Patent ID: 8386923

Claim:
A document generation apparatus, having a non-transitory memory, comprising: a scanning unit adapted (i) to scan a first document in which a content is laid out in a layout and (ii) to read out an identification code from the first document; a retrieval unit adapted to retrieve an address in which a document set is stored based on the read identification code, from a table which stores a plurality of addresses in correspondence with respective identification codes; a first acquisition unit adapted to acquire, from the address retrieved by said retrieval unit, a document set which includes layout data of the first document and database access information for accessing a database to acquire an updated content of the first document; a second acquisition unit adapted to access the database and acquire the updated content based on the database access information acquired by said first acquisition unit; and a generation unit adapted to generate a second document on which the updated content acquired by said second acquisition unit is laid out in accordance with the layout data acquired by said first acquisition unit, thereby the second document, which contains the updated content of the first document, is laid out in the same layout as the first document.