Document information processing apparatus and document information processing program

• US 7,475,336 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2004
• Issued: 01/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Fujiwara, Akihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Stephen S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn; Gregory J
• Application Number:
  US10/915,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20060036934A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 715/500, 715/500.1, 715/511, 715/512, 715/515, 715/522, 715/526, 715/530, 715/200, 715/201, 715/229, 715/230, 715/248, 715/255, 715/273
• US Class Current: 715/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/4413 involving the use of passwords, ID codes or the like, e.g. PIN
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/444 to a particular document or image or part thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3214 of a date
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3215 of a time or duration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3233 of authentication information, e.g. digital signature, watermark
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3281 Encryption; Ciphering

Abstract

A document information processing apparatus is obtained in which there is no need to provide the consistency of management between the instances of documents and their metadata, that is, there is no fear that inconsistency in management might be caused, thereby eliminating the possibility of loading the system, which would otherwise result from the provision of managerial consistency, as well as making it possible to improve their versatility. The apparatus includes a document input and output section that is able to at least input or output a document as an image data, an operation timing detection section that detects predetermined operation timing for the document, a metadata acquisition section that acquires metadata of the document based on the operation timing, and a metadata description section that describes the metadata in a predetermined format based on instance data of the document at predetermined timing with respect to the input or output of the document.

Claims

1. A document information processing apparatus comprising:

a document input and output section that is able to at least input or output a document as image data, said document input and output section including at least one of an image reader that scans a document and generates image data from the scanned document or an image communication section that sends and receives image data of a document via fax or e-mail;

an operation section that designates a file format of image data generated by said document input and output section;

a format conversion section that converts the image data into the file format designated by the operation section;

an operation timing detection section that detects predetermined operation timing for said document;

a metadata acquisition section that acquires metadata for searching or editing of said document based on said operation timing;

a metadata description section that describes said metadata in a predetermined format based on instance data of said document at predetermined timing with respect to the input or output of said document;

processing unit that controls the operation of said document input and output section, said operation timing detection section, said metadata acquisition section, and said metadata description section, wherein said processing unit controls said metadata description section such that the metadata acquired by said metadata acquisition section is described in a file converted by said format conversion section; and

an image analysis section that acciuires layout information by analyzing an image file, performs the reading of text information in areas that are recognized as text or character areas by using an optical character reader, and uses the data obtained as metadata.

2. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said metadata acquisition section is provided with an image data analysis section that acquires said metadata by analyzing the image data.

3. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said metadata description section converts said document into a file of a predetermined format based on the instance data of said document, and at the same time describes said metadata into said file.

4. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said document input and output section includes an image printing section that converts the instance data of said document into a format suitable for printing;

said metadata description section describes said metadata into the instance data of said document in said format suitable for printing; and

a file holding section is provided that holds the instance data of said document with said metadata described therein.

5. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a metadata extraction and processing section that extracts the metadata described in the instance data of said document and performs prescribed processing based on the metadata thus extracted.

6. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a document operation management section that grasps and manages a predetermined operation on said document, wherein

said processing section performs prescribed processing on said document based on said metadata and the operation grasped by said document operation management section.

7. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an identification section that identifies contents of said document as individual component elements, wherein

said metadata acquisition section acquires the metadata recognized in each unit of said individual component elements;

and

said metadata description section describes those metadata in each unit of the respective component elements which have been recognized in each unit of said individual component elements.

8. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a secondary metadata acquisition section that acquires, based on the metadata acquired by said metadata acquisition section, secondary metadata associated with said metadata, wherein

said metadata description section describes the metadata acquired by said secondary metadata acquisition section into the instance data of said document.

9. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein

said second metadata acquisition section is provided with a grounds determination section that determines grounds for acquiring, from a single piece of metadata or a plurality of pieces of metadata, secondary metadata relevant thereto by determining the presence or absence of relevancy between said single piece of metadata or said plurality of pieces of metadata and said secondary metadata by applying a prescribed rule to said single piece of metadata or said plurality of pieces of metadata, said grounds determination section being also operable to extract the secondary metadata based on the secondary metadata acquisition grounds determined by said grounds determination section.

10. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said metadata acquisition section acquires metadata in accordance with a change in the instance data of said document;

and

said metadata description section describes the metadata acquired by said metadata acquisition section into the instance data of said document in a multistage manner in accordance with a change in the instance data of said document.

11. The document information processing apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processing unit controls said metadata description section such that said metadata is described in a data area of the file which is not displayed as an image.

12. A computer readable medium storing a document information processing program to make a computer execute:

designating a file format of image data;

converting the image data into the file format designated by the designating step;

detecting the timing of an operation performed on at least one of an input and an output of a document as image data;

acquiring metadata for searching or editing of said document based on said operation timing;

describing said metadata in a predetermined format based on instance data of said document at predetermined timing with respect to the input or output of said document; and

controlling the operation of said designating step, said converting step, said detecting step, said acquiring step and said describing step, wherein the describing step is controlled such that the metadata acquired in said acquiring step is described in a file converted in said converting step; and

acquiring layout information by analyzing an image file, performing reading of text information in areas that are recognized as text or character areas by using an optical character reader, and using the data obtained as metadata.

13. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, wherein

said acquiring step acquires said metadata by analyzing the image data, said analyzing of said image data being executed by said computer.

14. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

converting the instance data of said document into a format suitable for printing;

wherein said describing step describes said metadata into the instance data of said document in said format suitable for printing; and

holding said data with said metadata described therein.

15. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

extracting the metadata described in the instance data of said document, and performing prescribed processing based on the metadata thus extracted.

16. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

determining and managing a predetermined operation on said document; and

in said processing step, said computer is made to execute prescribed processing on said document based on said metadata and the operation determined in said document operation management step.

17. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

identifying contents of said document as individual component elements; and

acquiring the metadata recognized in each unit of said individual component elements in said metadata acquisition step, and describing those pieces of metadata in each unit of the respective component elements which have been recognized in each unit of said individual component elements in said metadata description step.

18. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

acquiring, based on the metadata acquired in said metadata acquisition step, secondary metadata associated with said metadata; and

in said metadata description step, said computer is made to execute describing the metadata acquired in said secondary metadata acquisition step into the instance data of said document.

19. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, further comprising:

acquiring metadata in accordance with a change in the instance data of said document in said metadata acquisition step, and describing the metadata acquired in said metadata acquisition step into the instance data of said document in a multistage manner in accordance with a change in the instance data of said document in said metadata description step.

20. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 12, wherein said controlling step performs control such that said metadata is described in a data area of the file which is not displayed as an image.