Patent ID: 9729733
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L,H04N

Claim:
1. In an image forming system including an image forming apparatus having an image forming unit equipped with an image reading unit, an operation display unit equipped with a touchscreen for receiving user input of control operations, a storage unit having a document-box storage region, a communications interface, and a control unit configured to function as a request-job creating/request-specification configuring unit, as a communication-file creating unit, and as an autonomous-handling processing unit, the control unit, operation display unit, and document-box storage region enabling a document box function including a document submission request function, and the image forming system including a plurality of personal computers communicatively network-connected with the image forming apparatus via the communications interface, a method for causing the image forming apparatus to autonomously represent, on behalf of one of the personal computers as a requestor, acquisition of electronic document files from any of the other personal computers as request destinations, the method comprising: accepting, via the touchscreen in the operation display unit, requestor-user selection of the document box function, and of a document submission request as included in the document box function; via the request-job creating/request-specification configuring unit, and in response to the document submission request, executing a document-submission-request job creating process of transmitting, according to the network communications protocol, the created request communication file to the at least one request-destination personal computer; via the image reading unit, creating the electronic document file; via the at least one request-destination personal computer, submitting the created electronic document file to the secretary, as a response from the at least one request-destination personal computer to the transmission of the created request communication file; and via the autonomous-handling processing unit, analyzing the electronic document file to determine that the electronic document file is submitted in response to the document submission request, and storing the electronic document file submitted from the at least one request-destination personal computer in the document-box storage region, based on the storage location information.