document reliability has a citation count of 20 or more and a reference count of 20 or more. According to this example, in the priority information exemplified in FIG. 3, the reliability set for the attribute values of user A and document name D satisfies the extraction condition, so the attribute value extraction unit 223 Then, the attribute values “user A” and “document name D” included in the priority information satisfying these extraction conditions are extracted.

  Subsequently, the related document extracting unit 224 searches the document information holding unit 27 based on the attribute value extracted by the attribute value extracting unit 223, thereby extracting a document that matches the attribute value as a related document (step 109). ). As is clear from this processing, the information about the document held in the document information holding unit 27 needs to include at least an attribute value.

  Here, when there is no related document (N in Step 110), normal image processing, in this example, copy processing of the read original is executed by the processing execution unit 226 (Step 115).

  On the other hand, when the related document exists (Y in Step 110), the presentation processing unit 225 displays the related document list screen on the operation panel 3, thereby displaying the extracted related documents in a list (Step 111). An example of the related document list screen displayed on the operation panel 3 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, in addition to the name of the related document extracted by the related document extraction process as information for specifying the related document, the keyword and the number of pages included in the related document are displayed. This displayed content is an example, and other attribute values of the related document such as the document creator, the number of citations and the number of references may be displayed together. If there is a related document to be printed together with the original to be copied, the user selects the corresponding related document by a predetermined operation. When the user selects the simultaneous print button 31 on the related document list screen, the process execution unit 226 prints the read image of the document for copying in this example (step 112). If the related document is stored in the document server 15 or in the document information holding unit 27, it is taken out from the document information holding unit 27 and printed following the original (step 113). When the user selects the print only document button 32, no related document is printed.

  When the copy function process is executed by the image processing unit 22 as described above, the priority information update unit 23 updates the priority information of the corresponding document so that the number of times of reference of the printed related document is incremented by one. (Step 114).

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the case where the copy function is executed has been described as an example. However, the image forming apparatus 20 is equipped with a scan function for reading a document and a function for storing a document in a mailbox. Similarly, in the other functions, in addition to the execution of the function selected by the user, the related document of the manuscript may be presented to the user, and output such as printing may be performed if necessary.

  1 CPU, 2 address data bus, 3 operation panel, 4 scanner, 5 hard disk drive (HDD), 6 printer engine, 7 network interface (I / F), 8 RAM, 9 ROM, 10 external media interface (I / F) , 15 document server, 16 network, 20 image forming apparatus, 21 instruction receiving unit, 22 image processing unit, 23 priority information updating unit, 24 control unit, 25 keyword storage unit, 26 priority information storage unit, 27 document information holding Part, 221 keyword setting part, 222 document narrowing part, 223 attribute value extraction part, 224 related document extraction part, 225 presentation processing part, 226 process execution part.

Claims (2)

Execution means for executing image processing designated by the user on the acquired document;
Priority information storage means for storing priority information set corresponding to each attribute value of the attribute of the document stored in the document storage means;
Attribute value extraction means for extracting from the priority information storage means attribute values for which priority information satisfying preset extraction conditions is set;
A setting means for setting keywords;
Among the keywords set by the setting unit, the document storage unit is searched based on a keyword that matches the character string extracted by analyzing the acquired read image of the document, and the related document candidate of the document is determined. Means for narrowing down documents
A related document extracting unit that extracts a related document related to the document from the documents narrowed down by the narrowing unit by searching based on the attribute value extracted by the attribute value extracting unit;
Presenting means for presenting the user with information specifying the related document of the document extracted by the related document extracting means before the execution of image processing by the execution means;
Receiving means for receiving a first operation on a button to which one function is assigned and a second operation different from the first operation;
When the first operation is received by the receiving unit, a screen for instructing execution of the one function is displayed. When the second operation is received by the receiving unit, a screen for setting the keyword is displayed. Means,
An image forming apparatus comprising: A computer installed in the image forming apparatus
Execution means for executing image processing designated by the user on the acquired document;
Priority information storage for storing priority information set in correspondence with each attribute value of the attribute of the document stored in the document storage means with the attribute value in which the priority information satisfying the preset extraction condition is set Attribute value extraction means for extracting from the means;
Setting means for setting keywords,
Among the keywords set by the setting unit, the document storage unit is searched based on a keyword that matches the character string extracted by analyzing the acquired read image of the document, and the related document candidate of the document is determined. A means of narrowing down documents
A related document extracting means for extracting a related document related to the document from the documents narrowed down by the narrowing means by performing a search based on the attribute value extracted by the attribute value extracting means;
Presenting means for presenting to the user information specifying the related document of the document extracted by the related document extracting means before the execution of image processing by the execution means;
Receiving means for receiving a first operation on a button to which one function is assigned and a second operation different from the first operation;
When the first operation is received by the receiving unit, a screen for instructing execution of the one function is displayed. When the second operation is received by the receiving unit, a screen for setting the keyword is displayed. means,
Program to function as.

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