Abstract:
A document management system includes an image processing apparatus including a scanning unit and a transmission unit that transfers the scanned image data to an information processing apparatus as first image data and the information processing apparatus including a storing unit that stores image data in association with update information that indicates a version of the image data, an acquisition unit that acquires identification information for identifying the transferred first image data, a specification unit that obtains second image data corresponding to the identification information of the first image data from among the image data stored in the storing unit, a detection unit that compares the first image data with the second image data to detect difference, and a registration unit that updates update information of the second image data and registers the first image data in association with the updated update information if the detection unit detects the difference.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to Japanese Patent Applications No. 2014-051568, filed on Mar. 14, 2014 and No. 2015-038023, filed on Feb. 27, 2015 in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a document management system, a document managing method, and a recording medium storing a document managing program. 
         [0004]    2. Background Art 
         [0005]    In case of managing document such as by registering or modifying document data, a technology that an apparatus scans a set of a cover sheet and document data for document management has been disclosed. 
         [0006]    However, it has been impossible to acquire document data by a same operation as registering or updating the document data, such that it was not easy for a user to obtain a new document or a desired document. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    An example embodiment of the present invention provides a novel document management system that includes an image processing apparatus including a scanning unit that scans a document into scanned image data and a transmission unit that transfers the scanned image data to an information processing apparatus as first image data and the information processing apparatus including a storing unit that stores image data in association with update information that indicates a version of the image data, an acquisition unit that acquires identification information for identifying the first image data transferred by the image processing apparatus, a specification unit that obtains second image data corresponding to the identification information of the first image data from among the image data stored in the storing unit, a detection unit that compares the first image data with the second image data to detect difference between the first image data and the second image data, and a registration unit that updates update information of the second image data and registers the first image data in association with the updated update information in the storing unit if the detection unit detects the difference. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computer system as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating a document management system as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a document management system as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating information stored in a database as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of acquiring and printing a registered document as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating a screen of searching a registered document as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating a screen of a search result as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of updating and printing a registered document as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating a screen of checking whether or not it is the latest version as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 11  is a diagram illustrating a screen of updating the registered document as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 12  is a diagram illustrating a screen of checking a new version as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 13  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process if an extracted document version is not latest as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 14  is a diagram illustrating a screen that notifies that the document cannot be updated as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 15  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process if the extracted document remains unchanged as an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 16  is a diagram illustrating a screen that notifies that the document is not be registered as an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0025]    In describing preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that have the same function, operate in a similar manner, and achieve a similar result. 
         [0026]    In the following embodiment, the document data is easily obtained by the same operation as acquiring and updating the document data. 
         [0027]    First, a hardware configuration of a document management system in this embodiment is described below with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing apparatus in this embodiment.  FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computer system in this embodiment. An image processing apparatus  1  includes a controller  2  that controls the whole image processing apparatus  1 , a scanner  3  that scans a sheet, a printer  4  that prints an image on a sheet, and a control panel  5  that displays a status of the image processing apparatus  1  and accepts user operation. 
         [0028]    The controller  2  includes a CPU  7  that executes commands in a software program, a ROM  8  that stores a program executed on the controller  2 , a RAM  9  used as a page memory created by a controller software and a work memory used for running the software, and a NVRAM  10  as a nonvolatile memory that stores print settings of the image processing apparatus  1  etc. In addition, the controller  2  includes a HDD  11  that can store image data scanned by the scanner. 
         [0029]    A projector  32  and a document management server  12  are connected to the image processing apparatus  1  via a network I/F  13 . The controller  2  includes the network I/F  13  that exchanges data with the document management server  12 , a control panel I/F  14  that controls the control panel  5 , a scanner I/F  15  that receives image data scanned by the scanner  3 , and a printer I/F  16  that exchanges an instruction on printing with the printer  4 . 
         [0030]    For example, the document management server is implemented by a computer system with a hardware configuration shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0031]    A computer system  100  in  FIG. 2  includes an input device  101 , a display device  102 , an external I/F  103 , a RAM  104 , a ROM  105 , a CPU  106 , a communication I/F  107 , and a HDD  108  etc., and those components are connected with each other via a bus B. The input device  101  includes a keyboard and a mouse etc., and the input device  101  is used for inputting operation signals into the computer system  100 . 
         [0032]    The display unit  102  includes a display etc., and the display unit  102  displays a processing result by the computer system  100 . The communication I/F  107  connects the computer system  100  to a network N 1 . As a result, the computer system  100  can perform data communication with an operation terminal and an electronic apparatus etc. via the communication I/F  107 . 
         [0033]    The HDD  108  is a nonvolatile storage device that stores programs and data. The stored programs and data include an Operating System (OS) that controls the whole computer system  100  and application programs that provide various functions on the OS etc. The HDD  108  manages the stored programs and data using a predetermined file system and/or a database. 
         [0034]    The external I/F  103  is an interface with the external apparatus. A storage medium  103   a  is an example of the external apparatus. As a result, the computer system  100  can read/write data from/to the storage medium  103   a  via the external I/F  103 . Examples of the storage medium  103   a  are a flexible disk, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a SD memory card, and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory etc. 
         [0035]    The ROM  105  is a nonvolatile semiconductor memory (a storage device) that can keep programs and data after cutting power off. The ROM  105  stores a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) executed during a boot-up sequence of the computer system  100 , an OS configuration, and programs and data such as network settings etc. The RAM  104  is a volatile semiconductor memory (a storage device) that stores programs and data temporarily. 
         [0036]    The CPU  106  controls the whole computer system  100  and implements functions of the computer system  100  by reading programs and data from the storage devices such as the ROM  105  and the HDD  108 , expanding them into the RAM  104 , and executing processes. 
         [0037]    In the computer system  100  in this embodiment, various processes (described later) can be implemented by cooperating with the hardware resources and programs in combination with the hardware resources, programs, and data. 
         [0038]    Next, schematic configuration of the document management system in this embodiment is described below with reference to  FIGS. 3 and 4 .  FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating a document management system in this embodiment.  FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a document management system in this embodiment. The document management system includes an image processing apparatus  1  and a document management server  12 . 
         [0039]    The image processing apparatus  1  includes an operating unit  21 , a scanning unit  22 , a print unit  23 , a transmitter/receiver  40 , and a projection output unit  42 . The scanning unit  22  is implemented by the scanner  3 , and the scanning unit  22  scans a document and acquires image data of the document. The operating unit  21  is implemented by the control panel  5 , and the operating unit  21  accepts user input. 
         [0040]    The transmitter/receiver  40  transfers the scanned image and the user input information to the document management server  12  and receives a registered document  31  from the document management server  12 . The print output unit  23  prints and outputs the registered document  31  stored in the document management server  12 . The registered document can be output by the projector  32  instead of being printed by the print output unit  23 . In this case, the projection output unit  42  transfers a projecting instruction and the registered document to the projector  32  via the transmitter/receiver  40 . 
         [0041]    The document management server  12  includes a bibliographic information extracting unit  24  that extracts (acquires) specific information (bibliographic information) for specifying the image data from the image data received from the image processing apparatus  1 , an image generator  25  that generates the bibliographic information and an image of the registered document, a change extracting unit  26  that detects change in the image, i.e., difference in the image data, an information searching unit  27  that searches for the registered document, and a document management unit  28  that acquires and updates the registered document and registers a new document. 
         [0042]    The document management server  12  includes a database  33  (not shown in figures), and the database  33  stores documents associated with information such as document IDs, document versions (update information) and attributes etc. Examples of the attribute are an author name, department, issue date, and keyword etc.  FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating information stored in the database  33  in this embodiment. 
         [0043]    A cover sheet  35  of a document  34  includes an image indicating a bibliographic information  36  that includes the document ID and the version. There are three cases of the document  34 , a case that only main pages are included without the cover sheet  35  ((a) in  FIG. 3 ), a case that there is the cover sheet  35  or there is no cover sheet  35 , e.g., the first page is the cover sheet and the remaining pages are not the cover sheets ((b) in  FIG. 3 ), and a case that there are main pages with the cover sheet  35  ((c) in  FIG. 3 ). 
         [0044]    After extracting the bibliographic information  36  from the scanned image, the document management server  12  performs a process described below in accordance with the combination of the extracted information and the user input information. 
         [0045]    If the document  34  includes pages without the cover sheet  35 , the bibliographic information  36  and the document image are generated, the document  34  is registered in the database  33  as a new document, and the registered document  31  is acquired. The reason why the process described above is performed is that it is highly possible that the document without the cover sheet  35  has not been registered in the document management server  12  yet. 
         [0046]    In the case that there is the cover sheet  35  or there is no cover sheet  35 , the registered document is searched using the bibliographic information  36  as a key, images of the registered document is generated from the scanned images without the cover sheet and the bibliographic information  36 , and the registered document  31  is acquired after updating the document in the database  33 . The reason why the process described above is performed is that it is highly possible that the document with the cover sheet  35  has already been registered in the document management server  12  and the document is to be updated. 
         [0047]    In the case that the document  34  consists of main pages with the cover sheet  35 , the registered document  31  is searched and acquired using the bibliographic information  36  and a search condition of the user input information as a key. The reason why the process described above is performed is that it is highly possible that not the document is newly registered or the registered document is updated but the document that has already been stored in the document management server  12  is searched if the document consists of the cover sheet  35  only. 
         [0048]    After performing the process described above, the document management server  12  transfers an image output of the registered document as the result of the process to the image processing apparatus  1 . The image processing apparatus  1  prints out the received document using the print output unit  23 . Otherwise, the image forming apparatus  1  projects the received document using the projector  32  via the projection output unit  42 . It should be noted that the image processing apparatus  1  can include the bibliographic information extracting unit  24 , the image generating unit  25 , the information searching unit  26 , and the document management unit  28  included in the document management server  12 . 
         [0049]    Next, a process that the image processing apparatus  1  acquires the registered document from the document management server is described below.  FIG. 6  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of acquiring and printing the registered document in this embodiment.  FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating a screen of searching a registered document as an embodiment of the present invention. First, the scanning unit  22  in the image forming apparatus  1  scans a document in S 1 . Here, before scanning the document using the scanning unit  22 , it is possible that the image forming apparatus  1  displays a search condition input screen shown in  FIG. 7  on the operating unit  21  and accepts inputting the search condition of the registered document by user operation. 
         [0050]    As shown in  FIG. 7 , the search condition input screen displayed by the operating unit  21  accepts the search condition of the registered document (e.g., author name, department, issue date, version, free keyword etc.) and output method (by printing or projecting) by user operation. After pressing “Acquire Document” button, the operating unit  21  in the image processing apparatus  1  starts scanning the document using the scanning unit  22 . 
         [0051]    After scanning the document, the scanning unit  22  in the image forming apparatus  1  generates image data of the document and transfers the image data to the document management server  12  via the transmitter/receiver  40 . It should be noted that the image data and the search condition is transferred to the document management server  12  if the image forming apparatus  1  accepts inputting the search condition. The bibliographic information extracting unit  24  in the document management server  12  specifies an image of the cover sheet from the image data received from the image forming apparatus  1  and acquires the bibliographic information (document ID information and document version information) from the image of the cover sheet in S 2 . For example, the bibliographic information can be expressed by an image such as a two-dimensional code. 
         [0052]    The bibliographic information extracting unit  24  outputs the extracted bibliographic information to the information searching unit  27  in S 3 . The information searching unit  27  in the document management server  12  searches for the document corresponding to the document ID included in the bibliographic information extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  among documents stored in the database and outputs the search result to the document management unit  28  in S 4 . Here, in case of receiving the search condition from the image forming apparatus  1 , the information searching unit  27  searches for the document corresponding to the search condition specified in S 1  among the document corresponding to the document ID included in the bibliographic information extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  and outputs the search result to the document management unit  28 . 
         [0053]    The document management unit  28  generates a list of documents searched by the information searching unit  27  as a registered document list and transfers the generated document list to the image processing apparatus  1  via the transmitter/receiver  41  in S 5 . 
         [0054]    The operating unit in the image forming apparatus  1  displays the document list transferred by the document management server in S 5  as shown in  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating a screen displaying the document list as the search result in this embodiment. For example, it is assumed that the information in  FIG. 5  is stored in the database  33 . In this case, since “1.05” for the document version and “quality improvement” as the keyword are input as the search condition in  FIG. 8 , two documents satisfying the condition are found. 
         [0055]    After accepting selecting a document on the document list and outputting the document, the operating unit  21  transfers an instruction on printing the document to the document management server  12  in S 6 . In  FIG. 8 , a debrief report on quality improvement whose version is 1.06 is selected. The document management unit in the document server  12  generates a print image of the document selected in S 6  under the output condition specified in S 1  based on the instruction on printing transferred in S 6  and transfers the generated image to the image forming apparatus  1  in S 7 . Subsequently, the print output unit in the image forming apparatus  1  prints out the transferred image. 
         [0056]    Next, a process that the latest version of the document  34  is specified is described below. In this case, it is assumed that the functions in  FIG. 3  are implemented in the image forming apparatus  1 , and only the database  33  is included in the document management server  12 .  FIG. 9  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of updating and printing the registered document in this embodiment. 
         [0057]    After the operating unit  21  in the image forming apparatus  1  accepts an instruction on scanning the cover sheet  35  by user operation, the scanning unit scans the document, and the image data of the document is generated in S 11 . In S 12 , the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  in the image processing apparatus  1  extracts the bibliographic information  36  included in the image data generated in S 11 . 
         [0058]    The document management unit  28  in the image processing apparatus  1  compares the document ID and the version included in the bibliographic information extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  with the document ID and the version stored in the database  33  and checks whether or not the version extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  is the latest in S 13 .  FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating a screen of checking whether or not it is the latest version in this embodiment. If the version of the document is the latest, the operating unit  21  displays a screen that inquires whether or not the document is reprinted. 
         [0059]    If the operating unit  21  accepts a selection of reprinting, the latest version of the registered document is acquired from the database  33 , the print image is generated based on the output condition accepted in S 11 , and the print output unit  23  prints out the generated print image in S 21 . By contrast, if the version of the document extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  is not the latest, the print image of the latest version of the registered document whose document ID is extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  based on the output condition accepted in S 11 , and the print output unit  23  prints out the generated print image. 
         [0060]    Next, a process that updates the document using the cover sheet is described below.  FIG. 11  is a diagram illustrating a screen of updating the registered document in this embodiment. 
         [0061]    Before instructing to scan in S 11  in  FIG. 9 , the image forming apparatus  1  displays a screen shown in  FIG. 11 . Subsequently, the image forming apparatus  1  accepts the instruction on scanning the document by recognizing that an “update document” button is pressed by user operation in S 11 . 
         [0062]    After the scanning unit  22  in the image processing apparatus  1  scans the cover sheet  35  among the document set on the scanner  15  in S 12 , the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  in the image processing apparatus  1  identifies and extracts the bibliographic information printed on the cover sheet  35  in S 13 . Subsequently, based on the document ID included in the bibliographic information extracted in S 13 , the information searching unit  27  searches through the document information that the document management unit  28  manages and acquires a document image whose version is the latest from the database  33  in S 14 . 
         [0063]    The scanning unit  22  in the image processing apparatus  1  scans the document other than the cover sheet among the document set on the scanner  15  and generates the scanned images. The change extracting unit  26  in the image processing apparatus  1  compares the generated images with the images acquired in S 14 . If there are some changes between the documents, a screen of checking whether or not the document is stored in the database  33  as a new version shown in  FIG. 12  on the operating unit  21 . 
         [0064]    As shown in  FIG. 12 , the document management unit  28  generates a new version number based on the document version extracted by the bibliographic information extracting unit  24 , and the operating unit  21  displays a message indicating that the document is registered with the new version in S 17 . 
         [0065]    The image processing apparatus  1  registers the scanned images as the latest version in S 18 . After creating the cover sheet using the imaged bibliographic information and combining the cover sheet with the images scanned in S 15 , the document is registered in the document management unit  28 . 
         [0066]    Next, in S 19 , a message that the scanned images are registered is output. After the operating unit  21  accepts an input of instructing to print by user operation in S 20 , the print output unit  23  in the image processing apparatus  1  prints out the registered document that the document management unit  28  registers in S 21 . 
         [0067]    Next, a process if the bibliographic information included in the cover sheet  35  of the document  34  to be updated is already registered in the document management is described below with reference to  FIG. 13 . Before instructing to scan in S 11  in  FIG. 13 , the image forming apparatus  1  displays the screen shown in  FIG. 11 . Subsequently, the image forming apparatus  1  accepts the instruction on scanning the document by recognizing that an “update document” button is pressed by user operation in S 11 . 
         [0068]    After the scanning unit  22  in the image processing apparatus  1  scans the cover sheet  35  among the document set on the scanner  15  in S 12 , the bibliographic information extracting unit  24  in the image processing apparatus  1  identifies and extracts the bibliographic information printed on the cover sheet  35 . Subsequently, based on the document ID included in the extracted bibliographic information, the information searching unit  27  searches through the document information that the document management unit  28  manages and compares the version information included in the extracted bibliographic information with the latest version information among the searched document information in S 14 . 
         [0069]    After the comparison, if the version information included in the extracted bibliographic information is older than the latest version information among the searched document information, the screen shown in  FIG. 12  is displayed on the operating unit  21  in S 33 . It should be noted that the document management unit  28  does not update the document information even if there is a change between the scanned images by the scanning unit  22  and the images stored in the database  33  in S 32 . 
         [0070]      FIG. 15  is a sequence diagram illustrating a process if the extracted document remains unchanged in this embodiment.  FIG. 16  is a diagram illustrating a screen that notifies that the document is not be registered in this embodiment. In  FIG. 15 , same symbols are assigned to the same steps as shown in  FIG. 9 , and the descriptions for those steps are omitted. 
         [0071]    As shown in  FIG. 15 , if there is no change after comparing the scanned image in S 4  with the images stored in the database  33  in S 41 , the message indicating that the document has not been changed and the document is not registered is displayed on the operating unit  21  in S 42 . 
         [0072]    Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the disclosure of this patent specification may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. 
         [0073]    For example, either the image processing apparatus  1  or the document management server  12  can include functions shown in  FIG. 4  except the print output unit  23 , the transmitter/receiver  40 , and the transmitter/receiver  41 . 
         [0074]    As can be appreciated by those skilled in the computer arts, this invention may be implemented as convenient using a conventional general-purpose digital computer programmed according to the teachings of the present specification. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software arts. The present invention may also be implemented by the preparation of application-specific integrated circuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of conventional component circuits, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the relevant art. 
         [0075]    Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented by one or more processing circuits. A processing circuit includes a programmed processor. A processing circuit also includes devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and conventional circuit components arranged to perform the recited functions.