Patent Description:
There are a number of known conventional technologies related to shredders (see, for example, Patent Document <NUM>).

However, the conventional technologies including the technology disclosed in Patent Document <NUM> are insufficient, and it has been difficult to recover information fixed on a medium, which is an object to be shredded, after the medium has been fed into a shredder.

The present invention was achieved in consideration of the above-described circumstances and an object thereof is to recover information fixed on a medium that has been fed into a shredder.

In order to achieve the object described above, a shredder system according to an aspect of the present invention includes:.

According to the present invention, it is possible to recover information fixed on a medium that has been fed into a shredder.

The following describes a first embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

First, referring to <FIG>, the following describes an overview of a service (referred to below as "the present service") to which a shredder system (see <FIG> described below) according to the present invention is applied.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating an overview of an example of the present service that can be implemented through a shredder system according to an embodiment of the present invention, versus a conventional service.

The present service is, for example, provided to a user K who works in an office or the like and who is in a position to manage a worker H. Specifically, for example, the present service is offered to recover information fixed on a medium P that should not be discarded due to its nature and to provide the recovered information to the user K, in a situation in which the worker H has shredded the medium P using a shredder without permission and the information fixed on the medium P has been destroyed.

Conventionally, confidential information is printed or otherwise fixed on a medium P such as paper for use in an office or the like. When the medium P is no longer needed, therefore, a shredder technology is used to shred the medium P, and thus make the confidential information indeterminable in order to prevent a non-related party from determining and appropriating the confidential information fixed on the medium P. The shredder technology allows for protection of privacy and prevention of information leakage by shredding the medium P, but is characterized by the fact that it is extremely difficult to recover the shredded medium P. As such, a shredder is used for the purpose of protecting privacy or preventing information leakage, but not infrequently, is also intentionally used for the purpose of destroying information by someone who does not want the medium P to be recovered.

Specifically, in a case where a medium P has printed thereon information about a contract with a client and somehow makes against the worker H (for example, proves the worker's failure) in an office or the like, the worker H may want to keep the medium P from coming to the attention of the user K, who is his/her supervisor. The following therefore considers a case where the worker H destroys the medium P on purpose. In this case, however, the medium P is treated as do-not-discard, because the medium P contains information about a contract with a client, and is therefore an important document to the office or the like (especially to the user K). For example, assume that the worker H himself/herself has accidentally soiled the medium P. In order to avoid being accused by the user K of soiling the medium P, the worker H attempts to conceal his/her failure by destroying the medium P that proves his/her failure. That is, the worker H shreds the soiled medium P using a shredder that is not capable of information recovery to erase the medium P from existence. As a result of the medium P being thus destroyed, the information printed or otherwise fixed on the medium P is also destroyed. With the conventional technology, the user K has no way to notice that the medium P (i.e., the information fixed on the medium P) has been destroyed by the worker H. The medium P is therefore found to have been destroyed only when someone tries to reuse the information printed on the medium P at a later date, making the problem worse.

Furthermore, not infrequently, one can shred a medium P not on purpose but by mistake, although not shown. As mentioned above, the shredder technology is characterized by the fact that it is extremely difficult to recover the shredded medium P. A careful confirmation is therefore necessary as to whether or not it is really all right to discard the medium P before the medium P is fed into a shredder. However, in an office or the like where a large amount of medium are handled, it is complicated and difficult due to time constraints to accurately confirm whether or not it is really all right to discard the medium P each time a medium P is fed into a shredder. It is therefore not uncommon to feed into a shredder a medium P that should be treated as do-not-discard due to its nature and destroy information fixed thereon by mistake.

To solve the problems of the conventional technology shown on the left side of <FIG>, the present service shown on the right side of <FIG> makes it possible to recover the information fixed on the medium P even after the medium P has been shredded using a shredder <NUM>. Specifically, for example, even if the worker H feeds the medium P into the shredder <NUM> on purpose or by mistake, a series of processes described below is performed. Specifically, the medium P is scanned by a scanner device <NUM> provided within the shredder <NUM> before being shredded, and thus the information fixed on the medium P is read. The read information is transmitted to and stored in a server <NUM>, which is described below with reference to <FIG>. Thus, the information fixed on the medium P that has been fed into the shredder <NUM> is saved in the server <NUM> before the medium P is shredded. The medium P is sent to a cutting unit <NUM> and shredded after the information fixed thereon has been read by the scanner device <NUM>. The user K searches for and extracts the information of the medium P stored in the server <NUM> using a supervisor terminal <NUM>. As described above, the user K can recover the information destroyed as a result of the worker H feeding the medium P into the shredder <NUM>.

In the foregoing, an overview of the present service to which the shredder system according to the present invention is applied has been described with reference to <FIG>. <FIG> is a diagram illustrating a system configuration of the shredder system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The shredder system illustrated in <FIG> includes the shredder <NUM>, the server <NUM>, and the supervisor terminal <NUM>. The shredder <NUM>, the server <NUM>, and the supervisor terminal <NUM> are connected to each other via a predetermined network N such as the Internet. No particular limitations are placed on the form of the network N, and examples of usable networks include Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-Fi, a local area network (LAN), and the Internet.

The shredder <NUM> is, for example, installed in an office or the like and is operated by the worker H and others.

The server <NUM> is, for example, an information processing device that is managed by a system administrator (not shown) under the supervision of the user K. The server <NUM> executes various processes while communicating with the shredder <NUM> and the supervisor terminal <NUM> as appropriate. No particular limitations are placed on who performs duties as the system administrator. For example, the user K himself/herself may perform the duties as the system administrator.

The supervisor terminal <NUM> is an information processing device that is installed in the office or the like and operated by the user K. Specifically, the supervisor terminal <NUM> includes, for example, a personal computer, a smartphone, or a tablet.

Referring now to <FIG>, the following describes an example of a hardware configuration of the shredder <NUM> that forms the shredder system described above. <FIG> is a perspective view of an example of an external configuration of the shredder in the system configuration of the shredder system according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in <FIG>, the shredder <NUM> is placed on a plane (XY plane) formed by an X axis and a Y axis shown in <FIG>. Accordingly, an X axis direction is referred to below as a "length direction", a Y axis direction as a "width direction", an upward direction along a Z axis in <FIG> as an "up direction", and a downward direction along the Z axis in <FIG> as a "down direction".

As shown in <FIG>, the shredder <NUM> includes the scanner device <NUM>, the cutting unit <NUM>, a housing unit <NUM>, and a top panel unit <NUM>. The top panel unit <NUM> is attached to an upper portion of the housing unit <NUM>. The top panel unit <NUM> has a feed opening <NUM> for feeding a medium P. The scanner device <NUM> is provided within the housing unit <NUM> and is located right under the feed opening <NUM> provided in the top panel unit <NUM>. The scanner device <NUM> reads information printed or otherwise fixed on a medium P and converts the read information into digital image data. Specifically, the scanner device <NUM> reads information fixed on a medium P with an automatic document feeder (not shown) transferring the medium P. The scanner device <NUM> then converts the read information into digital image data and outputs the converted information to an external destination.

The cutting unit <NUM> is provided within the housing unit <NUM> and is located under the scanner device <NUM>. The cutting unit <NUM> shreds the medium P that has been transferred thereto by the scanner device <NUM> (automatic document feeder) with fine blades.

Specifically, the medium P is fed into the shredder <NUM> through the feed opening <NUM>, and then sent to the scanner device <NUM>. The information fixed on the medium P is read by the scanner device <NUM>, converted into digital image data, and then transmitted to the server <NUM>. Thereafter, the medium P is transferred from the scanner device <NUM> to the cutting unit <NUM> and shredded.

Referring now to <FIG>, the following describes an example of a hardware configuration of the server <NUM> that forms the shredder system described above. <FIG> is a block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the server in the shredder system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The server <NUM> includes a central processing unit (CPU) <NUM>, read only memory (ROM) <NUM>, random access memory (RAM) <NUM>, a bus <NUM>, an input/output interface <NUM>, an input unit <NUM>, an output unit <NUM>, a storage unit <NUM>, a communication unit <NUM>, and a drive <NUM>.

The CPU <NUM> executes various processes in accordance with programs recorded in the ROM <NUM> or programs loaded from the storage unit <NUM> into the RAM <NUM>. Data necessary for the CPU <NUM> to execute the various processes, for example, is also stored in the RAM <NUM> as appropriate.

The CPU <NUM>, the ROM <NUM>, and the RAM <NUM> are connected to each other via the bus <NUM>. The input/output interface <NUM> is also connected to the bus <NUM>. The input unit <NUM>, the output unit <NUM>, the storage unit <NUM>, the communication unit <NUM>, and the drive <NUM> are connected to the input/output interface <NUM>.

The input unit <NUM> includes, for example, a keyboard and receives input of various information. The output unit <NUM> includes, for example, a speaker and a display such as a liquid crystal display. The storage unit <NUM> includes, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and stores therein various data. The communication unit <NUM> communicates with other devices (for example, the shredder <NUM> in <FIG>) via the network N including the Internet.

A removable medium <NUM> including, for example, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or semiconductor memory is attached to the drive <NUM> as appropriate. A program retrieved from the removable medium <NUM> by the drive <NUM> is installed in the storage unit <NUM> as needed. The removable medium <NUM> can store therein the various data stored in the storage unit <NUM> in the same manner as in the storage unit <NUM>.

Although not shown, the supervisor terminal <NUM> in <FIG> may have basically the same configuration as the hardware configuration of the server <NUM> shown in <FIG>. Description of the configuration of the supervisor terminal <NUM> is therefore omitted.

Referring now to <FIG>, the following describes functional configurations of the shredder <NUM>, the server <NUM>, and the supervisor terminal <NUM> having the hardware configurations shown in <FIG> and <FIG>. <FIG> is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of the functional configuration of the server shown in <FIG>.

The shredder <NUM> includes the scanner device <NUM> and the cutting unit <NUM>. The scanner device <NUM> of the shredder <NUM> includes a reading unit <NUM>, a main control unit <NUM>, and a communication unit <NUM> as functional blocks. The main control unit <NUM> includes an acquisition unit <NUM> and a transmission control unit <NUM>.

The CPU <NUM> of the server <NUM> includes an information acquisition unit <NUM>, an information management unit <NUM>, an information retrieving unit <NUM>, and a display control unit <NUM> as functional blocks. An acquired information DB <NUM> is provided in an area of the storage unit <NUM> of the server <NUM>.

A series of operations is initiated, for example, by the worker H or someone else feeding a medium P into the feed opening <NUM> provided in the top panel unit <NUM> of the shredder <NUM>. Once the medium P has been fed through the feed opening <NUM> of the shredder <NUM>, the medium P is transferred to the scanner device <NUM>. The reading unit <NUM> of the scanner device <NUM> reads information printed or otherwise fixed on the medium P. The acquisition unit <NUM> of the main control unit <NUM> acquires the information of the medium P read in the reading unit <NUM> by converting the information into digital image data. The transmission control unit <NUM> of the main control unit <NUM> executes control for transmitting the information of the medium P acquired in the form of digital image data to the server <NUM> via the communication unit <NUM>. After the information has been read in the reading unit <NUM> of the scanner device <NUM>, the medium P is sent to the cutting unit <NUM> of the shredder <NUM> and shredded.

The information acquisition unit <NUM> of the server <NUM> acquires the information (digital image data) transmitted from the shredder <NUM> via the communication unit <NUM>. The information management unit <NUM> manages the information acquired by the information acquisition unit <NUM> by storing, in the acquired information DB <NUM>, the information in a manner such that the information is identifiable as that of the medium P so that the information can be retrieved as information of the medium P.

When the user K wishes to refer to the information of the medium P, the user K gives an information retrieving instruction by accessing the server <NUM> via the supervisor terminal <NUM>.

Upon receiving the information retrieving instruction from the supervisor terminal <NUM>, the information retrieving unit <NUM> of the server <NUM> searches the acquired information DB <NUM> for the information of the medium P. Specifically, the information retrieving unit <NUM> obtains the information retrieving instruction sent from the supervisor terminal <NUM> via the communication unit <NUM>. The information retrieving unit <NUM> then retrieves the information of the medium P out of the acquired information DB <NUM> via the information management unit <NUM>.

Note here that the information management unit <NUM> may store, in the acquired information DB <NUM>, the information of the medium P in association with various metadata. The user K may therefore use metadata as a keyword to give an instruction for retrieving the information of the medium P.

Specifically, in a case where the information of the medium P is about a contract, for example, the shredder <NUM> may generate metadata "contract" through, for example, character recognition when reading the information of the medium P and output the metadata in association with the information (digital image data) of the medium P. In this case, when the user K wishes to retrieve information about a contract, the user K can enter "contract" as a keyword to smoothly search and extract the information of the medium P associated with the metadata "contract" out of information of various medium P stored in the acquired information DB <NUM>.

In another case, for example, the date when the information of the medium P is read by the shredder <NUM> is associated with the information of the medium P as metadata. In this case, when the user K wishes to retrieve the information of the medium P retrieved by the shredder <NUM> on "Xth day of Oth month", the user K can enter "Xth day of Oth month" to smoothly search and extract the information of the medium P associated with the metadata "Xth day of Oth month" out of the information of the various medium P stored in the acquired information DB <NUM>.

The display control unit <NUM> of the server <NUM> executes control for displaying the information of the medium P retrieved by the information retrieving unit <NUM> on the supervisor terminal <NUM> via the communication unit <NUM>.

The supervisor terminal <NUM> acquires the information of the medium P through an acquisition unit thereof, not shown, and displays the information on a display thereof, not shown.

In the foregoing, examples of the functional configurations of the shredder <NUM>, the server <NUM>, and the supervisor terminal <NUM> have been described with reference to <FIG>.

In the shredder <NUM> according to the first embodiment described above, the scanner device <NUM> is provided within the housing unit <NUM> of the shredder <NUM>. Upon a medium P being fed through the feed opening <NUM>, information fixed thereon is read by the scanner device <NUM> (automatic document feeder), converted into digital image data, and then sent to the server <NUM>. Meanwhile, the medium P is transferred to the cutting unit <NUM> located under the scanner device <NUM> and shredded. That is, according to the first embodiment, the reading of the information fixed on the medium P and the shredding of the medium P are performed as a series of processes. As such, the first embodiment only allows for information storage and recovery, and does not prevent physical medium P from being shredded. A second embodiment may therefore have a configuration in which a medium P fed through a feed opening <NUM> is retained in a predetermined location for a certain period of time after information fixed thereon has been read by a scanner device <NUM> (automatic document feeder) and before the medium P is transferred to a cutting unit <NUM>. The following describes a specific example of the second embodiment with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> is a perspective view of an example of an external configuration of a shredder in a system configuration of a shredder system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which differs from <FIG>. As shown in <FIG>, a shredder <NUM> is placed on a plane (XY plane) formed by an X axis and a Y axis shown in <FIG>. Accordingly, as described above with reference to <FIG>, an X axis direction is referred to as a "length direction", a Y axis direction as a "width direction", an upward direction along a Z axis in <FIG> as an "up direction", and a downward direction along the Z axis in <FIG> as a "down direction".

The shredder <NUM> according to the second embodiment includes a retention container <NUM> and a shredding device <NUM> as shown in <FIG>. The retention container <NUM> includes the scanner device <NUM>, a housing unit <NUM>, and a top panel unit <NUM>. The shredding device <NUM> includes the cutting unit <NUM>, a housing unit <NUM>, and a top panel unit <NUM>. In the retention container <NUM>, the top panel unit <NUM> is attached to an upper portion of the housing unit <NUM>. The top panel unit <NUM> has a feed opening <NUM> for feeding a medium P. The scanner device <NUM> is provided within the housing unit <NUM> and is located right under the feed opening <NUM> in the top panel unit <NUM>. In the shredding device <NUM>, the top panel unit <NUM> is attached to an upper portion of the housing unit <NUM>. The top panel unit <NUM> has the feed opening <NUM> for feeding a medium P. The cutting unit <NUM> is located under the feed opening <NUM>. The cutting unit <NUM> shreds a medium P fed through the feed opening <NUM> with fine blades.

A series of operations is initiated, for example, by the worker H feeding a medium P into the feed opening <NUM> provided in the top panel unit <NUM> of the retention container <NUM>. Once the medium P has been fed through the feed opening <NUM> of the retention container <NUM>, the medium P is transferred to the scanner device <NUM>. A reading unit <NUM> of the scanner device <NUM> reads information printed or otherwise fixed on the medium P. An acquisition unit <NUM> of a main control unit <NUM> acquires the information of the medium P read in the reading unit <NUM> by converting the information into digital image data. A transmission control unit <NUM> of the main control unit <NUM> executes control for transmitting the information of the medium P acquired in the form of digital image data to a server <NUM> via a communication unit <NUM>. After the information has been read in the reading unit <NUM> of the scanner device <NUM>, the medium P is transferred by the automatic document feeder to a retention unit (not shown) provided within the housing unit <NUM> and retained for a certain period of time.

An information acquisition unit <NUM> of the server <NUM> acquires the information (digital image data) transmitted from the retention container <NUM> via a communication unit <NUM>. An information management unit <NUM> manages the information acquired by the information acquisition unit <NUM> by storing, in an acquired information DB <NUM>, the information in a manner such that the information is identifiable as that of the medium P so that the information can be retrieved as information of the medium P.

After being retained for a certain period of time in the retention unit provided within the housing unit <NUM>, the medium P is taken out from the retention unit and fed into the feed opening <NUM> provided in the shredding device <NUM>. The medium P is then sent to the cutting unit <NUM> and shredded.

When the user K wishes to refer to the information of the medium P, the user K gives an information retrieving instruction by accessing the server <NUM> via a supervisor terminal <NUM>.

Upon receiving the information retrieving instruction from the supervisor terminal <NUM>, an information retrieving unit <NUM> of the server <NUM> searches the acquired information DB <NUM> for the information of the medium P. Specifically, the information retrieving unit <NUM> obtains the information retrieving instruction sent from the supervisor terminal <NUM> via the communication unit <NUM>. The information retrieving unit <NUM> then retrieves the information of the medium P out of the acquired information DB <NUM> via the information management unit <NUM>.

A display control unit <NUM> of the server <NUM> executes control for displaying the information of the medium P retrieved by the information retrieving unit <NUM> on the supervisor terminal <NUM> via the communication unit <NUM>.

In the foregoing, a specific example of the second embodiment has been described with reference to <FIG>. As described above, the shredder <NUM> may have a configuration in which the scanner device <NUM> and the cutting unit <NUM> are provided in different housings to give the medium P a certain period of time after the information fixed thereon has been read and before the medium P is shredded. This configuration allows, for example, the user K to retrieve the information of the medium P using the supervisor terminal <NUM> and determine whether or not it is all right to discard the medium P based on the nature of the medium P while the medium P is retained in the retention container <NUM> after the information fixed on the medium P has been read. As a result, if the medium P is determined to be treated as do-not-discard, the medium P is taken out from the retention container <NUM> before being transferred to the shredding device <NUM>, so that the medium P is not shredded. As described above, the configuration that gives the medium P a certain period of time after the information fixed thereon has been read and before the medium P is shredded allows the user K to achieve both recovery of information and recovery of the physical medium P.

In the foregoing, embodiments of the present invention have been described.

For example, the hardware configurations shown in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> are merely examples of configurations for achieving the object of the present invention, and no particular limitations are placed thereon.

For example, in the second embodiment described above, the shredder <NUM> is described as having a configuration that includes the retention container <NUM> having a function of reading information fixed on a medium P and the shredding device <NUM> having a function of shredding the medium P. However, the configuration of the second embodiment is not limited as such. That is, the retention container <NUM> and the shredding device <NUM> may be provided in the same housing.

For another example, in the second embodiment described above, the medium P is transferred to the shredding device <NUM> after being retained in the retention container <NUM> for a certain period of time, but no particular limitations are placed on how to transfer the medium P. For example, the medium P may be transferred manually by the user K or someone else, or may be transferred automatically.

The functional block diagram shown in <FIG> is merely an example, and no particular limitations are placed thereon. That is, as long as the information processing device has functions for executing the series of processes described above as a whole, functional blocks to be used for implementing such functions are not particularly limited to the example shown in <FIG>.

Furthermore, the functional blocks are not limited to being in the locations shown in <FIG> and may be in any locations. Furthermore, one functional block may be implemented solely by hardware, may be implemented solely by software, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software.

In a configuration in which the processes in the respective functional blocks are executed by software, programs that form the software are installed in a device such as a computer via a network or a recording medium. The computer may be any computer incorporated in dedicated hardware. Furthermore, the computer may be, for example, any computer capable of executing various functions through various programs installed therein, such as a server, a general-purpose smartphone, or a general-purpose personal computer.

The recording medium containing the programs may be, for example, any removable medium that is distributed separately from the body of a device in order to provide the programs to each user, or any recording medium that is incorporated in the body of a device in order to be provided to each user along with the device.

The information fixed on the medium P is not particularly limited to being outputted as digital image data as in the foregoing embodiments. That is, the information of the medium P may be outputted as text data rather than image data. In this case, the user K may use at least a portion of the text data as a keyword to give an instruction for retrieving the information of the medium P. Specifically, for example, when the user K wishes to retrieve contract-related information, the user K enters "contract" as a keyword. As a result, information of any medium P containing the keyword "contract" is found and extracted out of information of various medium P stored in the acquired information DB <NUM>. This configuration, in which information of each medium P is outputted as text data, advantageously enables information of a medium P associated with a certain keyword to be smoothly found and extracted.

However, text data is also disadvantageous in that information therein can be easily rewritten. Specifically, for example, a non-related party with a fraudulent purpose can easily rewrite information about a contract with a client outputted as text data and output the information by fixing the information onto another medium. As described above, the configuration in which information of each medium P is outputted as text data is advantageous in that information can be easily found and extracted, but is also disadvantageous in that the information can be easily rewritten.

In this respect, digital image data is advantageous in that information included therein tends to be relatively difficult to modify, and thus the information is less editable. In a situation in which information fixed on a medium P is, for example, about a contract with a client, and is so important that editing thereof is impermissible, therefore, the information fixed on the medium P is more admissible as evidence and more preferable if the information is outputted as digital image data than if the information is outputted as text data.

In other words, the shredder system to which the present invention is applied may take various different embodiments as long as the shredder system has a configuration in scope of the claims. That is, a shredder system according to an aspect includes:.

The information acquisition section (for example, the information acquisition unit <NUM> in <FIG>) acquires the information as image information. Since the information fixed on the medium (for example, the medium P in <FIG>) is acquired as image information, this configuration makes it possible to prevent the information from being altered. That is, this configuration helps increase the reliability of the information.

Claim 1:
A shredder system comprising:
an information processing device (<NUM>);
a retention container (<NUM>) that retains a medium (P) having information fixed thereon when a first person (H) feeds in the medium (P);
a shredder (<NUM>) configured to shred the medium (P) retained in the retention container (<NUM>);
a scanner device (<NUM>); and
a supervisor terminal (<NUM>) used to retrieve information of the medium (P),
the scanner device (<NUM>) being provided within the retention container (<NUM>) and being configured to read the information fixed on the medium (P) at a predetermined time before the medium (P) is shredded by the shredder (<NUM>),
wherein a second person (K) different from the first person (H) provides an information retrieving instruction via the supervisor terminal (<NUM>),
the information processing device (<NUM>) including
an information acquisition unit (<NUM>) configured to acquire the information read by the scanner device (<NUM>),
an information management unit (<NUM>) configured to manage the information acquired by the information acquisition unit (<NUM>) in a recoverable manner, and
a display control unit (<NUM>) that, upon receiving the information retrieving instruction from the second person (K) on the supervisor terminal (<NUM>), retrieves the information managed by the information management unit (<NUM>) and executes control to display the information on the supervisor terminal (<NUM>),
wherein the information management unit (<NUM>) manages the information acquired by the information acquisition unit (<NUM>) in association with various metadata generated for search, including character recognition information of a part of the medium (P) itself and a date, and
the supervisor terminal (<NUM>) communicates with the information processing device (<NUM>) via a predetermined network (N), and during the period in which the medium (P) is retained in the retention container (<NUM>), a decision as to whether or not to shred the medium (P) is made by the second person (K) on the supervisor terminal (<NUM>) based on the information of the medium retrieved through the operation of the supervisor terminal (<NUM>).