Patent ID: 6948122
Filing Date: 2005-09-20
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A document control apparatus for storing and controlling electronic documents accessible from an external apparatus, comprising: registering means for registering electronic documents to a storage, the electronic documents being transmitted from an external transmitting apparatus; period controlling means for storing information of a document control period of the electronic documents registered by said registering means; keeping means for keeping the electronic documents in the storage for a predetermined period even after the document control period of the electronic document has expired; access prohibiting means for prohibiting access from the external apparatus to the electronic document whose document control period has expired; period updating means for updating the document control period for an extension of the document control period based on a user confirmation; temporary access allowing means for allowing temporary access to the electronic document whose document control period has expired based on a predetermined charge; and transferring means for transferring the electronic document to the external apparatus based on a user request, wherein the transferred electronic document is a document whose document control period has not expired, a document whose document control period has been extended by said period updating means, or a document to which temporary access has been allowed by said temporary access allowing means.