System, computer program product and method for exchanging documents with an application service provider at a predetermined time

• US 7,149,784 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2001
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited, Ricoh Corporation (Ricoh Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited, Ricoh Corporation (Ricoh Company Limited)
• Inventors: Hyakutake, Shogo, Kitada, Hiroshi, Kizawa, Akio, Aoshima, Minoru, Ishizuka, Hiroaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Paul H.
• Application Number:
  US09/839,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20020156834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,059 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/232, 709/301, 709/217, 709/213, 709/216, 709/206, 709/207, 709/219, 455/461
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

A system, computer program product, and method for managing ASP documents includes requesting a transfer of an ASP document at an ASP user device connected to a remote document manager and a remote ASP via a network such as the Internet, establishing a predetermined time for effecting a transfer of the ASP document, and transferring the ASP document at a predetermined time via the network. According to one embodiment of the first aspect, the step of requesting a transfer may include sending a deferred transfer request to the remote document manager via the network when the ASP user device logs on to the remote document manager. In this regard, the user requests a transfer by inputting a deferred transfer option from a menu received from the remote document manager via the network. The step of establishing a predetermined time for effecting a transfer of the ASP document may include inputting the predetermined time, and sending the predetermined time to the remote document manager via the network or requesting the remote document manager to establish the predetermined time without sending a predetermined time to the remote document manager.

Claims

1. A method for managing applications service provider (ASP) documents, comprising:

requesting a transfer of an ASP document at an ASP user device connected to a remote document manager and a remote ASP via a network;

determining whether said ASP document is either a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP;

establishing a predetermined time for effecting the transfer of said ASP document between the user and the ASP; and

transferring said ASP document at said predetermined time via said network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of requesting a transfer comprises sending a deferred transfer request to said remote document manager via said network when the ASP user device logs on to said remote document manager.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

logging on to said remote document manager by the ASP user device,

wherein said step of requesting a transfer comprises inputting a deferred transfer option from a menu received from said remote document manager via said network after said user device logs on to said remote document manager.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing a predetermined time for effecting a transfer of said ASP document comprises:

inputting said predetermined time; and

sending said predetermined time to said remote document manager via said network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of establishing a predetermined time for effecting a transfer of said ASP document comprises requesting said remote document manager to establish said predetermined time without sending a predetermined time to said remote document manager.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of transferring said ASP document at a predetermined time via said network comprises transferring said ASP document via the Internet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step comprises:

determining that said ASP document is a storage document based on an operator input to said ASP user device; and

inputting said storage document into said ASP user device,

wherein said transferring step comprises transferring said ASP document via said network at said predetermined time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of inputting said ASP document into said ASP user device comprises:

optically scanning a paper copy of said ASP document to provide a digital signal representative of said paper copy of said ASP document; and

storing said digital signal in a memory associated with said ASP user device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of inputting said ASP document into said ASP user device comprises downloading an electronic copy of said ASP document from an external source to a memory associated with said ASP user device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of transferring said ASP document via said network comprises sending said ASP document to said remote document manager at said predetermined time.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said step of transferring said ASP document via said network comprises sending said ASP document to said remote ASP at said predetermined time.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving a storage operation report at said ASP user device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of receiving comprises receiving said storage operation report from said remote document manager.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising receiving said storage operation report from said remote ASP device.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising clearing said ASP document from a memory of said ASP user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step comprises:

determining that said ASP document is a retrieval document based on an operator input to said ASP user device;

generating a document retrieval request in said ASP user device;

sending said document retrieval request to said remote document manager via said network; and

receiving said retrieval document at said predetermined time.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of receiving said retrieval document comprises receiving said retrieval document from said remote document manager at said predetermined time.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of receiving said retrieval document comprises receiving said retrieval document from said remote ASP at said predetermined time.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating a document retrieval result report.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending said document retrieval result report to said remote document manager via said network.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending said document retrieval result report to said remote ASP manager via said network.

22. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for execution on a computer system, which when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to perform the steps in the method recited in any one of claims 1–

21.

23. A system comprising:

a memory device having embodied therein, data related to managing applications service provider (ASP) documents; and

a processor in communication with said memory device, said processor configured to;

request a transfer of an ASP document at an ASP user device connected to a remote document manager and a remote ASP via a network;

determine whether said ASP document is either a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP;

establish a predetermined time for effecting the transfer of said ASP document between the user and the ASP; and

transfer said ASP document at a predetermined time via said network.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is configured to request a transfer by sending a deferred transfer request to said remote document manager via said network when the ASP user device logs on to said remote document manager.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is further configured to:

log on to said remote document manager by the ASP user device,

and said processor requests a transfer by inputting a deferred transfer option from a menu received from said remote document manager via said network after said user device logs on to said remote document manager.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is configured to establish a predetermined time for effecting a transfer of said ASP document by:

inputting said predetermined time; and

sending said predetermined time to said remote document manager via said network.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is configured to establish a predetermined time for effecting a transfer of said ASP document by requesting said remote document manager to establish said predetermined time without sending a predetermined time to said remote document manager.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is configured to transfer said ASP document at a predetermined time via said network by transferring said ASP document via the Internet.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is configured to determine whether said ASP document is a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP by:

determining that said ASP document is a storage document based on an operator input to said ASP user device; and

inputting said storage document into said ASP user device,

wherein said transferring step comprises transferring said ASP document via said network at said predetermined time.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein said processor is configured to input said ASP document into said ASP user device by:

optically scanning a paper copy of said ASP document to provide a digital signal representative of said paper copy of said ASP document; and

storing said digital signal in said memory.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein said processor is configured to input said ASP document into said ASP user device by downloading an electronic copy of said ASP document from an external source to said memory.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein said processor is configured to transfer said ASP document via said network by sending said ASP document to said remote document manager at said predetermined time.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein said processor is configured to transfer said ASP document via said network by sending said ASP document to said remote ASP at said predetermined time.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein said processor is further configured to receive a storage operation report at said ASP user device.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein said processor is configured to receive a storage operation report by receiving said storage operation report from said remote document manager.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein said processor is further configured to receive said storage operation report from said remote ASP device.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein said processor is further configured to clear said ASP document from said memory.

38. The system of claim 23, wherein said processor is configured to determine whether said ASP document is a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP by:

determining that said ASP document is a retrieval document based on an operator input to said ASP user device;

generating a document retrieval request in said ASP user device;

sending said document retrieval request to said remote document manager via said network; and

receiving said retrieval document at said predetermined time.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein said processor is configured to receive said retrieval document by receiving said retrieval document from said remote document manager at said predetermined time.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein said processor is configured to receive said retrieval document by receiving said retrieval document from said remote ASP at said predetermined time.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein said processor is further configured to generate a document retrieval result report.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein said processor is further configured to send said document retrieval result report to said remote document manager via said network.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein said processor is further configured to send said document retrieval result report to said remote ASP manager via said network.

44. A system for managing applications service provider (ASP) documents, comprising:

means for requesting a transfer of an ASP document at an ASP user device connected to a remote document manager and a remote ASP via a network;

means for determining whether said ASP document is either a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP;

means for establishing a predetermined time for effecting the transfer of said ASP document between the user and the ASP; and

means for transferring said ASP document at a predetermined time via said network.

45. The system of claim 44, further comprising:

means for logging on to said remote document manager by the ASP user device,

wherein said means for requesting a transfer comprises means for inputting a deferred transfer option from a menu received from said remote document manager via said network after said user device logs on to said remote document manager.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein said means for determining whether said ASP document is a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP comprises:

means for determining that said ASP document is a storage document based on an operator input to said ASP user device; and

means for inputting said storage document into said ASP user device,

wherein said means for transferring comprises means for transferring said ASP document via said network at said predetermined time.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising means for receiving a storage operation report at said ASP user device.

48. The system of claim 44, wherein said means for determining whether said ASP document is a storage document for storing in said remote ASP or a retrieval document for retrieving from said remote ASP comprises:

means for determining that said ASP document is a retrieval document based on an operator input to said ASP user device;

means for generating a document retrieval request in said ASP user device;

means for sending said document retrieval request to said remote document manager via said network; and

means for receiving said retrieval document at said predetermined time.

49. The system of claim 48, further comprising means for generating a document retrieval result report.

50. The system of claim 49, further comprising means for sending said document retrieval result report to said remote document manager via said network.

51. The system of claim 49, further comprising means for sending said document retrieval result report to said remote ASP manager via said network.