JP2006018492A - System, method, and program for processing document - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute a plurality of processing applied on document information by associating a series of processing shown on instruction description information described as a series of information with respective cases. <P>SOLUTION: In a case processing device 14 of a document processing system 10, the instruction description information is generated by associating case information for cases having designated purposes with related information showing a plurality of processing applied on document information as a series of processing. In particular, the instruction description information is generated by embedding item information included in the case information into related parts of the related information having the related parts for associating the item information included in the case information. Thus, a series of processing shown in the instruction description information can be processed by associating with each case showing its purpose. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus, a document processing method, and a document processing program, and in particular, a document processing apparatus, a document processing method, and a document that perform processing according to linkage information that represents a plurality of processes to be performed on document information as a series of processes. It relates to a processing program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, document processing systems have been proposed in which scanners, facsimile machines, copiers, or multifunction machines combining these, personal computers, mail servers, etc. are connected to each other via a network to share paper documents and electronic information. ing. As a result, paper-based office processing using a copier, facsimile, or the like can be coordinated with processing of an electronic document on a personal computer.

  Specifically, a paper document can be scanned and transferred to a personal computer, or a document received by the facsimile function can be transmitted to the personal computer as image data without printing. Furthermore, it is desired to automate many procedures and processes in cooperation after paper documents and facsimile received documents are digitized.

  For this reason, there has been proposed a technique for creating instruction description information representing a plurality of processes to be performed on document information as a series of processes and executing the series of processes based on the instruction description information.

For example, an image reading system that has at least one image reading device in the image reading system and transfers the read image from the image reading device to another device has been proposed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.) In the image reading system of Patent Document 1, an image reading device reads an image according to a description of a job template as instruction description information, and transmits the read image file to another device.
JP 2000-270148 A

  In general, a series of processes performed on document information is executed with a certain predetermined purpose for each item. Although the above prior art can execute a series of processing based on the instruction description information, it can specify the purpose of the instruction description information to be executed from the instruction description information. However, it was difficult to identify what case the information obtained as a result of the series of processing corresponds to.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and executes a series of processes indicated by instruction description information representing a plurality of processes applied to document information as a series of information in association with cases. An object of the present invention is to provide a document processing apparatus, a document processing method, and a document processing program.

  In order to achieve the above object, a document processing apparatus according to the present invention stores acquisition means for acquiring item information relating to an item having a predetermined purpose, and linkage information representing a plurality of processes applied to the document information as a series of processes. Storage means, instruction description information generation means for generating instruction description information by associating the case information acquired by the acquisition means with the linkage information, and instructions for executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information Description information execution means.

  The acquisition unit of the document processing apparatus of the present invention acquires item information relating to an item having a predetermined purpose. The storage means stores cooperation information. The storage means includes a RAM (Random Access Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory), a semiconductor storage element such as a flash EEPROM (Flash EEPROM), a smart media (SmartMedia (registered trademark)), an xD picture card ( xD-Picture Card), CompactFlash, ATA (AT Attachment) card, microdrive, floppy disk, CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable), CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable), magneto-optical disk, etc. A portable recording medium, a fixed recording medium such as a hard disk, or an external storage device provided in a server computer connected to a network.

  The linkage information is information that represents one or more processes performed on the document information as a series of processes. The document information may be any information related to the document, and is not particularly limited, such as character information such as text data or image information obtained by reading a paper document. The cooperation information represents one or more processes performed on the document information as a series of processes, and indicates the cooperation of the processes related to the document data. The instruction description information generating means generates instruction description information by associating the case information acquired by the acquiring means with the linkage information. The instruction description information generating means creates instruction description information by associating linkage information indicating a series of processing performed on document information with item information relating to a project having a predetermined purpose. The instruction description information execution means executes a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information.

  In this way, the instruction description information is generated by associating the case information including the item information related to the case having a predetermined purpose with the linkage information that represents a plurality of processes applied to the document information as a series of processes, and the generated instruction description A series of processes indicated by the information can be executed.

  Therefore, since a series of processing indicated by the instruction description information can be executed based on the instruction description information associated with item information related to the case, the series of processing indicated by the instruction description information is associated with the case. Can be executed.

  Instruction description information storage means for storing the instruction description information generated by the instruction description information generation means in association with the case information can be further provided. By storing the instruction description information generated by the instruction description information generation means in the instruction description information storage means in association with the case information, the created instruction description information can be clearly associated for each case information, The instruction description executing means can execute a series of processes indicated in the instruction description information for each item.

  The instruction description information stored in the instruction description information storage means further comprises selection means for selecting instruction description information to be deleted, and the instruction description information generation means is the instruction description selected by the selection means. Information can be deleted from the instruction description information storage means.

  When the selection means selects instruction description information to be deleted from the instruction description information stored in the instruction description information storage means, the instruction description information generation means indicates the instruction description information selected by the selection means. Since it is deleted from the description information storage means, the created instruction description information can be easily deleted.

  The item information includes item state information indicating an execution state of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information corresponding to the item information, and the instruction description information generation unit includes a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information. In accordance with the execution status, change means for changing the item status information of the item information corresponding to the instruction description information can be included.

  The item information can include item state information indicating an execution state of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information corresponding to the item information. The execution state includes a state where a series of processes based on the instruction description information has not been executed, a state where a part of a plurality of processes included in the series of processes has been completed, a state where all the series of processes have been completed, and a process There is a state in which different information is added after the process is finished. The changing means changes the item status information of the item information corresponding to the instruction description information according to the execution status of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information. For this reason, the item state information of the instruction description information can be further associated with the instruction description information.

  The instruction description information generation unit deletes the instruction description information corresponding to the item information including the item state information from the instruction description information storage unit when the item state information indicates a predetermined state. Means can be included.

  When the case state information indicates a predetermined state, the deletion unit deletes the instruction description information corresponding to the case information including the case state information from the instruction description information storage unit. Examples of the predetermined state include a state in which all of a series of processes indicated in the instruction description information have been completed, and a state in which information indicating approval is added as further information after the process is completed. . In this way, the instruction description information can be deleted according to the case status information, so that it is possible to prevent the instruction description information that has undergone a series of processing from being executed again.

  The deletion unit can delete the instruction description information corresponding to the item information including the item state information from the instruction description information storage unit when the item state information indicates completion of execution of the series of processes.

  When the case status information indicates the end of execution of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information, the deletion unit can delete the instruction description information corresponding to the item information including the case state information from the instruction description information storage unit. . In this way, the instruction description information for which a series of processes has been completed can be deleted from the instruction description information storage means, so that the instruction description information for which a series of processes has been completed can be prevented from being executed again.

  The instruction description information generating unit may include a regenerating unit that generates instruction description information based on the case information including the case state information when the case state information indicates a predetermined state. .

  When the case status information indicates a predetermined state set in advance, the regeneration unit can newly generate instruction description information based on the same case information. Therefore, new instruction description information can be generated according to the transition of the case state.

  The instruction description information generating means generates identification information for identifying the case information based on the case information acquired by the acquisition means, and further associates the identification information with the linkage information to thereby specify the instruction description. Information can be generated.

  The instruction description generating unit generates identification information for identifying the item information based on the item information acquired by the acquiring unit. For this reason, identification information is generated for each item information. The generated identification information is further associated with the cooperation information. Accordingly, it is possible to create instruction description information including item information included in the case information and an identification number for identifying the case information.

  The acquisition unit further acquires user information indicating a user corresponding to the case information, and the instruction description information generation unit classifies user information of a plurality of users who can use the instruction description execution unit in advance. Including user information storage means for classifying and storing based on conditions, specifying user information corresponding to the user information acquired by the acquisition means from the user information storage means, the specified user information and the acquisition means Can be further stored in the instruction description information storage means in association with the generated instruction description information.

  The instruction description information generating means classifies and stores each of a plurality of users who can instruct execution of a series of processes by the instruction description executing means based on a predetermined classification condition. This classification condition is a condition for classifying a user by a common element when a common element is assumed among arbitrary users among a plurality of users. When the user information indicating the user corresponding to the item information is acquired by the acquisition unit, the instruction description information generation unit specifies the user information corresponding to the user information acquired by the acquisition unit from the user information storage unit and specifies The user information and the user information acquired by the acquisition unit are stored in the instruction description information storage unit in association with the generated instruction description information. Therefore, the instruction description information can be stored in association with the user corresponding to the instruction description information.

  The item information includes item information indicating contents of the item, the linkage information includes an association part for associating the item information included in the item information, and the instruction description information generation unit includes the item information The instruction description information can be generated by incorporating the item information included in the information into the association part.

  The case information can include one or a plurality of item information indicating the contents of the case. The linkage information includes an association portion for associating item information included in the case information, and the instruction description information generation means includes an association portion in which the item information included in the case information acquired by the acquisition means is included in the linkage information. The instruction description information is generated by associating with. Therefore, it is possible to generate the instruction description information in which the corresponding item information is associated with the position for associating the predetermined item information of the linkage information in which a plurality of processes applied to the document information are represented as a series of processes.

  Note that a series of processing applied to document information can be associated with item information indicating a predetermined purpose by the following document processing method. In detail, while acquiring the case information regarding the case having a predetermined purpose, the cooperation information representing a plurality of processes applied to the document information as a series of processes is stored, and the case information acquired by the acquisition step and the The instruction description information is generated by associating with the linkage information, and a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information is executed.

In addition, by causing the computer to process the next document processing program, a series of processing can be associated with item information indicating a predetermined purpose. In detail, on the computer,
Acquires case information related to a case having a predetermined purpose, stores linkage information representing a plurality of processes applied to document information as a series of processes, and generates instruction description information by associating the case information and the linkage information. And a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information is executed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the instruction description information is generated by associating the cooperation information indicating a series of processes with the item information including the item information regarding the item having the predetermined purpose, and the generated instruction description information Since the series of processes shown are executed, the series of processes shown in the instruction description information representing a plurality of processes applied to the document information as a series of information can be executed in association with the case.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a document processing system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The document processing system 10 is a system in which various services and applications are connected via a network 18. Here, the service refers to a function that can be used for a document in response to a request from the outside. For example, copying, printing, scanning, facsimile transmission / reception, mail delivery, storage and reading in a repository, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) ) Processing, noise removal processing, and the like.

  The document processing system 10 creates instruction description information for performing various service processes executed by the MFP 12, the client PC 16, the client PC 17, and the MFP 12 that perform service processing such as copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile. The matter processing device 14 is provided.

  In the present embodiment, the document processing system 10 has a configuration in which the multifunction machine 12 that performs predetermined service processing is connected via the network 18. However, a plurality of devices that perform service processing use the network 18. As long as they are connected to each other, and are not particularly limited to such a form. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the case processing device 14 and the multifunction device 12 are described as being one each, but the number is not limited to one, and a plurality of multifunction devices 12 and the matter processing devices 14 are included. It may be connected to the network 18.

  Here, the instruction description information is a file including information indicating the relationship between each function and information for calling each function (interface information) when a series of processes is decomposed into a plurality of functional processes. Say. Furthermore, information representing a graphic user interface (GUI) regarding a series of processes may be included.

  A series of processes shown in the instruction description information is executed with a certain predetermined purpose for each case. A case represents each series of processes executed for some purpose, and the case information is information including one or more item information for identifying a case having a predetermined purpose. It is. Examples of item information include a case name, a product name, a detailed description, and the name of an applicant who applies for the case. Information including these item information is referred to as item information.

  The client PC 16 is a device for inputting item information, and is composed of a personal computer (PC), etc., and although not shown, the CPU, ROM, RAM, and input / output ports are connected to each other via a bus. Has been. A display device such as a CRT or LCD and an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse are connected to the input / output port, and further connected to the network 18 via a communication control device. The client PC 17 has the same configuration as that of the client PC 16, and thus description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the case processing apparatus 14 includes a control unit 20, an input / output device 22, a storage device 24, and a communication unit 26 that is connected to the network 18 and performs communication processing. ing.

  The control unit 20 mainly creates instruction description information in which the cooperation information and the case information are associated with each other, and executes the processing flow shown in FIGS. The input / output device 22 inputs instructions from the case processing device 14 and displays processing results, various input screens, and the like. The communication unit 26 is an interface for enabling various data and commands to be exchanged with the multifunction machine 12 or the client PC 16 via the network 18.

  The storage device 24 stores processing routines to be described later and various data, and stores in advance cooperation information 24A, an assistant table 24B, and an authorization right table 24C, which are templates of instruction description information, and a processing routine to be described later is executed. Thus, the matter information table 24D, the instruction description table 24E, and the related document table 24F are stored.

  The linkage information 24A is a model of instruction description information, and represents a plurality of processes applied to the document information as a series of processes and includes a related part for associating each item information included in the case information. For example, the linkage information 24A illustrated in FIG. 3A is an example of the linkage information 24A created in an XML (extensible Markup Language) format. The linkage information 24A may be created in a format other than the XML format not only in the present embodiment but also in the second embodiment to be described later. The linkage information 24A shown in FIG. 3A describes a series of processes in which the multifunction machine 12 scans a paper document and stores document data obtained by the scanning in association with the case information. . The linkage information 24A is provided with an associating portion for associating information corresponding to “case name”, “detailed description”, and “case number” as a plurality of items included in the case information.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the case information table 24D assigns a different case number for each piece of case information to the case information input by the client PC 16 (details will be described later), and displays the case number and the case information. Store it in association. In this embodiment, it is assumed that item information corresponding to an item whose purpose is processing related to purchase is input. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the case information includes item information of six items of a case name, an applicant name, a case state, a product name, a price, and a detailed description. The case name indicates the name of the case, and the applicant name indicates the name of the applicant who applies for the case. The product name indicates the name of the product to be purchased, the price indicates the price of the product to be purchased, and the detailed description indicates a detailed description of the case. The case status is information indicating the execution status of a series of processes indicated in the instruction description information corresponding to the case information. In the present embodiment, the case status has two states of “new” and “approved”. “New” indicates that the series of processes indicated in the instruction description information has not been executed or the approval process by the approver has not been executed. “Approval” means that the matter has been approved by the approver. Shows the state.

  In this embodiment, the case name of 6 items included in the case information and the case where the detailed description is associated with the associated part of the linkage information will be described. However, all items included in the case information are linked information. You may make it match | combine. In this case, the association information may be provided with association portions corresponding to all items included in the case information.

  As shown in FIG. 4C, the instruction description table 24E stores a case number and instruction description identification information for identifying instruction description information in association with each other. As shown in FIG. 4D, the related document table 24 </ b> F stores the case number and related document information indicating the storage location of the image data obtained by the processing of the multifunction machine 12 in association with each other. The assistant table 24B groups a plurality of users who use the multifunction machine 12 for each arbitrary user, and stores them in association with each classification. That is, the user belongs to a group such as a company or a school, and the group is classified in various ways according to age, responsibility, department, and the like. For example, in a company, there is a classification of employment forms such as employees and assistants. The assistant table 24B stores a user in association with each classification. As shown in FIG. 4E, the approval authority table 24C stores an approval target person and an approver in association with each other. For example, for each case, after a series of processing indicated by the instruction description information corresponding to the case is executed, approval of an approver may be required for the case including a processing result by the series of processes. Specifically, when the approval of the approver is requested for the document content obtained by executing a series of processing indicated by the instruction description information corresponding to the case information applied by the applicant as the approval subject There is. For this reason, the approval authority table 24C stores an approval target person and an approver in advance in association with each other. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the person to be authorized operates the client PC 16 and the person to be authorized operates the client PC 17. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form.

  The communication unit 26 corresponds to an acquisition unit of the document processing apparatus of the present invention, the storage device 24 corresponds to a storage unit and a user information storage unit of the document processing apparatus of the present invention, and the control unit 20 corresponds to the present invention. Corresponds to the instruction description information generating means.

  The multifunction machine 12 is one of service processing apparatuses. In this embodiment, the multifunction machine 12 mainly scans and acquires image data. As shown in FIG. 6, the multifunction machine 12 includes a control unit 36, an input / output device 38, a storage device 40, a scanning unit 42, a printing unit 44, and a communication unit 46 that exchange data and commands with each other via a bus 38. Connected as possible.

  The control unit 36 stores the instruction description information created by the case processing apparatus 14 and executes a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information, and executes a process flow shown in FIGS. 9 and 14 to be described later. The input / output device 38 displays a user interface (UI) generated based on the instruction description information and accepts a user operation input. The scan unit 42 scans a document or an image. The print unit 44 outputs an image of the image data. The communication unit 46 is an interface for enabling various data and commands to be exchanged with the item processing apparatus 14 or the client PC 16 via the network 18.

  The storage device 40 stores a processing routine described later and various data, and stores the instruction description registration table 40A by executing a processing routine described later.

  The instruction description registration table 40A includes instruction description identification information for identifying instruction description information, a user name capable of instructing execution of a series of processes based on the instruction description information, instruction description information created by the case processing device 14, and Are stored in association with each other.

  The control unit 36 corresponds to the instruction description information execution unit and the deletion unit of the document processing apparatus of the present invention, and the storage device 40 corresponds to the instruction description information storage unit of the document processing apparatus of the present invention.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  In the case processing apparatus 14, the processing routine shown in FIG. 8 is executed every predetermined time, and the process proceeds to step 100.

  In step 100, it is determined whether or not the case information has been received from the client PC 16, and if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 116, and a case approval process for which a series of processes described in detail later has been executed is executed and affirmed. Then, the process proceeds to step 102. The matter information is transmitted from the client PC 16 to the matter processing device 14 when an operation instruction by the user is executed in the client PC 16 and the matter information is input. Specifically, in the input of the case information by the client PC 16, first, the input screen 34 shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display unit of the client PC 16. The input screen 34 includes, for example, an input field 30 for inputting information corresponding to each of an applicant name, a case name, a product name, a price, and a detailed description as item information related to the case included in the case information; An execution button 32 for instructing execution of each input item is displayed. When the execution button 32 is instructed after various information is input to each of the input fields 30 for inputting various item information included in the item information by the user, the input item information is transmitted to the item processing device 14. The

  In the next step 102, a case number for identifying individual case information is generated. When no information is stored in the item number item of the item information table 24D, “0001” is generated as an initial value and information indicating the item number is stored. Generates information consecutive to the numbers already stored.

  Next, in step 104, the case information received in step 100 is stored in the case information table 24D in association with the case number generated in step 102. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the case information table 24D includes a case number “0001”, a case name, an applicant name, a product name, an amount of money, and a detailed description of “printer purchase matter”, “ “yamada”, “USO-800typeB”, “39800”, and “please refer to the attached catalog” are stored in association with each other. Furthermore, “new” indicating the case status is stored in association with each other.

  Next, in step 106, the instruction description information is changed by associating each item of the case information and the case number stored in the case information table 24 </ b> D in step 104 with the association portion of the linkage information 24 </ b> A that is a model of the instruction description information. Generate. Specifically, in the linkage information 24A shown in FIG. 3 (A), the items in the case information table 24D are associated with the associated parts “@case name @”, “@detailed description @”, and “@case number @”. The instruction description information shown in FIG. 3B is obtained by embedding and associating the case name “printer purchase matter” corresponding to the number “0001”, the detailed explanation “please refer to the attached catalog”, and the case number “0001”. Create

  By the processing in step 106, instruction description information including item name and detailed description and item number is created as item information relating to the item.

  In the next step 108, an instruction user specifying process for specifying a user to be associated with the generated instruction description information is executed. The process of step 108 is specified by searching the assistant table 24B for the employee or assistant corresponding to the applicant in the item information included in the case information corresponding to the case number “0001”. For example, when the applicant is “yamada”, the corresponding assistant “satonaka” is specified. Through the process of step 108, a user who can instruct execution of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information is specified.

  In the next step 110, the instruction description information generated in step 106, the instruction user specified in step 108, and the user name indicating the applicant of the instruction description information are transmitted to the multifunction machine 12. Through the processing in step 110, the instruction description information including the item information and the case number included in the case information and the user name corresponding to the instruction description information are transmitted to the multifunction machine 12.

  In the next step 112, the negative determination is repeated until the instruction description identification information for identifying the instruction description information is received from the multifunction machine 12.

  In step 114, the instruction description identification information received in step 112 is stored in the instruction description table 24E in association with the case number generated in step 102, and then this routine ends.

  By executing the processing from step 100 to step 114, the instruction description information in which each item information included in the case information received from the client PC 16 is associated with the cooperation information stored in advance is created and sent to the multifunction machine 12. Can be sent. At this time, a user name that can instruct execution of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information can be further transmitted to the multifunction machine 12.

  In addition, by executing the processing of step 100 to step 114, the case processing apparatus 14 associates the case information input by the client PC 16 with the case number created for each case information in the case information table 24D. The instruction description identification information provided for each instruction description information received from the multifunction machine 12 and the case number can be associated with each other and stored in the instruction description table 24E.

  In the next multifunction machine 12, the processing routine shown in FIG. 9 is executed every predetermined time, and the process proceeds to Step 200. In step 200, when the instruction description information and the user name are received from the case processing apparatus 14, the process proceeds to step 202. In step 202, instruction description identification information for identifying the instruction description information received in step 200 is generated. The instruction description identification information is generated by generating a new number that does not overlap with the instruction description identification information already stored in the instruction description registration table 40A, for example, a serial number. For example, if “MF01-001” and “MF01-002” have already been stored as instruction description identification information, “MF01-003” is created as new instruction description identification information.

  In the next step 204, the newly created instruction description identification information, the instruction description information received in step 200, and the user name are associated with each other and stored in the instruction description registration table 40A. As a result of the processing of step 204, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the instruction description registration table 40A stores the user name and the instruction description information in association with the instruction description identification information “MF01-003”.

  In the next step 206, the instruction description identification information generated in step 202 is transmitted to the case processing apparatus 14 which is the transmission source of the instruction description information and user name received in step 100, and then this routine is terminated.

  A user who can instruct execution of a series of processing indicated by the instruction description information including the item information of the case information, the instruction description identification information, and the instruction description information by executing the processing of the above-described steps 200 to 206. Are associated with each other and stored in the instruction description registration table 4 10A.

  On the other hand, if the result in step 200 is negative, the process proceeds to step 208, where it is determined whether or not an instruction description information execution instruction has been made. If the result is negative, the deletion process described later in detail in step 224 is executed, The routine is terminated.

  In step 210, a login screen is displayed on the input / output device 38. For example, the input / output device 38 displays a login screen 50 including a user name and password input field 52 and a login button 54 for instructing login, as shown in FIG.

  Next, in step 212, the user presses the login button 54 after an input operation to the user name and password input field, and repeats negative determination until data indicating the user name, password, and login instruction is input. Then, the process proceeds to step 214.

  In step 214, a user authentication process is performed in which a user name and a password are associated with each other and stored in the storage device 40 in advance, and the password corresponding to the user name stored in the storage device 40 is compared with the input password. . If the predetermined password corresponding to the input user name matches the input password as a result of the process in step 214, the process proceeds to the next step 216 and corresponds to the user name input in step 212 above. The instruction description information to be searched is searched from the instruction description registration table 40A. If an authentication error occurs in the user authentication process in step 214, the routine may be terminated after displaying information indicating the authentication error on the input / output device 38.

  In step 218, the case name included in the instruction description information searched in step 216 is read, the case name list is displayed, and one of the case name lists can be selected to the input / output device 38. indicate. For example, as shown in FIG. 10B, a selection screen 56 including each of the case names included in one or more instruction description information corresponding to the user name “yamada” is displayed on the input / output device 38.

  As described above, only the case name corresponding to the instruction description information related to the user who executes the instruction description information can be displayed on the input / output device 38 so as to be selectable. Only the case name corresponding to the instruction description information indicating a series of processes can be displayed in a selectable manner. Further, the user can easily specify the instruction description information corresponding to the desired case from the selection screen 56.

  Next, in step 220, a negative determination is repeated until one of the case names included in the selection screen 56 displayed on the input / output device 38 in step 218 is selected. The instruction description information including the specified case name is interpreted, and after executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information, this routine is terminated.

  If the case name “printer purchase case” is selected in step 220, the process of step 222 is instruction description information (MF01-003) corresponding to the instruction description identification information “MF01-003” as instruction description information including the case name. The interpretation of FIG. 3 (B) is performed.

  Specifically, it is executed by sequentially interpreting operation elements that are child elements of the root element JobOrderSheet element of the instruction description information. Here, in the first operation element of the instruction description information of MF01-003, the type is “scan”, the name attribute is “destination”, and the value of the value attribute is “ftp: // abc. There is a param element of Fujixerox.co.jp/purchasing/ ". This is because an image is read using the scanning unit 42, and ftp: // abc. Fujixerox. co. jp / purchasing / is instructed to store, and accordingly, the scanning unit 42 is instructed to scan the paper document, and the obtained image file is transmitted to the ftp: // abc. Fujixerox. co. Store in jp / purchasing /. The name of the obtained image file is a name including a predetermined variable, for example, “ftp://abc.fujixerox.co.jp/purchasing/img001.pdf”. In addition, this ftp: // abc. Fujixerox. co. jp / purchasing / is a storage area for image files prepared in advance in the storage device 48 of the case processing apparatus 14.

  In the second operation element of the instruction description information, the value of the type attribute is “SOAP”, the value of the name attribute is “AddDocument”, and the value of the location attribute is “http://abc.funixerox.co.jp/purchasing. wsdl ". This is an instruction to call the “AddDocument” method of the Web service specified by the value of the SOAP protocol location attribute. Further, the child element of the second operation element includes a param element whose name attribute is “document” and whose value is “& scannedFileLocation”. This is an instruction that the value of the argument document is the value of the variable & scannedFileLocation when the AddDocument method is called. In addition, there is a param element whose name attribute is “order_id” and whose value attribute value is “0001”. This is an instruction that the value of the argument order_id is 0001 when the AddDocument method is called.

  Note that the Web service specified by “http://abc.fujixerox.co.jp/purchasing.wsdl” is assumed to be a Web service provided by the case processing apparatus 14, and its AddDocument method is passed in the argument order_id. It is assumed that the method provides a function of storing the document file specified by the argument document in association with the item specified by the specified item number.

  As described above, when the AddDocument method is called for the matter processing device 14 by interpreting and executing the second operation element, the matter processing device 14 sends the matter number passed to the storage device 24 with the order_id argument. And the document argument are associated with each other and stored in the related document table 24F (see FIG. 4D). Thereby, the case processing apparatus 14 can store the document data obtained by executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information in association with the case number.

  In this way, when the interpretation execution of all the operation elements of the instruction description information is completed, the process of step 222 is ended, and this routine is ended.

  By executing the processing from step 208 to step 222, a series of processes shown in the instruction description information including the item information included in the case information is executed for each case, and the document data generated by the series of processes is And stored in association with the case number assigned to each case.

  Next, the case approval process executed by the client PC 17 will be described. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that “kato”, who is an approver of the user “yamada”, approves the case for which the interpretation execution process in step 222 is performed. FIG. 11 shows a process executed during the case approval process in the client PC 17 used by the approver “kato”.

  In step 300, it is determined whether or not a case approval start instruction has been made in accordance with a user operation instruction. If the determination is negative, this routine is terminated. If the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step 302.

  In step 302, a login screen is displayed on a display unit (not shown). For example, the login screen 50 shown in FIG. 10A is displayed on the display unit.

  Next, in step 304, after the user inputs the user name and password into the input field, the login button 54 is instructed, and negative determination is repeated until data indicating the user name, password, and login instruction is input. In step 306, the entered user name, password, and approval request information are transmitted to the matter processing apparatus 14.

  In the next step 308, a negative determination is repeated until a case name and a case number list of cases applied by one or more approval persons corresponding to the user name as an approver are received from the case processing device 14, If the determination is affirmed, the process proceeds to step 310 to display a case name list on the display unit. By the processing of step 308, for example, the display unit is instructed to select and execute one case from the case name list 62 and the case name displayed in the case name list 62 as shown in FIG. A case selection screen 60 including an execution button 66 is displayed.

  In the next step 312, a negative determination is repeated until one of the cases is selected from the case name list 62 on the case selection screen 69 until the execution button 66 is pressed. If the determination is affirmative, the case selected in step 314 is selected. The case number corresponding to the name is transmitted to the case processing apparatus 14.

  In the next step 316, the negative determination is repeated until the case information is received from the case processing device 14. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 318, and the case information corresponding to the case number of the selected case is displayed on the display unit. For example, on the display unit, document data obtained by executing a series of processes shown in the item information included in the case information and the instruction description information corresponding to the case information shown in FIG. The item detail display screen 68 including a link 74 indicating the storage location of the item, an approval button 70 for instructing approval of the item, and a rejection button 72 for instructing rejection of the item are displayed.

  In the next step 320, it is determined which one of the display position of the link 74, the display position of the approval button 70, and the display position of the rejection button 72 has been instructed by the user. , The storage location of the document data corresponding to the related document indicated by the link is accessed, and the related document is displayed.

  On the other hand, if the display position of the approval button 70 is instructed to be pressed and the approval is instructed, the process proceeds to step 324, and the case name and the case number received in step 308 are displayed on the display unit in step 318. After specifying the case number corresponding to the case information and transmitting the specified case number and approval information indicating approval to the case processing apparatus 14, this routine is terminated.

  Furthermore, if the display position of the reject button 72 is instructed to be pressed in step 320 and a rejection is instructed, the process proceeds to step 326, the case number is specified in the same manner as in step 324, and the specified case number and After the rejection information indicating the rejection is transmitted to the case processing apparatus, this routine is terminated.

  Next, the case approval process (see step 116 in FIG. 8) executed by the case processing apparatus 14 will be described using the processing routine of FIG.

  If it is determined in step 118 that the user name, approval request information, and password have been received from the client PC 17, the process proceeds to step 120 to execute user authentication processing. The process of step 120 confirms that the previously stored password corresponding to the user name received in step 118 matches the received password, and if it matches, corresponds to the received user name that is the approver. The person to be approved is specified from the approval authority table 24C. For example, when the approval request information and “kato” as the user name are received in the above step 118, “yamada” and “tanaka” are retrieved from the approval authority table 24C as approval target persons corresponding to the approver “kato”. The

  Next, in step 122, a case number and a case name corresponding to the approval subject specified in step 120 are searched from the case information table 23D. For example, in the present embodiment, a case number corresponding to “yamada” or “tanaka” as an applicant name in the case information table 23D is searched. In the present embodiment, the case number “0001” and the case name corresponding to “yamada” as the applicant name are specified in the case information table 23D.

  In step 124, the case number and the case name specified in step 122 are returned to the client PC 17. By the processing of step 124, the user name received from the client PC 17 is set as an approver, and the client PC 17 that requests the approval process for the case number and the case name list corresponding to the case information related to the approval target person corresponding to the approver. You can reply to

  Next, in step 126, negative determination is repeated until the case number is received from the client PC 17, and if affirmed, the process proceeds to step 128, and the case information corresponding to the case number received in step 126 is searched from the case information table 24D. In step 130, the retrieved item information is returned to the client PC 17.

  Next, in step 132, it is determined whether or not approval information and a case number have been received from the client PC 17, and if negative, the process proceeds to step 140 to determine whether or not negative information and a case number have been received. If the result in step 140 is negative, the routine is terminated. If the result is positive, information indicating that the result is rejected in step 142 is sent to the client PC 16 of the applicant after the case number received in step 140 is notified. End the routine.

  On the other hand, if affirmative in step 132 and the approval information and the case number are received from the client PC 17, the process proceeds to step 134, and the case status corresponding to the case number received in step 132 in the case information table 24D is changed from “new” to “ Change to "Approve". Through the process of step 134, a series of processes indicated in the instruction description information corresponding to the case information corresponding to the case number is executed, and when the execution result is approved, the corresponding case state can be changed. .

  Next, in step 136, the instruction description identification information corresponding to the case number received in step 132 is specified from the instruction description table 24E. In the next step 138, the specified instruction description identification information and the instruction description identification information are specified. After the deletion information indicating the instruction to delete the instruction description information corresponding to is transmitted to the multifunction machine 12, this routine is terminated.

  Next, the deletion process (see step 224 in FIG. 9) executed in the multifunction machine 12 will be described using the processing routine of FIG.

  In step 226, it is determined whether or not the instruction description identification information and the deletion information are received from the case processing device 14. When the determination is negative, the routine is terminated, and when the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 228.

  In step 228, after deleting the record corresponding to the instruction description identification information received in step 224, that is, the instruction description identification information, the user name and instruction description information corresponding to the instruction description identification information, from the instruction description registration table 40A. This routine is terminated.

  As described above, after the processing in steps 300 to 324 and the above steps 226 to 228 are executed, a series of processing indicated by the instruction description identification information is executed by the multifunction machine 12, and then the instruction description identification information is displayed. If the approver is approved by the approver, the instruction description information and the corresponding information stored in the multifunction machine 12 can be deleted. As a result, the instruction description information that has been processed can be deleted from the multifunction device 12, and therefore, it is possible to prevent a user operating the multifunction device 12 from executing a matter different from the intended matter. Further, the capacity of the storage device 40 of the multifunction machine 12 can be secured.

  As described above, in the case processing apparatus 14 of the document processing system 10 according to the present exemplary embodiment, a plurality of processes to be applied to the document information for the case information including the item information related to the case having a predetermined purpose are represented as a series of processes. Instruction description information is created by associating with the linked information. In this way, the instruction description information can include the item information of the item corresponding to the purpose of the instruction description information, and thus a series of processes indicated in the instruction description information can be processed in association with each item.

  Further, the item information can include information indicating an item state indicating an execution state of a series of processing of the instruction description information corresponding to the item information. Further, the case status can be changed by an instruction input from the client PC 17. Since the corresponding instruction description information stored in the multifunction device 12 can be deleted according to this matter status, only the matter of the instruction description information that needs to be processed is selected for the user operating the multifunction device 12 This can be presented in a possible manner, and erroneous operation by the user can be prevented.

  Further, in the multifunction machine 12, the instruction description information including the case information created by the case processing apparatus 14 can be stored, and the case name included in the instruction description information can be displayed in a selectable manner. The instruction description information corresponding to the desired item can be easily specified.

  Further, the case processing apparatus 14 acquires the case information and the user name that created the case information, creates instruction description information including an item for identifying the case included in the case information, and the user name Related user names classified in advance as the same group can be transmitted to the multifunction device 12 together with the created instruction description information. Therefore, the multifunction device 12 instructs execution of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information. The instruction description information can be stored in correspondence with the user name that can be used. For this reason, when the user name who operates the multifunction device 12 is specified on the login screen of the multifunction device 12, the item of the instruction description information that can be operated by the specified user can be displayed in a selectable manner. For this reason, the user can instruct the user's own related, that is, executable instruction description information. At this time, since the item information included in the instruction description information is displayed, the user can easily specify the instruction description information.

  Furthermore, document data, image data, and the like obtained by executing a series of processes indicated in the instruction description information can be stored in association with the item number assigned to each item information of the instruction description information. Various document data created as a result of the series of processing can also be managed in association with each item.

  In the present embodiment, the document processing system 10 has been described as including a plurality of devices, that is, the item processing device 14, the multifunction device 12, the client PC 16, and the client PC 17. However, the document processing system 10 includes a single device. You may make it do. In this case, for example, the multifunction machine 12 may be provided with the functions of the item processing device 14 and the client PC 16 and client PC 17.

  In the present embodiment, the storage device 24 of the case processing apparatus 14 is described as having one type of linkage information described as a model of instruction description information. However, a plurality of types of linkage information, that is, document information is described. A plurality of types of linkage information representing a plurality of different processes applied to the above as a series of processes may be stored in advance. In this case, a table that associates the word / phrase in the item information included in the item information with each of the plurality of pieces of linkage information is separately prepared, and the word / phrase that is the keyword is determined from the item information received from the client PC 16. The link information corresponding to the searched word / phrase may be adopted in the instruction description information generating process in step 106. In this way, it is possible to identify linkage information corresponding to a case from a plurality of pieces of linkage information for executing a series of processes according to the case information, and create instruction description information associated with the specified case information. it can.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case has been described in which the case processing apparatus 14 deletes the instruction description information corresponding to the case of the multifunction machine 12 when the approval of the case is instructed by the client PC 17. It is not limited to a particular form.

  For example, in this embodiment, when “Approval” of a case is instructed, the instruction description information corresponding to the case is deleted. However, the description is not limited to the “Approve” instruction. A process of deleting instruction description information may be executed when an instruction input that requires deletion of information is made.

  Further, in this embodiment, the case has been explained that the instruction description information corresponding to the case is deleted when “approval” of the case is instructed, that is, when the case state becomes “approved”. The processing to be performed is not limited to deletion. For example, new instruction description information may be created when the case status is “approved”. Specifically, the client PC 17 displays an “order” button for instructing ordering of the matter together with an “approval” button for instructing approval as a workflow on the display screen. In the case processing device 14, cooperation processing information associated with the ordering information is stored in advance in the storage device 24. In the client PC 17, the “order” button is instructed, and the order processing information and the matter number of the matter instructing ordering (the matter number corresponding to the matter information displayed on the client PC 17) are transmitted to the matter processing device 14. The In the control unit 20 of the case processing apparatus 14, the above-described instruction description information creation processing is performed on various items of information included in the case information corresponding to the received case number in the association portion of the cooperation information associated with the order information. Similarly, new instruction description information is created in association with each other. At this time, the control unit 20 of the case processing apparatus 14 changes the item indicating the “case state” corresponding to the case number in the case information table 24D to “ordering”.

  In this way, when the case state is changed, new instruction description information can be created in association with the same case number.

[Second Embodiment]
In the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which the created instruction description information is stored in the multifunction machine 12 that executes a series of processes. However, in this embodiment, the instruction description information is stored in a complex connected to the network 18. A case where data is stored in a device different from the machine 12 will be described. In addition, about the same site | part and the same process as 1st Embodiment, the same code | symbol is provided and the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the document processing system 11 of this embodiment further includes an instruction description management server 9 that stores instruction description information. Specifically, the document processing system includes an instruction description management server 9, a case processing device 15, a multifunction machine 13, and a client PC 16. The multifunction machine 13 includes a plurality of multifunction machines 13a and 13b.

  The client PC 16 is an apparatus for inputting item information, and an input screen 35 shown in FIG. 16 for inputting item information is displayed on the display device. The input screen 35 includes, for example, an input field 31 for inputting information corresponding to each of “case name”, “customer name”, and “in charge of sales” as item information included in the case information. An execution button 32 for instructing execution of the input item is displayed. When the user instructs the input device to operate, item information including each item information shown on the input screen 35 is input.

  As shown in FIG. 17, the case processing device 15 is connected to a control unit 21, an input / output device 22, a storage device 25, and a network 18 that execute processing routines shown in FIG. 22, FIG. 26, and FIG. Communication units 26 that perform communication processing are connected to each other via a bus 28.

  The storage device 25 stores processing routines and various data to be described later, stores in advance cooperation information 25A that is a model of instruction description information, and executes a processing routine to be described later, thereby executing a case information table 25D and an instruction description. Store table 25E.

  The linkage information 25A represents a series of processes different from the linkage information 24A described in the first embodiment, and includes a related portion for associating each item information included in the case information. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 18A, the linkage information 25A includes linkage information in which the multifunction device 13 scans a paper document and stores document data obtained by scanning in association with the case information. A series of processes substantially the same as 24A are described. The linkage information 24A is provided with an associating portion for associating information corresponding to each of “case name” and “case number” as a plurality of items included in the case information.

  As shown in FIG. 19A, the case information table 25D stores the case information and the case number in association with each other in substantially the same manner as the case information table 24D. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the case information corresponding to the case for the purpose of processing related to the compilation of the estimate for the construction of the property is input. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the case information includes item information of four items: a case name, a customer name, a sales person in charge, and a case state. The customer name indicates the customer name corresponding to the project relating to the construction estimate compilation, and the sales person in charge indicates the name of the sales person in charge of the project. The case state has three states, that is, a state in which the plan view scan has been completed, a state in which the integration table scan has been completed, and a state in which the completion prediction diagram has been scanned. In the present embodiment, when each process is completed, the document data obtained by each process is stored in an item indicating each process state. By storing this document data, the case status is indicated. Since the instruction description table 25E has the same configuration as the instruction description table 24E, the description thereof is omitted. In the instruction description management server 9, as shown in FIG. 21, the control unit 8, the input / output device 7, the storage device 6, and the communication unit 5 are connected to each other via the bus 4 so as to be able to exchange data and commands. .

  The control unit 8 executes a processing flow shown in FIG. The input / output device 7 displays a user interface (UI) and accepts a user operation input. The communication unit 5 is an interface for enabling various data and commands to be exchanged with the item processing device 15, the multifunction machine 13, and the client PC 16 via the network 18.

  The storage device 6 stores a processing routine, which will be described later, various data, and an instruction description registration table 6A. The instruction description registration table 6A has substantially the same configuration as the instruction description registration table 40A. As shown in FIG. 20, the instruction description identification information for identifying the instruction description information and the instruction created by the case processing device 15 are used. The description information is stored in association with each other.

  The multifunction device 13 has substantially the same configuration as the multifunction device 12 of the first embodiment, and includes a control unit 36, an input / output device 38, a storage device 40, and a scanning unit 42 that execute a processing routine shown in FIG. The print unit 44 and the communication unit 46 are connected via a bus 48. The difference between the multifunction machine 13 and the multifunction machine 12 is that the multifunction machine 12 stores the instruction description registration table 40A in the storage device 40. However, in the multifunction machine 13 according to the present embodiment, this implementation corresponding to the instruction description registration table 40A. The instruction description registration table 6 </ b> A in this form is stored in the instruction description management server 9 and is not stored in the multifunction machine 13.

  The storage device 25 of the case processing apparatus 15 corresponds to the storage means of the document processing apparatus of the present invention, and the control unit 21 corresponds to the instruction description information generating means and the changing means of the present invention. The storage device 6 of the instruction description management server 9 corresponds to instruction description information storage means of the document processing apparatus of the present invention. The input device of the client PC 16 corresponds to the selection unit of the present invention.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  In the case processing apparatus 15, a processing routine shown in FIG. 22 is executed at predetermined time intervals. When the execution button 32 is instructed after various item information included in the item information is input by the client PC 16 via the input screen 35 (see FIG. 16), the input item information is transmitted to the item processing device 15. Is done. In the case processing apparatus, in step 100, it is determined whether or not the case information has been received. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 117, and the case deletion process, whose details will be described later, is executed, and then this routine ends. If the determination in step 100 is affirmative, the processing of step 102 to step 106 is executed. Specifically, a case number is generated based on the case information table 25D, and the generated case number is stored in the case information table 25D associated with the received case information. An instruction description is obtained by associating each item of the case information stored in the case information table 25D with the association portion for associating each item information included in the case information of the linkage information 25A, which is a model of the instruction description information. Generate information. Specifically, in the association information 25A shown in FIG. 18A, each of the associated parts “@case name @” and “@case number @” has a case name “corresponding to the case number 0001 in the case information table 25D. The instruction description information shown in FIG. 18B is created by embedding and associating each of “Kobayashi New Construction” and project number “0001”.

  In step 107, the item description information created in step 106 includes information indicating a case name and a case number as item information. The instruction description information represents a plurality of processes to be applied to the document as a series of processes, and the instructions. A description information storage instruction is transmitted to the instruction description management server 9.

  Next, in step 113, negative determination is repeated until the instruction description identification information for identifying the instruction description information is received from the instruction description management server 9. In step 114, the instruction description identification information received in step 113 is stored in the instruction description table 25E in association with the case number generated in step 102, and then this routine ends.

  Next, in the instruction description management server 9, the processing routine shown in FIG. 23 is executed at predetermined time intervals, and the same processing as Step 200 to Step 206 is executed. Specifically, in step 400, when instruction description information is received from the case processing apparatus 15, the process proceeds to step 402, where instruction description identification information for identifying the instruction description information received in step 400 is generated. Similarly to the processing in step 202, the instruction description identification information is generated by generating a new number different from the “instruction description identification information” stored in the instruction description registration table 6A, for example, a serial number.

  Next, in step 404, the newly created instruction description identification information and the instruction description information received in step 400 are associated with each other and stored in the instruction description registration table 6A. In step 406, the instruction description identification information generated in step 402 is transmitted to the case processing apparatus 15, and then this routine is terminated.

  Next, processing executed by the multifunction machine 13a will be described using a processing routine shown in FIG.

  In step 500, it is determined whether or not an instruction description information execution instruction has been issued. If the determination is negative, this routine is terminated. If the determination is affirmative, the routine proceeds to step 502, the instruction description management server 9 is accessed, and the next step In 504, the instruction description information shown in the instruction description registration table 6A is read. In step 506, the case name included in the read instruction description information is read, the case name list is displayed, and one of the case name lists is displayed on the input / output device 38 so that it can be selected. For example, as shown in FIG. 25A, a selection screen 57 including each case name included in one or a plurality of instruction description information is displayed on the input / output device 38.

  Next, in step 508, the negative determination is repeated until one of the case names included in the selection screen 57 displayed on the input / output device 38 in step 506 is selected. The instruction description information including the specified case name is interpreted, and after executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information, this routine is terminated.

  If the project name “Kobayashi House New Construction” is selected in step 508, the processing of step 510 is instruction description information (MF01-001) corresponding to the instruction description identification information “MF01-001” as instruction description information including the case name. The interpretation of FIG. 18B is performed.

  Specifically, the instruction description information is obtained by displaying the input screen and allowing the user to input necessary parameters in the instruction description information, and then sequentially interpreting the operation element that is a child element of the root element JobOrderSheet element of the instruction description information. It is executed by doing. In the instruction description information of the present embodiment, since the type of the first operation element is “scan”, a parameter input screen 80 (see FIG. 25B) prepared in advance is generated and displayed. At the same time, since the type of the second operation element is “SOAP” and the child element has a param element without a value attribute, the second screen 82 is generated to input the value of the param element. Is displayed.

  The second screen 82 will be described in detail. The type attribute of the param element is “choice”, the value of the selection attribute is “plan view, integration table, completed completion diagram”, and the value of the default attribute is Since it is a “plan view”, in the selection input field 84, a selection input field 84 in which “plan view” is selected from among the choices of “plan view”, “integration table”, and “predicted completion view”. Is displayed.

  Here, it is assumed that the user is going to input a plan view and clicks the start button 82 with default settings. Next, in the first operation element of the instruction description information, the type is “scan”, the name attribute is “destination”, and the value of the value attribute is “ftp://xyz.fujixerox.co. There is a param element of jp / estimate / ”. This is done by reading an image using a scanner, ftp: // xyz. Fujixerox. co. Therefore, the scan unit 32 is instructed to scan a paper document, and the obtained image file is transmitted to the ftp: // xyz. Fujixerox. co. Store in jp / estimate /. The name of the stored file is, for example, “ftp://xyz.fujixerox.co.jp/estimante/img001.pdf” as a predetermined variable & scannedFileLocation. Here, ftp: // xyz. Fujixerox. co. jp / estimante / indicates an image file storage area prepared in advance in the storage device 25 of the case processing device 15.

  Next, the second operation element of the instruction description information is interpreted. In the second operation element, the value of the type attribute is “SOAP”, the value of the name attribute is “AddDocument”, and the value of the location attribute is “http://xyz.fujixerox.co.jp/estimante.wsdl”. . This is an instruction to call the “AddDocument” method of the Web service specified by the value of the SOAP protocol location attribute. The child element of the second operation element includes a parameter element whose name attribute is “document” and whose value is “& scannedFileLocation”. Therefore, when calling the AddDocument method, the value of the argument document becomes the value of the variable & scannedFileLocation. In addition, since there is a param element whose name attribute is “kind” and which does not have a value attribute, the value of the argument “kind” is the value input in the selection input field 84 of the input screen 83 when the AddDocument method is called. "become. Also, since there is a param element whose name attribute is “order_id” and whose value attribute value is “0001”, the value of the argument order_id is 0001 when the AddDocument method is called. Here, the Web service specified by “http://abc.fujixerox.co.jp/purchasing.wsdl” is a Web service provided by the matter processing device 15, and its AddDocument method is passed with an argument order_id. This method provides a function of storing a document file specified by an argument document in association with a case specified by an argument document as a document of a type specified by an argument kind. When the AddDocument method is called for the case processing device 15 by interpreting and executing the second operation element in this way, the case processing device 15 starts the document registration program shown in FIG.

  In step 600, the document passed by the argument document in the case information table 25D is stored as a document of the type specified by the argument kind of the record of the case number passed by the argument order_id. In other words, the document is stored in the plan view item in the case state corresponding to the case number 0001 of the case information table 25D by the processing in step 600.

  In step 602, instruction description information corresponding to the case is acquired from the instruction description management server 9. Specifically, the instruction description identification information and the acquisition request are transmitted to the instruction description management server 9. When the instruction description management server 9 receives the instruction description identification information and the acquisition request information, the instruction description management server 9 retrieves the corresponding instruction description information from the instruction description registration table 6 </ b> A and transmits it to the case processing device 15.

  Next, in step 604, the contents of the instruction description information acquired from the instruction description management server 9 are changed according to the case status. Specifically, in the process of step 604, a plan view is obtained by scanning the plan view of the case status of the case number 0001 shown in the case information table 25D as shown in FIG. Corresponding to the state in which the completed drawing is not acquired, the value of the default attribute of the second param element of the second operation element of the instruction description information shown in FIG. Rewrite as “table”.

  Next, in step 606, the instruction description information whose contents are changed in accordance with the case state in step 604 and an update request for the instruction description information are transmitted to the instruction description management server 9, and then this routine is terminated. When the instruction description management server 9 receives the instruction description information and the update request, the instruction description information transmitted to the case processing device 15 in the process of step 602 in the instruction description registration table 6A is processed by the process of step 606. The instruction description information received from the device 15 is updated.

  As described above, the contents of the instruction description information can be changed according to the case state by executing the processing of the above-described steps 600 to 606.

  Here, it is further assumed that the user operates the multifunction machine 12a to store an integration table in association with the “Kobayashi House New Construction” project. When the user operates the input / output device of the multifunction peripheral 12a to instruct execution of the instruction description information, the multifunction peripheral 12a executes the same processing as in the above step 510, and interprets and executes the instruction description information. The difference from the processing of step 510 is that the content of the instruction description information is changed, that is, the default value of the second param element of the second operation element is changed from “plan view” to “summation table”. Since it has been changed, as shown in FIG. 27A, the input / output device 38 of the multifunction machine 12a displays a screen 86 on which a selection input field 84 in a state where “integration table” is selected is arranged. The

  Thus, since the instruction description information is changed according to the case state, the user does not need to perform a selection operation, and the user may operate the start button 82 with the default display.

  In this way, the instruction description information stored in correspondence with the matter is automatically rewritten in accordance with the matter state in response to the change in the matter state, so the user can easily and without mistakes process related to the matter. Can be executed.

  Next, the process of deleting instruction description information stored in the instruction description management server 9 executed by the case processing apparatus 15 will be described.

  When the client PC 16 is operated by the user and an instruction description information deletion instruction is transmitted from the client PC 16 to the case processing apparatus 15, the case processing apparatus 15 executes the processing routine shown in FIG.

  In step 700, all item information and item numbers are read from the item information table 25D and transmitted to the client PC 16, and a display instruction for displaying the item name included in the item information is transmitted. Through the processing in step 700, a list of all the case names stored in the case information table 25D is displayed on the display unit of the client PC 16 (see, for example, FIG. 27B).

  Next, in step 702, the client PC 16 is instructed to select a case to be deleted, and repeats the negative determination until the selected case number to be deleted is received.

  In step 704, the instruction description identification number corresponding to the case number received in step 702 is specified from the instruction description table 25 E, and the specified instruction description identification number and the deletion request are transmitted to the instruction description management server 9. End the routine.

  Upon receiving the instruction description identification number and the deletion request, the instruction description management server 9 deletes the instruction description identification number and the instruction description information corresponding to the instruction description identification number from the instruction description registration table.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the instruction description registration table 6A is registered in the instruction description management server 9 as a separate device from the multifunction machine 13, so that the processing efficiency can be improved. Also, the instruction description content can be changed according to the change in the case state.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. Various changes or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment without departing from the gist of the invention, and embodiments to which such changes or improvements are added are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  Moreover, said embodiment does not limit the invention based on a claim, and all the combinations of the characteristics demonstrated in embodiment are not necessarily essential for the solution means of invention. The embodiments described above include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. Even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, as long as an effect is obtained, a configuration from which these some constituent requirements are deleted can be extracted as an invention.

  In each of the above embodiments, the case where the present invention is executed by a plurality of apparatuses has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to a P2P (Peer to Peer) system, It can also be set as the form applied to a single-piece | unit (stand-alone) apparatus.

  In addition, the flow of various processing programs shown in the above embodiment (see FIGS. 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 22, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 28) is also an example. Needless to say, modifications can be made as appropriate without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a document processing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the case processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. (A) is a figure which shows the cooperation information instruction | indication based on 1st Embodiment produced in the XML format, (B) is the instruction description information based on 1st Embodiment produced in the XML format. FIG. It is a figure which shows the some table stored in a case processing apparatus, (A) is a case information table, (B) is an assistant table, (C) is an instruction | indication description table, (D ) Is a related document table, and (E) is an approval authority table. It is a figure which shows an example of the input screen displayed on the display apparatus of client PC. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction machine according to a first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an instruction description registration table stored in the multifunction peripheral. It is a flowchart which shows the process which produces | generates instruction description information in a case processing apparatus. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed in the multifunction machine. It is a figure which shows an example of the input screen displayed on the display apparatus of client PC, (A) is a figure which shows a login screen, (B) is a figure which shows a selection screen. It is a flowchart which shows the approval process performed with client PC. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the item selection screen displayed on the display apparatus of client PC, (B) is a figure which shows an example of the item detail display screen. It is a flowchart which shows the case approval process performed with a case processing apparatus. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a deletion process executed by the multifunction machine. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the document processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the input screen displayed on the display apparatus of client PC. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the case processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. (A) is a figure which shows the cooperation information instruction | indication based on 2nd Embodiment produced in XML format, (B) is the instruction description information concerning 2nd Embodiment produced in XML format. FIG. It is a figure which shows the some table stored in the case processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment, (A) is a case information table, (B) is an instruction | indication description table, (C) is It is a matter information table. It is a figure which shows the table stored in the instruction description management server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the instruction description management server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process which produces | generates instruction description information in the case processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process performed in an instruction description management server. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by the multifunction machine. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the selection screen displayed on the display apparatus of client PC, (B) is a figure which shows an example of the parameter input screen displayed on the input / output apparatus of a multi-function device, FIG. 8C is a diagram illustrating an example of an input screen displayed on the input / output device of the multifunction peripheral. It is a flowchart which shows the document registration process performed with the case processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the parameter input screen displayed on the input / output device of a multifunction peripheral, (B) is a figure which shows an example of the selection screen displayed on the display apparatus of client PC. It is a flowchart which shows the deletion process of instruction description information performed with the case processing apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

6, 25, 24, 40 Storage device 9 Instruction description management server 10, 11 Document processing system 12, 13 Multi-function device 14, 15 Case processing device 20, 21, 36 Control unit 24A, 25A Cooperation information 26 Communication unit 38 Input / output device

Claims (12)

An acquisition means for acquiring case information relating to a case having a predetermined purpose;
Storage means for storing linkage information representing a plurality of processes applied to document information as a series of processes;
Instruction description information generating means for generating instruction description information by associating the case information acquired by the acquiring means with the linkage information;
Instruction description information execution means for executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information;
A document processing apparatus.   The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an instruction description information storage unit that stores the instruction description information generated by the instruction description information generation unit in association with the item information. Selecting means for selecting instruction description information to be deleted from among the instruction description information stored in the instruction description information storage means;
The document processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the instruction description information generation unit deletes the instruction description information selected by the selection unit from the instruction description information storage unit. The matter information includes matter state information indicating an execution state of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information corresponding to the matter information,
The instruction description information generating means includes a changing means for changing the item status information of the item information according to the instruction description information according to an execution status of a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information. The document processing apparatus according to claim 3.   The instruction description information generation unit deletes the instruction description information corresponding to the item information including the item state information from the instruction description information storage unit when the item state information indicates a predetermined state. The document processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising means.   The deletion unit deletes the instruction description information corresponding to the item information including the item state information from the instruction description information storage unit when the item state information indicates the end of execution of the series of processes. The document processing apparatus described.   5. The instruction description information generating unit includes a regenerating unit that generates instruction description information based on item information including the item state information when the item state information indicates a predetermined state. The document processing apparatus according to claim 6.   The instruction description information generating means generates identification information for identifying the case information based on the case information acquired by the acquisition means, and further associates the identification information with the linkage information to thereby specify the instruction description. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, which generates information.   The acquisition unit further acquires user information indicating a user corresponding to the case information, and the instruction description information generation unit classifies user information of a plurality of users who can use the instruction description execution unit in advance. Including user information storage means for classifying and storing based on conditions, specifying user information corresponding to the user information acquired by the acquisition means from the user information storage means, the specified user information and the acquisition means 9. The document processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the user information acquired by the step is stored in the instruction description information storage unit in association with the generated instruction description information.   The item information includes item information indicating contents of the item, the linkage information includes an association part for associating the item information included in the item information, and the instruction description information generation unit includes the item information The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction description information is generated by incorporating the item information included in the information into the association part. Acquires case information regarding a case having a predetermined purpose, and stores linkage information representing a plurality of processes applied to document information as a series of processes.
Generating instruction description information by associating the case information acquired in the acquisition step with the linkage information;
A document processing method for executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information. On the computer,
Get the case information about the case with the specified purpose,
Store linkage information that represents multiple processes performed on document information as a series of processes,
Generating instruction description information by associating the case information and the linkage information;
A document processing program for executing a series of processes indicated by the instruction description information.

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