DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20090044283A1
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Yoshihama, Taro
• Application Number:
  US12/055,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20090044283A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

There is provided a apparatus including a unit that, when receiving a second document derived from a first document, registers a derivation relationship indicating that a parent of the second document is the first document; a unit that, when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, generates a new group and registers information indicating that the second document belongs to the new group and that, when receiving no branching instruction in association with the second document, registers information indicating that the second and the first document belong to the same group; a unit that registers an access right in association with the group; and a unit that, when receiving a request for an operation of a document from a user, based on an access right corresponding a group to which the document belongs, controls whether to allow the user to perform the operation of the document.

Claims

1. A document management apparatus comprising:

a derivation relationship registration unit that, when receiving a second document obtained as a result of an operation performed with respect to a first document, registers in a storage device a derivation relationship indicating that a parent of the second document is the first document;

a group information registration unit that, when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, generates a new document group and registers in the storage device information indicating that the second document belongs to the new document group and that, when receiving no branching instruction in association with the second document, registers in the storage device information indicating that the second document and the first document belong to the same document group;

an access right registration unit that receives input of access right information with respect to a document group and registers the thus-input access right information in the storage device in association with the document group; and

a control unit that, when receiving a request for an operation with respect to a document from a user, acquires access right information corresponding a document group to which the document belongs from the storage device and, based on the access right information that is acquired, controls whether or not to allow the user to perform the operation with respect to the document.

2. The document management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, the access right registration unit transmits a request for inputting access right information concerning the new document group to an information processing apparatus which has transmitted the branching instruction, and registers the access right information input by the information processing apparatus in response to the request in the storage device in association with the new document group.

3. The document management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display information transmission unit that, when receiving a user'"'"'s instruction to display a derivation relationship from an information processing apparatus, generates display information representing a tree structure of documents formed by derivation relationships stored in the storage device and transmits the display information to the information processing apparatus,

wherein the display information transmission unit specifies a document group with regard to which the user has access right based on the access right information registered in the storage device, and generates display information indicating documents belonging to the document group with regard to which the user has access right among the documents in the tree structure.

4. A computer-readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for controlling use of a document, the process comprising:

when receiving a second document obtained as a result of an operation performed with respect to a first document, registering in a storage device a derivation relationship indicating that a parent of the second document is the first document;

when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, generating a new document group and registering in the storage device information indicating that the second document belongs to the new document group, and when receiving no branching instruction in association with the second document, registering in the storage device information indicating that the second document and the first document belong to the same document group;

receiving input of access right information with respect to a document group and registering the thus-input access right information in the storage device in association with the document group; and

when receiving a request for an operation with respect to a document from a user, acquiring access right information corresponding to a document group to which the document belongs from the storage device and, based on the access right information that is acquired, controlling whether or not to allow the user to perform the operation with respect to the document.

5. The computer-readable medium according to claim 4, the process further comprising:

when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, transmitting a request for inputting access right information concerning the new document group to an information processing apparatus which has transmitted the branching instruction, and registering the access right information input by the information processing apparatus in response to the request in the storage device in association with the new document group.

6. The computer-readable medium according to claim 4, the process further comprising:

when receiving from an information processing apparatus a user'"'"'s instruction to display a derivation relationship, generating display information representing a tree structure of documents formed by derivation relationships stored in the storage device and transmitting the display information to the information processing apparatus, and

specifying a document group with regard to which the user has access right based on the access right information registered in the storage device and generating display information indicating documents belonging to the document group with regard to which the user has access right among the documents in the tree structure.

7. A method of managing a document comprising:

when receiving a second document obtained as a result of an operation performed with respect to a first document, registering in a storage device a derivation relationship indicating that a parent of the second document is the first document;

when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, generating a new document group and registering in the storage device information indicating that the second document belongs to the new document group, and when receiving no branching instruction in association with the second document, registering in the storage device information indicating that the second document and the first document belong to the same document group;

receiving input of access right information with respect to a document group and registering the thus-input access right information in the storage device in association with the document group; and

when receiving from a user a request for an operation with respect to a document, acquiring from the storage device access right information corresponding a document group to which the document belongs and, based on the access right information that is acquired, controlling whether or not to allow the user to perform the operation with respect to the document.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, transmitting a request for inputting access right information concerning the new document group to an information processing apparatus which has transmitted the branching instruction, and registering the access right information input by the information processing apparatus in response to the request in the storage device in association with the new document group.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

when receiving from an information processing apparatus a user'"'"'s instruction to display a derivation relationship, generating display information representing a tree structure of documents formed by derivation relationships stored in the storage device and transmitting the display information to the information processing apparatus, and

specifying a document group with regard to which the user has access right based on the access right information registered in the storage device and generating display information indicating documents belonging to the document group with regard to which the user has access right among the documents in the tree structure.

10. A document management system comprising a first information apparatus, a second information processing apparatus, and a document management apparatus,

the first information apparatus including:

an instruction reception unit that receives an execution instruction to execute an operation with respect to a first document and an instruction concerning whether or not to allow a second document that is obtained as a result of the operation to be branched from a document group to which the first document belongs;

an operation execution unit that executes the operation with respect to the first document in accordance with the execution instruction;

an instruction transmission unit that, when an operation is executed with respect to the first document by the operation execution unit, transmits the second document that is obtained as a result of the operation to the document management apparatus, and when an instruction to cause the second document to be branched from the document group to which the first document belongs is received by the instruction reception unit, transmits a branching instruction to the document management apparatus in association with the second document;

an access right entry unit that receives input of access right information corresponding to a document group; and

an access right transmission unit that transmits to the document management apparatus the access right information that is input to the access right entry unit,

the second information processing apparatus including;

a designation reception unit that receives user'"'"'s designation of a document that is an operation target; and

a request transmission unit that, based on the designation received by the designation reception unit, transmits an output request including information that specifies the document that is an operation target to the document management apparatus in association with information that specifies the user, and

the document management apparatus including;

a derivation relationship registration unit that, when receiving a second document obtained as a result of an operation performed with respect to a first document, registers in a storage device a derivation relationship indicating that a parent of the second document is the first document;

a group information registration unit that, when receiving a branching instruction in association with the second document, generates a new document group and registers in the storage device information indicating that the second document belongs to the new document group and that, when receiving no branching instruction in association with the second document, registers in the storage device information indicating that the second document and the first document belong to the same document group;

an access right registration unit that receives input of access right information with respect to a document group and registers the access right information that is input in the storage device in association with the document group; and

a control unit that, when receiving a request for an operation with respect to a document from a user, acquires access right information corresponding a document group to which the document belongs from the storage device and, based on the access right information that is acquired, controls whether or not to allow the user to perform the operation with respect to the document.