JP6520791B2 - Circular document approval system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a circulation document approval system.

  In organizations such as companies, documents such as reports and approval documents that require the approval of the approver are sequentially circulated to the person in charge of approval, and settlement of the case can be performed by obtaining approval of all approvers. is there.

  Patent Document 1 includes a mobile phone for user authentication, a multifunction machine for printing a document to be approved on a paper medium, and scanning the printed paper medium, and a business flow for managing the work flow related to circulation. A business flow management system comprising a management server is disclosed. In this technology, the drafter of the document to be approved first creates the document to be approved on his computer, and the compound machine prints the document to be approved on a paper medium. After that, the printed approval target document is scanned by the multi-functional peripheral, and the drafter-owned mobile phone is held over the multi-functional peripheral to perform user authentication. After user authentication is complete, the workflow management server sends an email to the mobile phone owned by the first approver.

  The first approver who receives the mail holds the mobile phone over the multifunction device and instructs printing. The multifunction device acquires the approval target document from the workflow management server and prints it on a paper medium. After approval by the first approver, the approver scans the document to be approved and instructs to give an electronic mark indicating that the approval has been made. The approved document to be approved is stored in the workflow management server, and an e-mail is sent to a mobile phone owned by the next approver. After this, the approver completes the document approval work by repeating the same operation as the first approver.

  In this way, the drafter and the approver print, scan, and enter user information of the paper document, respectively, and by repeating this operation, the document approval work for all the approvers is executed.

JP, 2009-122800, A

  However, in the business flow management system of Patent Document 1, the drafter can not know whether the approver is ready for immediate approval. Further, with the technology of Patent Document 1, the drafter could not immediately grasp the approval flow as to what flow the approval work proceeds. Furthermore, all the drafter and the approver must be able to use a mobile phone capable of inputting user information and a special multi-functional peripheral equipped with a user authentication function, which may take time for approval. Therefore, approval work stagnated, and it was sometimes difficult to obtain the approval of everyone immediately.

  Even now, the approval process does not involve electronic data, but the approval procedure is often performed by circulating paper documents. Therefore, there is a need for a circulation document approval system that can proceed with the approval procedure more efficiently using paper documents.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a circulation document approval system which enables the drafter to easily understand the circulation flow and to easily know the approver's circulation order, the approver's location or absence information, and the like.

  One aspect of the present invention relates to a circulation document approval system that allows an approver to circulate a circulation document and obtain approval. The circulation document approval system includes an image forming apparatus, a database server, and a head-mounted terminal. The image forming apparatus forms an image on a sheet based on image data. The database server holds approval information associated with the image data. The head-mounted terminal includes an optically transmissive display that can communicate with the database server and displays an electronic image that can be viewed by the user.

  The image forming apparatus includes a reception unit, an image data acquisition unit, and a circulation document creation unit. The receiving unit receives a request for creation of a circulation document. The image data acquisition unit acquires image data serving as a basis for creating a circulation document when the reception unit receives a request for creation of a circulation document. The circulation document creation unit associates the approval information with the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit, forms an image on a sheet, and creates a circulation document.

The head-mounted terminal device includes a determination unit, an approval information acquisition unit, and a display control unit. When the circulation document created by the circulation document creation unit is viewed through the optical transmission type display unit of the head-mounted terminal device, the determination unit determines whether or not the approval information is associated. The approval information acquisition unit acquires approval information from the database server. The display control unit controls the display unit to display the approval information acquired by the approval information acquisition unit as an electronic image. The approval information includes information on the name of the approver, information on the circulation order of the approver, and information on whether the approver is present or not. The display control unit controls the display unit to display information on the name of the approver who has passed the circulation order and information on whether or not the approver is present .

  In the present invention, when the drafter browses the image of the circulation document through the optical transmission type display unit of the head-mounted terminal device, the approval information of the document is displayed on the display unit of the head-mounted terminal device. Is displayed in a visible state. Since the approval information is not information written directly on the sheet, the drafter can grasp the approval information and the approval flow by looking at the approval information without changing the format of the document. As a result, document circulation and approval can be completed promptly.

It is a general view of a circulation document approval system concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram showing composition of a circulation document approval system concerning one embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control part of a head-worn terminal device. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing until an image of a circulation document is formed on a sheet by the image processing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process at the time of a circulation document being circulated by an image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the state which the drafter browsed the circulation document before approval through the optical transmission type display part of a head-worn-type terminal device. It is a figure which shows the state by which the content of the circulation document was approved by the first approver A. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state to which the correction | amendment request | requirement of a circulation document was performed by the 2nd approver B. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which the drafter looked at the circulation document after correction through the optical transmission type display part of a head-worn-type terminal device. It is a figure which looked at the state which looked at the circulation document before being circulated by the approver C who is the last approver after approval by the approver B through the light transmissive display part of a head-mounted terminal device. It is a figure in the state where all the approval flows were completed and the message which shows the last presentation place of a circulation document was displayed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall view of a circulation document approval system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a circulation document approval system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the circulation document approval system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a multifunction machine 11 as an image forming apparatus, a database server 27, and a head-mounted terminal 28 (optical transmission Head-mounted terminal). As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a computer 26 may be connected as a document creation terminal for creating a circulation document. Further, in FIG. 1, a glasses-type wearable device 28 a is shown as the head-mounted terminal device 28. The glasses-type wearable device 28 a includes a mounting unit 30 and an optical transmission display unit 32.

  The multifunction machine 11 as an image forming apparatus includes a control unit 12, a display operation unit 13, an image reading unit 14, an image forming unit 15, a storage unit 16, and a network interface unit 18 for connecting to the network 5. Equipped with

  The control unit 12 controls the entire multifunction peripheral 11. The control unit 12 receives the request for creation of the circulation document, and the image data acquisition unit for acquiring image data as a basis for creating the circulation document when the request for creation of the circulation document is received by the reception unit 41 And 42.

  The display operation unit 13 includes a display screen 21 for displaying information transmitted from the MFP 11 and input contents of the user. The display operation unit 13 inputs conditions for image formation such as the number of copies and gradation, and ON or OFF of the power.

  The image reading unit 14 includes an automatic document feeder (ADF (Auto Document Feeder)) 22 that automatically conveys a set document to a reading position. The image reading unit 14 reads the image of the document conveyed by the ADF 22 and the image of the document placed on the mounting table.

  The image forming unit 15 forms an image on a sheet based on an image read by the image reading unit 14 or image data transmitted from the computer 26 or the multifunction machine 11 via the network 5 in response to an image forming request. . The sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit 15 is discharged as a printed matter to the discharge tray of the multifunction machine 11.

  The image forming unit 15 also functions as a circulation document creation unit that associates the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 42 with the approval information, forms an image on a sheet, and creates a circulation document.

  The storage unit 16 stores the transmitted image data, the input image processing condition, and the like. The storage unit is, for example, a hard disk.

  The multifunction machine 11 includes a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) for writing and reading image data, and a sheet conveyance unit for conveying a sheet on which a visualized image formed by a developer is transferred. Illustration and explanation are omitted. Further, arrows in FIG. 2 indicate flows of data regarding control signals, controls, and images.

  The multifunction machine 11 operates as a copying machine by forming an image in the image forming unit 15 using a document read by the image reading unit 14 and printing it on a sheet. In addition, the multifunction machine 11 forms an image in the image forming unit 15 using the image data transmitted from the computer 26 connected to the network 5 through the network interface unit 18 and prints it on a sheet as a printer. Operate. That is, the multifunction peripheral 11 has a plurality of functions such as a copying function and a printer function in image processing. Furthermore, each function also has functions that can be set in detail.

  The head-mounted terminal device 28 includes an optical transmission type display unit 32, a network interface unit 51, a control unit 52, and a storage unit 53. The head-mounted terminal 28 is preferably a glasses-type wearable device 28a. The control unit 52 controls the entire head-mounted terminal device 28. The storage unit 53 stores data obtained from the device connected to the network 5 through the network interface unit 51. The storage unit is, for example, a semiconductor memory. The display unit 32 displays the approval information as an electronic image. In addition, since the display unit 32 is an optical transmission type display unit, a user wearing the head-mounted terminal device 28 can view outside scenery (for example, an image printed on a sheet of paper) through the display unit 32. . The display unit is, for example, an optical transmission display lens capable of displaying an electronic image.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control unit 52 of the head-mounted terminal device 28. As shown in FIG. The control unit 52 of the head-mounted terminal device 28 includes a determination unit 61, an approval information acquisition unit 62, and a display control unit 63. When the judging section 61 views the circulation document created by the circulation document creating section (image forming section 15) of the multifunction machine 11 through the optical transmission type display section 32 of the head-mounted terminal 28, the approval information is obtained. It is determined whether or not is associated. The approval information acquisition unit 62 acquires approval information from the database server 27 when the judgment unit 61 judges that the approval information is associated with the circulation document. The display control unit 63 controls the display unit 32 to display the approval information acquired by the approval information acquisition unit 62 as an electronic image.

  The head-mounted terminal 28 is not particularly limited, and may be a single-eye terminal, a glasses-type terminal, a goggle-type terminal, a helmet-type terminal, or the like. Among them, a glasses-type terminal (glass-type wearable device) is preferable in terms of ease of mounting, stability upon mounting, and high visibility.

  The database server 27 includes a network interface unit 55, a control unit 56, and a storage unit 57. The database server 27 receives electronic data from the multifunction device 11 or the head-mounted terminal 28 connected to the network 5 through the network interface unit 55, and transmits electronic data to them. The control unit 56 controls the entire database server 27. The storage unit 57 stores various information such as document approval information. Storage unit 57 is, for example, a hard disk.

  Next, a flow of forming a circulation document and circulating and approving the circulation document will be described by the circulation document approval system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a flow of processing until the circulation document is formed by the multifunction machine 11 in the circulation document approval system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 4, the receiving unit 41 of the multifunction machine 11 receives a request for creating a circulation document (step S11; hereinafter, the “step” is omitted). The request to create a circulation document is made, for example, through the computer 26 connected to the network 5 or by input from the display operation unit 13 of the multifunction machine 11 or the like. When the request for creation of the circulation document is accepted by the reception unit 41, the image data acquisition unit 42 generates an image serving as a basis for creating the circulation document through the computer 26 connected to the network 5 or through the image reading unit 14. Data is acquired (S12). Next, the image forming unit 15, which functions as a circulation document creation unit, associates the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 42 with the approval information of the circulation document stored in the storage unit 57 of the database server 27, An image is formed to create a circulation document (S13). The created circulation document is output as a printed matter by the multifunction machine 11.

  When forming an image on a sheet by associating approval information of a circulation document, the image forming unit 15 may create, for example, a circulation document by embedding an image associated with the approval information. Further, the image forming unit 15 may form a two-dimensional code in which the approval information is associated, and attach it to a circulation document to create a circulation document.

  Next, the flow for circulating and approving the circulation document 101 (or 201) created as described above will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process flow in the case of circulating and approving the circulation document 101 (or 201).

  The flow of approval of a circulation document using the circulation document approval system 1 according to the present invention will be described by way of a specific example. FIG. 6 is a view showing a state in which the drafter wearing the glasses-type wearable device 28a browses the circulation document 101 created as described above through the display unit 32 of optical transmission type. The approval seal frame 103 is an approval seal frame to which an approval seal indicating that the document has been approved is attached when the circulation document is approved by the approver. In the state of FIG. 6, since the circulation document 101 is in the unapproved state before circulation, the three approval seal frames 103 are all blank.

  First, the drafter wears the glasses-type wearable device 28a as shown in FIG. 6 (S21), and browses the circulation document (S22). At this time, the determination unit 61 determines whether approval information is associated with the circulation document (S23). Since the approval information is associated with the circulation document 101, the determination unit 61 determines that effect, and the approval information acquisition unit 62 acquires the approval information from the database server 27 (S24). When the approval information acquisition unit 62 acquires the approval information, the display control unit 63 controls the display unit 32 of the glasses-type wearable device 28a to display the approval information as an electronic image. Thus, the approval information 102 is displayed on the display unit 32 in a state where it can be viewed by the drafter (S25). Information of the first approver A and information indicating that A is present are displayed in the approval information 102 of FIG. The presence information of the approver A can be acquired, for example, by installing a human sensor or a camera, or by using the GPS function.

  The drafter can know from the approval information 102 displayed as electronic information on the display unit 32 that the first approver of the circulation document 101 is A and that the approver A is present. Thereby, circulation can be performed when the approver A is present, and stagnation of the approval flow can be prevented.

  The approver A who receives the circulation document 101 views the contents. When the approver A approves the content of the circulation document 101, the approval information stored in the storage unit 57 of the database server 27 is updated through, for example, a computer, a portable terminal, or the like.

  A state in which the drafter browses the circulation document 101 through the optically transparent display unit 32 of the glasses-type wearable device 28a after approval by the approver A is illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 7, an approval seal 104 indicating that the approval by the approver A has been performed is shown in the right side of the three approval seal frames 103. However, the approval seal 104 is not actually formed as an image on a sheet, but is an electronic approval seal displayed on the display unit 32 as electronic information. Further, the approval information 102 indicates information on the second approver, the approver B. The drafter can know that the approver B is present through the approval information 102. The drafter who confirms that the approver B is present circulates the circulation document 101 to the approver B to request approval.

  At this time, it is assumed that an approver B who is one of the approvers in charge requests a partial correction of the circulation document 101. The approver B electronically adds the correction request 105 using an electronic terminal such as a computer or an electronic pen, and returns the circulation document 101 to the drafter. The added correction request 105 forms a part of the approval information, and the approval information stored in the storage unit 57 of the database server 27 is updated so as to include the correction request 105.

  The state where the drafter looked at the circulation document 101 through the glasses-type wearable device 28a in that state is shown in FIG. The drafter confirms the message from the approver B entered in the correction request 105, and corrects the target location. After the correction, in the same manner as S11 to S13 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the MFP 11 forms an image again on the sheet, and creates the circulation document 201 after the correction. When the drafter wears the glasses-type wearable device 28a (S21) and views the circulation document 201 (S22), the determination unit 61 determines whether approval information is associated with the circulation document (S23). Since the approval information is associated with the circulation document, the approval information acquisition unit 62 acquires the updated approval information from the database server 27 (S24). The approval information is displayed on the display unit 32 so as to be visible to the drafter under the control of the display control unit 63 (S25).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the drafter wearing the glasses-type wearable device 28a looking at the circulation document 201 after correction. Since the approval by the approver B has not been made yet, the approval information 102 still indicates the information of the approver B as the next approver. Further, the correction history 107 is displayed on the display unit 32, and a correction completion message 106 is shown as supplementary information. The correction history 107 and the correction completion message 106 are also part of the approval information.

  In addition, in a paper document approval flow, it is common that a paper document is directly sealed with an approval seal, or an approver's signature is entered. Therefore, when the circulation document is updated from 101 to 201 by the correction, the seal or signature of the approved approver A is required again for the circulation document 201 after the update. However, in the circulation document approval system 1 of the present invention, the approval completion information by the approver A is taken over as it is to the updated approval information. Further, the approval seal 104 is actually electronic information displayed on the display unit 32 and is not directly sealed or entered on the form of the circulation document 101. Therefore, there is no need to re-circulate to the approver A whose approval has already been completed, and the approval work can be smoothly advanced.

  Thus, when the content of the circulation document 201 is approved by the approver B, the approval information stored in the storage unit 57 of the database server 27 is updated.

  After approval by the approver B, FIG. 10 shows a state in which the drafter looks at the circulation document 201 through the optically transparent display portion 32 of the glasses-type wearable device 28a. In the approval seal frame 103, an image of an approval seal 104 indicating that the approval has been newly made by the approver B is displayed on the display unit 32 as electronic information.

  Thereafter, the circulation document 201 is similarly circulated to the final approver C, who is the final approver, and the approval is requested. When the approver C approves the circulation document 201, the approval information stored in the storage unit 57 of the database server 27 is updated.

  A state in which the drafter wearing the glasses-type wearable device 28a looks at the circulation document 201 in which the approval by all the approvers (approvers A, B, and C) is completed as described above is shown in FIG. Electronic approval marks 104 of the respective approvers A, B, and C are displayed as electronic information in the three approval mark frames 103. Further, since the approval by all the approvers is completed, the final submission destination 108 of the circulation document 201 is shown as the electronic information displayed on the display unit 32 in the balloon on the upper right. The information on the final destination is also part of the approval information.

  In this way, the drafter can view the approver's information and the information of the final presentation destination in real time by the drafter looking at the circulation document 101 or 201 through the optically transparent display unit 32 of the glasses-type wearable device 28a. It is possible to prevent stagnation of approval work due to errors in circulation destinations and submission destinations.

  The above is a series of flows. The approval information preferably includes at least one of the information on the name of the approver, the information on the circulation order of the approver, the information on the location of the approver, and the absence information on the approver. In addition, the approval information includes the information of the version when the circulation document is updated, the difference compared with the past version (correction history, change history, etc.), the information of the final submission destination, the correction instruction information, the correction completion message It may contain any information related to the approval.

  Further, the display operation unit 13 of the multifunction machine 11 requests the image data to be formed on a sheet based on the latest version of electronic data based on the latest version of the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 42 with one touch. A version document creation request key may be provided.

  The above embodiments are also illustrative and some of the steps and structures described above can be omitted. For example, the acquisition source of the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit 42 of the image forming apparatus (the multifunction machine 11) is not limited to the computer 26 as shown in FIG. Therefore, when image data can be acquired from another acquisition source, the computer 26 can be omitted.

  Further, as described above, the head-mounted terminal device is not limited to the glasses-type wearable device, and other head-mounted terminal devices may be substituted as long as the intended purpose can be achieved.

  Further, in order to restrict persons who can access the approval information, the database server 27 may have an authentication function for authenticating the head-mounted terminal device 28.

  Further, the multifunction machine 11 may have an approval stamp image forming function of actually forming an image of an approval stamp at a predetermined position of the circulation document after approval by all the approvers.

  It should be understood that the embodiments and examples disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive in any respect. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  The circulation document approval system according to the present invention can be utilized in an organization such as a company which is required to efficiently proceed with the approval procedure in the approval work of paper documents such as a report and an approval document.

  1 circulation document approval system, 5 networks, 11 multifunction devices, 12 control units of multifunction devices, 13 display operation units, 14 image reading units, 15 image forming units, 16 storage units of multifunction devices, 18 network interface units of multifunction devices, Reference Signs List 21 display screen 22 ADF 26 computer 27 database server 28 head mounted terminal 28a glasses type wearable device 30 mounting unit 32 display unit 41 receiving unit 42 image data acquisition unit 51 head mounted Interface unit of the mobile terminal, 52 control unit of the head-mounted terminal, 53 storage unit of the head-mounted terminal, 55 network interface unit of the database server, 56 control unit of the database server, 57 storage of the database server Department 61 Judgment unit, 62 approval information acquisition unit, 63 display control unit, 101 circulation document, 102 approval information, 103 approval seal frame, 104 approval seal, 105 correction request message, 106 correction completion message, 107 correction history, 108 submission destination information , 201 revised circular document

Claims (6)

A circulation document approval system that allows an approver to circulate a circulation document for approval.
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet based on image data;
A database server holding approval information associated with the image data;
A head-mounted terminal device including an optical transmission type display unit capable of communicating with the database server and displaying an electronic image visible to a user;
The image forming apparatus is
A receiving unit that receives a request for creating the circulation document;
An image data acquisition unit that acquires image data to be a basis of creating the circulation document when the reception unit receives a request to create the circulation document;
And a circulation document creation unit that associates the approval information with the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit and forms an image on a sheet to create a circulation document.
The head-mounted terminal device is
A determination unit that determines whether or not the approval information is associated when the circulation document created by the circulation document creation unit is viewed through the optical transmission type display unit of the head-mounted terminal device ,
An approval information acquisition unit which acquires the approval information from the database server when it is judged by the judgment unit that the approval information is associated with the circulation document;
A display control unit configured to control the display unit to display the approval information acquired by the approval information acquisition unit as an electronic image;
The approval information includes information on the name of the approver, information on a circulation order of the approver, and information on whether the approver is present or not.
The circulation document approval system, wherein the display control unit controls the display unit to display information on the name of the approver whose circulation order has passed and information on whether the approver is present or not.   The circulation document approval system according to claim 1, wherein the head-mounted terminal device is a glasses-type wearable terminal device.   The circulation document approval system according to claim 1, wherein the circulation document creation unit embeds an image associated with the approval information to create the circulation document.   The circulation document approval system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the approval information includes at least one of information on the location of the approver and absence information on the approver.   The circulation document approval according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the circulation document creation unit forms a two-dimensional code in which the approval information is associated, and adds the circulation document to the circulation document to create the circulation document. system.   The circulation document approval system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the approval information includes information on an updated version of the circulation document.

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