Document management apparatus and document system

• US 7,697,155 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2005
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ashikaga, Hideaki, Kato, Masahiro, Ikegami, Hiroaki, Satake, Masanori, Kimura, Shunichi, Yoshimura, Hiroki, Itonori, Katsuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Poon; King Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cammack; David S
• Application Number:
  US11/067,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20060017950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15
• US Class Current: 358/1.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00342 with a radio frequency tag transmitter or receiver storage of additional information in an RFID tag attached to an image bearing paper sheet H04N1/32138
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2166 for mass storage, e.g. in document filing systems information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32122 in a separate device, e.g. in a memory or on a display separate from image data
• 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 2201/3254 Orientation, e.g. landscape or portrait; Location or order of the image data, e.g. in memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information

Abstract

A document management apparatus and a document management system that selects the document which are best to digitize from among document being used in an office, and set the priority for digitization of each document are provided. The document management apparatus comprising: an accumulator apparatus that stores, the document ID, used place and used time for a document that is used; a computing part that analyzes information stored in accumulator apparatus, and for each document, computes the usability of the document data to be digitized; a specifying part that specifies document that correspond to document data for which the usability is relatively high by comparing it to the usability already computed for the data for each document; and output part that outputs the specified result to client.

Claims

1. A document management apparatus that manages used documents, the apparatus comprising:

an accumulation part that stores, in correspondence, document identifiers assigned to the used documents, a place where the documents were used, and a period of time that the documents were used;

a computing part that computes document data usage efficiencies based on a history of the place where the documents were used and the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device in correspondence with document identifiers for each document, wherein the document data usage efficiencies are a score which is computed by the computing part, which computes the score based on a summation of a predetermined score value assigned to a number of times a document was used and a predetermined score value assigned to the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device;

a specification part that analyzes document data usage efficiencies, computed by the computing part, of at least a portion of the document, and identifies documents that meet a predetermined threshold data efficiency; and

an output part that outputs the documents identified by the specification part,

wherein the document identifiers are stored in a wireless tag and the wireless tag has an optical sensor installed in the wireless tag, the optical sensor sensing brightness above a predetermined threshold brightness value, and wherein the optical sensor permits wireless communications for the wireless tag under the condition that the predetermined threshold brightness value is detected for a period that exceeds a predetermined time period.

2. A document management apparatus that manages used documents, the apparatus comprising:

an accumulation part that stores, in correspondence, document identifiers assigned to the used documents, a place where the documents were used, and a period of time that the documents were used;

a computing part that computes the document data usage efficiencies based on a history of the place where the documents were used and the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device in correspondence with document identifiers for each document, wherein the document data usage efficiencies are a score which is computed by the computing part, which computes the score based on a summation of a predetermined score value assigned to a number of times a document was used and a predetermined score value assigned to the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device;

a comparison part that compares document data usage efficiencies computed by the computing part, of at least a portion of the documents, wherein documents that meet a predetermined threshold data efficiency are identified;

a setting part that sets a priority of digitization for each identified document corresponding to data of each document, based on the comparison results from the comparison part; and

an output part that outputs the priority of digitization set by the setting part,

wherein the document identifiers are stored in a wireless tag and the wireless tag has an optical sensor installed in the wireless tag, the optical sensor sensing brightness above a predetermined threshold brightness value, and wherein the optical sensor permits wireless communications for the wireless tag under the condition that the predetermined threshold brightness value is detected for a period that exceeds a predetermined time period.

3. A document management system that manages a plurality of documents, the system comprising:

a plurality of reading parts that read from at least one document of the plurality of documents or from a receptacle that accommodates the at least one document, a document identifier assigned to the document;

an accumulator device that stores, in correspondence, a document identifier read by any one of the plurality of reading parts, places information representing an installation site of the any of one of the plurality of reading parts that read the document identifier, and time information representing a period of time in which the document identifier was read;

a computing part that computes document data usage efficiencies based on a history of a particular place of use and the stored period of time in which the document identifier was read by the accumulator device in correspondence with document identifiers for each document of the plurality of document, wherein the document data usage efficiencies are a score which is computed by the computing part, which computes the score based on a summation of a predetermined score value assigned to a number of times a document was used and a predetermined score value assigned to the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device;

a specification part that analyzes document data usage efficiencies computed by the computing part, of at least a portion of the documents, and identifies the documents that meet a predetermined threshold data efficiency; and

an output part that outputs the document identified by the specification part,

wherein the document identifiers are stored in a wireless tag and the wireless tag has an optical sensor installed in the wireless tag, the optical sensor sensing brightness above a predetermined threshold brightness value, and wherein the optical sensor permits wireless communications for the wireless tag under the condition that the predetermined threshold brightness value is detected for a period that exceeds a predetermined time period.

4. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the wireless tag storing the document identifier is attached to the at least one document receptacle;

and

any of the plurality of reading parts perform wireless communications with the wireless tag located nearby, and read the document identifier from the wireless tag.

5. The document management system of claim 3, wherein any of the plurality of reading parts perform image acquisition on the image of the at least one document or receptacle that accommodate document, and read, from the image acquired, the document identifier using image recognition processes.

6. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the installation site of at least one of the reading parts includes the particular place of use of the document;

and

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage of the document based on the frequency of taking the document into the particular place of use.

7. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes the particular place of use of the document, and wherein,

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage based on the number of particular places of use into which the document is taken over a period of time.

8. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes a place where the document was generated, a place where the document was discarded, and the particular place of use of the document;

and wherein,

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage based on a time from when the document is generated until a time when the document is discarded.

9. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes a place where the document is generated, a place where the document is discarded, and the particular place of use of the document, and wherein,

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage based on the time by which a document was taken to a particular place of use and over the entire life of the document.

10. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes identifying a user of the document, who defines a user prioritization level;

the computing part, for each document, determines a document prioritization level, based on the user prioritization level of the user, using the document and an amount of time the document is used by the user.

11. A document management system that manages a plurality of documents, the system comprising:

a plurality of reading parts that read from at least one document of the plurality of documents or from a receptacle that accommodates the at least one document, a document identifier assigned to the document;

an accumulator device that stores, in correspondence, a document identifier read by any one of the plurality of reading parts, places information representing an installation site of the any one of the plurality of reading parts that read the document identifier, and time information representing a period of time in which the document identifier was read;

a computing part that computes document data usage efficiencies based on a particular place of use and the stored period of time in which the document identifier was read by the accumulator device in correspondence with document identifiers for each document of the plurality of document, wherein the document data usage efficiencies are a score which is computed by the computing part, which computes the score based on a summation of a predetermined score value assigned to a number of times a document was used and a predetermined score value assigned to the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device;

a comparison part that compares document data usage efficiencies computed by the computing part, of at least a portion of the documents, wherein the documents that meet a predetermined data efficiency are identified;

a setting part that sets a priority of digitization for each identified document corresponding to data of each document, based on the comparison results from the comparison part; and

an output part that outputs the priority of digitization set by the setting part,

wherein the document identifiers are stored in a wireless tag and the wireless tag has an optical sensor installed in the wireless tag, the optical sensor sensing brightness above a predetermined threshold brightness value, and wherein the optical sensor permits wireless communications for the wireless tag under the condition that the predetermined threshold brightness value is detected for a period that exceeds a predetermined time period.

12. The document management system of claim 11, wherein the wireless tag storing the document identifier is attached to the at least one document receptacle;

and

any of the plurality of reading parts perform wireless communications with the wireless tag located nearby, and read the document identifier from the wireless tag.

13. The document management system of claim 11, wherein any of the plurality of reading parts perform image acquisition on the image of the at least one document or receptacle that accommodate document, and read, from the image acquired, the document identifier using image recognition processes.

14. The document management system of claim 11, wherein the installation site of at least one of the reading parts includes the particular place of use of the document;

and

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage of the document based on the frequency of taking the document into the particular place of use.

15. The document management system of claim 11, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes the particular place of use of the document, and wherein,

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage based on the number of particular places of use into which the document is taken over a period of time.

16. The document management system of claim 11, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes a place where the document was generated, a place where the document was discarded, and the particular place of use of the document;

and wherein,

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage based on a time from when the document is generated until a time when the document is discarded.

17. The document management system of claim 11, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes a place where the document is generated, a place where the document is discarded, and the particular place of use of the document, and wherein,

the computing part, for each document, based on the place information and a history of the time information stored by the accumulation part in correspondence with the document identifier of the document, determines the rate of usage based on a number of times a document was taken to a particular place of use and over the entire life of the document.

18. The document management system of claim 11, wherein the installation site of the at least one of the reading parts includes identifying a user of the document, who defines a user prioritization level;

the computing part, for each document, determines a document prioritization level, based on the user prioritization level of the user, using the document and an amount of time the document is used by the user.

19. A document management method wherein a system having a plurality of reading parts that read from at least one document of a plurality of documents or from a receptacle that accommodates the at least one document, a document identifier assigned to the document and an accumulator device that stores information, the method comprising:

accumulating, in correspondence, a document identifier read by any one of the plurality of reading parts, places information representing an installation site of the any of one of the plurality of reading parts that read the document identifier, and time information representing a period of time in which the document identifier was read;

computing document data usage efficiencies based on a history of a particular place of use and the stored period of time in which the document identifier was read by the accumulator device in correspondence with document identifiers for each document of the plurality of document, wherein the document data usage efficiencies are a score which is computed by the computing part, which computes the score based on a summation of a predetermined score value assigned to a number of times a document was used and a predetermined score value assigned to the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device;

analyzing document data usage efficiencies computed in the step of the computing and identifying a document that meets a predetermined threshold data efficiency; and

outputting the document identified in the step of the identifying,

wherein the document identifiers are stored in a wireless tag and the wireless tag has an optical sensor installed in the wireless tag, the optical sensor sensing brightness above a predetermined threshold brightness value, and wherein the optical sensor permits wireless communications for the wireless tag under the condition that the predetermined threshold brightness value is detected for a period that exceeds a predetermined time period.

20. A document management method wherein a system having a plurality of reading parts that read from at least one document of the plurality of documents or from a receptacle that accommodates the at least one document, a document identifier assigned to the document and an accumulator device that stores information, the method comprising:

accumulating, in correspondence, a document identifier read by any one of the plurality of reading parts, places information representing an installation site of the any one of the plurality of reading parts that read the document identifier, and time information representing a period of time in which the document identifier was read;

computing document data usage efficiencies based on a history of a particular place of use and the stored period of time in which the document identifier was read by the accumulator device in correspondence with document identifiers for each document of the plurality of document, wherein the document data usage efficiencies are a score which is computed by the computing part, which computes the score based on a summation of a predetermined score value assigned to a number of times a document was used and a predetermined score value assigned to the period of time that the documents were used as stored in the accumulator device;

analyzing document data usage efficiencies computed in the step of the computing, wherein documents that meet a predetermined threshold data efficiency are identified;

setting a priority of digitization for each identified document corresponding to data of each document, based on the comparison results compared in the step of the comparing; and

outputting the priority of digitization set in the step of the setting,

wherein the document identifiers are stored in a wireless tag and the wireless tag has an optical sensor installed in the wireless tag, the optical sensor sensing brightness above a predetermined threshold brightness value, and wherein the optical sensor permits wireless communications for the wireless tag under the condition that the predetermined threshold brightness value is detected for a period that exceeds a predetermined time period.