Patent ID: 7322006

Claim:
An integrated document management system comprising: a storage unit which stores therein a document database comprising a plurality of documents that are files together forming a hierarchical structure comprising an upper hierarchy layer and a lower hierarchy layer ranked below the upper hierarchy layer where document files, each containing a document, in the lower hierarchy are referenced above in the upper hierarchy layer, where the structure is defined with hypertext described in an extensible markup language (XML); a management information database comprising management information comprising an XML file defining the hierarchical structure by indicating a relation between a document in the upper hierarchy layer and a document in the lower hierarchy layer, a document type definition file describing information on a version number of each document, and a document style sheet file defining a style of each document, where the document in the upper hierarchy layer is separate and distinct from the document in the lower hierarchy layer; a server connected to said storage unit and provided with a manager of the documents; a client connected via a network to said server and retrieves together, based on the management information, by accessing said server, both the document in the upper hierarchy layer and the document in the lower hierarchy layer each having a specified version number, from the document database; and a printer connected to the client, the printer making a hard copy of a document displayed at the client; wherein the printer makes the hard copy of the document displayed at the client, including overlaid predetermined characters, in response to a tag in the XML file being included in the management information which instructs to overlay the predetermined characters superimposed on the document displayed at the client, when copying is selected at the client, when the document is determined to be printed according to importance degree thereof, and when the management information includes the tag in the XML file, and the management information includes information related to a security level corresponding to each of the plurality of documents, and said server displays a warning message coping permitted or copying inhibited of document according to the security level, and the security level is dependent upon a pertinence determination level based on a predetermined rule.