Document registration system, information processing apparatus, and computer usable medium therefor

• US 8,219,898 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2008
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Kadota, Masatoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert, Ella
• Application Number:
  US12/155,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20080307417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,490 Days
• Field of Search: 718/101, 715/200, 715/255, 715/530, 709200-203, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 715/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A document registration system for registering a plurality of electronic documents is provided. The document registration system includes an information processing apparatus having a display unit and a storage unit. The information processing apparatus is provided with a registration unit, which can be operated to perform a registration process to register the electronic documents in an interactive processing mode, wherein the electronic documents are registered manually, and in a batch processing mode, wherein the electronic documents are registered automatically in a batch, and a first switching unit to mutually switch activation of the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode.

Claims

1. A document registration system for registering a plurality of electronic documents, comprising:

an information processing apparatus having a display unit configured to display information related to the electronic documents;

a storage unit configured to store the registered electronic documents;

memory having instructions stored therein that, when executed by the information processing apparatus, cause the information processing apparatus to operate as;

a registration unit, which is configured to perform a registration process to register the electronic documents in an interactive processing mode and in a batch processing mode, wherein when in the interactive processing mode the electronic documents are registered manually, and wherein when in the batch processing mode the electronic documents are registered automatically in a batch; and

a switching unit, which is configured to switch between activating the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode, wherein the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode are activated in parallel with each other, and

wherein the switching unit is further configured to switch from the interactive processing mode to the batch processing mode while the interactive processing mode is active, and from the batch processing mode to the interactive processing mode while the batch processing mode is active.

2. The document registration system according to claim 1, wherein the

switching unit is further configured to activate the interactive processing mode while the batch processing mode is activated when one of the electronic documents being processed in the batch processing mode is designated for processing manually in the interactive processing mode.

3. The document registration system according to claim 2, wherein the memory has further instructions stored therein that, when executed by the information processing apparatus, cause the information processing apparatus to further operate as:

a list creation unit to automatically create a list of electronic documents which are designated for processing in the batch processing mode.

4. The document registration system according to claim 3, wherein the memory has further instructions stored therein that, when executed by the information processing apparatus, cause the information processing apparatus to further operate as:

an extracting unit to extract electronic documents, to which the registration process has not been applied, from the electronic documents included in the list.

5. The document registration system according to claim 3, wherein the memory has further instructions stored therein that, when executed by the information processing apparatus, cause the information processing apparatus to further operate as:

a list presentation unit to display the list of electronic documents created by the list creation unit on the display unit.

6. The document registration system according to claim 5, wherein the list includes progress information, which represents a status of the registration process in the batch processing mode for each of the electronic documents included in the list.

7. The document registration system according to claim 5, wherein the switching unit is further configured to activate the interactive processing mode by receiving a designation of the electronic document for processing manually in the interactive processing mode among the electronic documents presented in the list.

8. The document registration system according to claim 3, wherein the list indicates an electronic document, which is paused during the registration process.

9. The document registration system according to claim 1, wherein the registration process includes a process to add a time stamp to the electronic document.

10. The document registration system according to claim 1, wherein the registration process includes a process to provide a digital signature to the electronic document.

11. The document registration system according to claim 1, comprising a scanning unit to read a visually readable document to generate data representing the electronic document.

12. The document registration system according to claim 11, wherein the visually readable document includes a document recorded on a microfilm.

13. The document registration system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is configured to be connected to a network, and wherein the registration process is performed in interaction with a certification organization which is connected with the information processing apparatus through the network.

14. The document registration system according to claim 1, wherein the switching unit is further configured to switch between activating the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode in response to user input.

15. An information processing apparatus for registering a plurality of electronic documents manually one-by-one and automatically in a batch, comprising:

a display unit to display information related to the electronic documents;

a processor; and

memory having instructions stored therein that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to operate as;

a registration unit, which is configured to perform a registration process to register the electronic documents in an interactive processing mode and in a batch processing mode, wherein when in the interactive processing the electronic documents are registered manually, and wherein when in the batch processing mode the electronic documents are registered automatically in a batch; and

a switching unit, which is configured to switch between activating the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode, wherein the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode are activated in parallel with each other, and

wherein the switching unit is further configured to switch from the interactive processing mode to the batch processing mode while the interactive processing mode is active, and from the batch processing mode to the interactive processing mode while the batch processing mode is active.

16. The information processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the switching unit is further configured to switch between activating the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode in response to user input.

17. A non-transitory computer usable medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

activate an interactive processing mode, in which a plurality of electronic documents are registered manually one-by-one; and

when a batch processing mode is called, cancel the interactive processing mode and activate the batch processing mode,

wherein when in the batch processing mode the electronic documents are registered automatically in a batch,

wherein the interactive processing mode and the batch processing mode are activated in parallel with each other,

wherein the interactive processing mode is configured to be switched to the batch processing mode while the interactive processing mode is active, and

wherein the batch processing mode is configured to be switched to the interactive processing mode while the batch processing mode is active.

18. The non-transitory computer usable medium according to claim 17, wherein the batch processing mode is called in response to user input.