Document controlled workflow systems and methods

• US 20030055811A1
• Filed: 09/20/2001
• Published: 03/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Stork, David G., van Glabbeek, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,120,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The document controlled workflow techniques are provided that can be represented by refinable Petri nets. A document may contain a control code that indicates to the document controlled workflow system to implement specified operations (i.e., functions) at a refinable place. The operations implemented at the refinable place are determined by the control code in the document. An author of the document can customize a document controlled workflow system of the present invention by entering a control code into a document that triggers the implementation of operations customized to that particular document at a refinable place in the document workflow system. The operations specified by a control code in a document can be represented by a refinement network.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a document workflow system that can be represented by a Petri net, the method comprising:

determining if a document contains a control code at a refinable place in the Petri net;

replacing the refinable place with a refinement network and processing the document using the refinement network only if the document contains the control code; and

deleting the refinement network after the document has been processed using the refinement network.

2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the refinement network comprises one or more transitions and two or more states connected together.

3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein replacing the refinable place comprises replacing the refinable place with a first refinement network if the document contains a first control code, and replacing the refinable place with a second refinement network if the document contains a second control code.

4. The method defined in claim 3 wherein deleting the refinement network further comprises deleting the first refinement network if the document contained the first control code, or the second refinement network if the document contained the second control code.

5. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

deleting the control code in the document.

6. The method defined in claim 1 wherein replacing the refinable place with the refinement network further comprises deleting arcs in the refinable place.

7. The method defined in claim 6 wherein deleting the refinement network further comprises recreating the deleted arcs in the refinable place after the document has been processed using the refinement network.

8. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

determining if the document contains a second control code at a second refinable place in the Petri net;

replacing the second refinable place with a second refinement network and processing the document using the second refinement network only if the document contains the second control code; and

deleting the second refinement network after the document has been processed using the second refinement network.

9. A method for processing a document in a document workflow system that can be represented by a Petri network, the method comprising:

determining if the document contains a control code when the document reaches a refinable place in the Petri net; and

if the document contains the control code;

replacing the refinable place with a refinement network,

deleting the control code in the document,

processing the document using the refinement network, and

deleting the refinement network.

10. The method defined in claim 9 further comprising processing the document at a transition connected to the refinable place.

11. The method defined in claim 9 wherein the refinement network comprises a third transition and first and second states.

12. The method defined in claim 9 wherein replacing the refinable place comprises replacing the refinable place with a first refinement network if the document contains a first control code, and replacing the refinable place with a second refinement network if the document contains a second control code.

13. The method defined in claim 12 wherein deleting the refinement network further comprises deleting the first refinement network if the document contained the first control code, or the second refinement network if the document contained the second control code.

14. The method defined in claim 9 wherein replacing the refinable place with the refinement network further comprises deleting arcs in the refinable place.

15. The method defined in claim 14 wherein deleting the refinement network further comprises reconnecting the deleted arcs in the refinable place.

16. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium for processing a document in a document workflow system represented by a Petri network, the computer program product comprising:

code for determining if the document contains a first control code at a first refinable place in the Petri net;

code for replacing the first refinable place with a first refinement network if the document contains the first control code; and

code for executing the first refinement network on the document if the document contains the first control code.

17. The computer program product defined in claim 16 further comprising:

code for continuing to execute the document workflow system on the document if the document does not contain the first control code.

18. The computer program product defined in claim 16 further comprising:

code for determining if the document contains a second control code at a second refinable place in the Petri net;

code for replacing the second refinable place with a second refinement network if the document contains the second control code; and

code for executing the second refinement network on the document if the document contains the second control code.

19. The computer program product defined in claim 16 wherein the first refinement network comprises first and second states and a second transition connected to the first and second states.

20. The computer program product defined in claim 16 wherein:

the code for determining if the document contains the first control code at the refinable place further comprises code for determining if the document contains a second control code at the first refinable place;

the code for replacing the first refinable place with the first refinement network if the document contains the first control code further comprises code for replacing the first refinable place with a second refinement network if the document contains a second control code; and

the code for executing the first refinement network on the document if the document contains the first control code further comprises code for executing the second refinement network on the document if the document contains the second control code.

21. The computer program product defined in claim 16 further comprising code for deleting arcs in the refinable place.

22. The computer program product defined in claim 21 further comprising code for deleting the first control code in the document.

23. The computer program product defined in claim 22 further comprising code for recreating the arcs in the refinable place and code for deleting the refinement network.

24. A system for processing a document in a workflow system represented by a Petri net, the system comprising:

a first module for determining if the document contains a control code at a refinable place in the Petri network;

a second module for replacing the refinable place with a refinement network if the document contains the control code;

a third module for processing the document using the refinement network if the document contains the control code;

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory configured to store the first, second and third modules for execution by the processor.

25. The system defined in claim 24 wherein the second module deletes arcs in the refinable place.

26. The system defined in claim 25 wherein the second module deletes the control code in the document.

27. The system defined in claim 26 wherein a fourth module recreates the arcs in the refinable place and deletes the refinement network after the third module is executed.