JP5133219B2 - Information processing apparatus, document management system, control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus capable of displaying a plurality of pages of document data and thumbnails corresponding to the pages of the document data, a control method thereof, and a program.

  When displaying images, document pages, etc., thumbnails are used as representative images that are reduced in order to improve visibility. Even if it is difficult to determine the contents of a document stored in a folder in a PC (personal computer) or document management software by a file name or the like, it is possible to easily grasp the image or the entire image of the document by looking at the thumbnail. The OS (Operating System) and many image editing software also have a thumbnail creation function, and often have a list display and a thumbnail display as file display formats. Although only one page is extracted as a representative image per file as a representative image, a thumbnail image is often obtained by reducing the image of the first page of the document. Since the thumbnail is displayed for the user to identify the document data, the thumbnail is preferably an image representing the characteristics of the document data.

  However, if the characteristic page of a document with multiple pages is not the first page, simply viewing the thumbnail image of the first page when viewing the thumbnail of the document does not give an overview of the document. There is a problem that the target document cannot be specified unless the thumbnail image of the page is viewed or the actual image is viewed.

  In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that generates thumbnails that can identify image data. In particular, the feature amount is calculated using the image size, the data amount, and the similarity to other pages as characteristics for each page, and the thumbnail image is determined.

JP 2008-78942 A

In the system described in Patent Document 1, a candidate image representing a figure or a photograph is extracted from image data. When a plurality of candidate images are extracted, a representative image is selected based on the following attributes. The attributes are the image size, the amount of data, the number of similar candidate images and the number of similar thumbnails of other data.
However, for example, in the business of placing an order, confirm whether there is an error while checking the received order, and if correction is necessary, add a comment using annotation (annotation) using the document management software. A FAX (facsimile apparatus) is transmitted to the order receiving party.

  In this case, it is conceivable that the page actually focused on by work does not match the page using the technique of Patent Document 1, and the thumbnail of the page on which the thumbnail image created by using the technique of Patent Document 1 is focused on. There are cases where it is not easy to specify a document because it is not an image.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that makes it easy to specify a document by changing to an optimal thumbnail.

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is an information processing apparatus that manages document data composed of a plurality of pages and thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, and displays the document data. Active determination means for determining whether or not the window is active ; operation value update means for updating an operation value for each page of the document data in accordance with a user's operation, which is an operation value obtained by a user's operation content; Specifying means for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update means, and specifying the thumbnail image of the document data by the specifying means and a changing means for changing the pages of the thumbnail images, the operation value updating means, the active-format An information processing apparatus characterized by windows in means is updated if it is determined that the active. By using the information processing apparatus according to the first invention, it is possible to change the thumbnail of the page that is actually focused on as an optimum thumbnail.

In the first aspect of the invention, the specifying unit specifies a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the updated operation value for each page after the operation value is updated by the operation value updating unit. To do.
This makes it possible to determine thumbnails based on objective numerical values.

The first aspect of the invention further includes workflow determination means for determining whether a workflow is being executed for the document data, and the specifying means is that the document data is being executed by the workflow determination means. If it is determined that the page is to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the accumulated operation values for each page by a plurality of users performed on the document data during the workflow execution. If it is determined that the document data is not being executed by the workflow determination unit, the document data is displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page of the user operating the document data. Identify the page that should be. By changing the thumbnail based on the total of operation values of a plurality of users in the workflow, it is possible to display a page that has been noticed by an operator upstream in the workflow as a thumbnail.

In the first aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the specifying unit specifies a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the priorities of the plurality of operation values specified by the input unit.

In the first invention, it is preferable that the specifying unit specifies a page having the maximum operation value as a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data.

In the first aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the operation value includes at least one of a browsing time of a page on which the document data is displayed and an editing time of a page on which the document data is edited. This makes it possible to use thumbnails for pages on which more work has been performed.

In the first invention, it is preferable that the information processing apparatus further includes storage means for storing the document data and the thumbnail image corresponding to the page of the document data.

Further, the document data and the document management server that stores the thumbnail image corresponding to the page of the document data may be configured by a separate housing.

A second invention is a method of controlling an information processing apparatus that manages document data composed of a plurality of pages and thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data,
An active determination step in which the active determination unit of the information processing apparatus determines whether or not a window for displaying the document data is active; and an operation value obtained by the operation value update unit of the information processing apparatus according to the operation content of the user An operation value update step for updating an operation value for each page of the document data in accordance with a user operation, and an operation for each page updated by the operation value update step by the specifying unit of the information processing apparatus. A specifying step of specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the value; and a change unit of the information processing apparatus, wherein the thumbnail image of the document data is specified by the specifying step. A change step for changing to an image, and the operation value update step includes the act Window in Bed decision step is the control method for an information processing apparatus and updates when it is active. By using the control method of the information processing apparatus according to the second invention, it is possible to change the thumbnail of the page that is actually focused on to the optimum thumbnail.

A third invention is a computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute a control method of an information processing apparatus that manages document data composed of a plurality of pages and thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data. And
The information processing apparatus includes an active determination unit that determines whether or not a window that displays the document data is active, and an operation value that is obtained according to a user's operation content. An operation value updating means for updating in accordance with the operation, a specifying means for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value updating means, Functioning as a changing unit that changes a thumbnail image of document data to a thumbnail image of a page specified by the specifying unit, and the operation value updating unit updates the window when the window is active by the active determination unit. It is a featured program. By using the program according to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to change the thumbnail of the page that is actually focused on to the optimum thumbnail.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided document data composed of a plurality of pages, a document management server that manages thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, the document management server connected via a network, and the document data A document management system including an information processing apparatus capable of displaying the thumbnail image, wherein the information processing apparatus includes: an active determination unit that determines whether a window for displaying the document data is active; An operation value obtained by an operation content, and an operation value update unit that updates an operation value for each page of the document data according to a user operation, and the document management server is updated by the operation value update unit The page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data is specified based on the operation value for each page Determining means, and changing means for changing the thumbnail image of the document data to the thumbnail image of the page specified by the specifying means, wherein the operation value updating means is that the window is active by the active determination means A document management system that is updated when it is determined. By using the document management system according to the fourth aspect of the invention, it is possible to change the thumbnail of the page that is actually focused on to the optimum thumbnail.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided document data composed of a plurality of pages, a document management server that manages thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, the document management server connected via the network, A control method of a document management system including an information processing apparatus capable of displaying the thumbnail image, wherein an active determination unit of the information processing apparatus determines whether a window for displaying the document data is active An operation value update in which an active determination step and an operation value update unit of the information processing apparatus are operation values obtained according to a user's operation content, and update an operation value for each page of the document data according to a user's operation Each page updated by the operation value updating step, and the specifying means of the document management server A specifying step of specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on an operation value; and a changing unit of the document management server, wherein the thumbnail image of the document data is identified by the specifying step. A change step for changing to a thumbnail image, wherein the operation value update step updates the window when it is determined in the active determination step that the window is active. By using the document management system control method according to the fifth aspect of the invention, it is possible to change the thumbnail of the page that is actually focused on to the optimum thumbnail.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided document data composed of a plurality of pages, a document management server that manages thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, the document management server connected via a network, A computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute a control method of a document management system configured with an information processing apparatus capable of displaying the thumbnail image, the information processing apparatus displaying the document data Active determination means for determining whether or not the window is active, and an operation value update means for updating an operation value for each page of the document data in accordance with the user's operation, which is an operation value obtained by the user's operation content A page updated by the operation value updating means. And specifying means for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data, and changing means for changing the thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of the page specified by the specifying means The operation value update means updates the window when the active determination means determines that the window is active. By using the program according to the sixth aspect of the invention, it is possible to change the thumbnail of the page that is actually focused on to the optimum thumbnail.

  According to the present invention, it becomes easy to specify a document by changing to an optimal thumbnail. For example, since the most characteristic page of a document can be automatically set as a thumbnail, the user can specify the target document without changing the thumbnail or opening the document, making it easy to specify the document It leads to efficiency improvement.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a document management system as an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note that the configuration of various terminals connected to the network 104 in FIG. 1 is an example, and it goes without saying that there are various configuration examples depending on the application and purpose.

  In FIG. 1, a server terminal 102, a client terminal (information processing apparatus) 101, and a FAX 105 are communicably connected via a LAN (local area network) 104 network. The server terminal 102 is connected to a database (storage unit) 103 in which document (image) data acquired from the FAX 105, scanner (not shown), and client terminal 101 and thumbnail images for displaying thumbnail images on the client terminal 101 are registered. ing. The registered document data (registered document) and thumbnail images may be registered in the storage unit in another server.

  The client terminal 101 displays registered documents and thumbnail images, and the server terminal 102 performs various processes such as transmission of registered documents and thumbnail images, update of documents, and update of thumbnails to the client terminal 101 in accordance with requests from the client terminals 101. Run. The server terminal 102 and the database 103 hold management information for managing registered documents and thumbnail images. Note that a plurality of client terminals 101 may be provided.

  The FAX 105 is connected so as to be communicable with a FAX on an external network (for example, a FAX of a business partner) via a telephone line, and document data is registered by transmitting the received FAX image to the server terminal 102. It is also possible to edit an image stored in the server terminal 102 with the client terminal 101 and communicate with a FAX on an external network via a telephone line via a LAN 104 network from a FAX driver installed on the client terminal 101. It is.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing hardware configurations of the client terminal 101 and the server terminal 102 in FIG.

  The hardware configuration 200 is a schematic diagram of the hardware configuration of the client terminal 101. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201 generally controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 204. The ROM (Read Only Memory) 202 or the external memory 211 is necessary for realizing a function executed by the BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) or OS (Operating System Program), which is a control program of the CPU 201, or the server. Various programs shown in FIG. 17 are stored. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 203 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like of the CPU 201.

  The CPU 201 implements various operations by loading a program necessary for execution of processing into the RAM 203 and executing the program. An input controller (input C) 205 controls input from a pointing device such as a keyboard 209 or a mouse (not shown). A video controller (VC) 206 controls display on a display device such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) 210. The display device may be a liquid crystal display as well as a CRT.

  The memory controller (MC) 207 is a hard disk (HD), floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD), or PCMCIA that stores a boot program, browser software, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, various data, and the like. (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) Controls access to an external memory 211 such as a CompactFlash (registered trademark) memory connected to a card slot via an adapter.

  A communication I / F controller (communication I / FC) 208 connects and communicates with an external device via a network, and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, Internet communication using TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) is possible. For example, the CPU 201 can perform display on the CRT 210 by executing outline font rasterization processing on a display information area in the RAM 203. In addition, the CPU 201 enables a user instruction with a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 210.

  Data used in the document management application and related programs for realizing the present invention is recorded in the server terminal 102 and is executed by the CPU 201 by being loaded into the RAM 203 via the client application as necessary. is there.

  The hardware configuration 220 is a schematic diagram of the hardware configuration of the server terminal 102. The hardware configuration 220 is the same as the hardware configuration 200 of the client terminal 101. The CPU 221 comprehensively controls each device and controller connected to the system bus 224. In addition, the ROM 222 or the external memory 231 stores a BIOS or OS that is a control program of the CPU 221, various programs shown in FIG. 17 necessary for realizing the function executed by the client, and the like. The RAM 223 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 221.

  The CPU 221 implements various operations by loading a program or the like necessary for execution of processing into the RAM 223 and executing the program.

  An input controller (input C) 225 controls input from a pointing device such as a keyboard 229 or a mouse (not shown). The video controller (VC) 226 controls display on a display device such as a CRT display (CRT) 230. The display device may be a liquid crystal display as well as a CRT. These are used by the administrator as needed. The present invention is not directly related.

  The memory controller (MC) 227 is a hard disk (HD), floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD), or PCMCIA that stores a boot program, browser software, various applications, font data, user files, editing files, various data, and the like. Controls access to an external memory 231 such as a compact flash (registered trademark) memory connected to the card slot via an adapter.

  A communication I / F controller (communication I / FC) 228 is connected to and communicates with an external device via a network, and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, Internet communication using TCP / IP is possible. Note that the CPU 221 enables display on the CRT 230 by executing outline font rasterization processing on a display information area in the RAM 223, for example. Further, the CPU 221 enables a user instruction with a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 230.

  The document management application for realizing the present invention and the data used by the document management application are recorded in the external memory 231 and are executed by the CPU 221 by being loaded into the RAM 223 as necessary. Note that the external memory 231 may include the database 103.

  FIG. 17 is a software configuration diagram of the client terminal 101 and the server terminal 102. The server terminal 102 is installed with a document management server application 2001 and a database 103 storing document management data. A thumbnail determination condition setting module 2009 that executes a thumbnail determination condition setting function and a thumbnail change module 2002 that executes a thumbnail change process are also installed. In addition, when the document in the document management server is executing a workflow, the workflow application 2004 transmits information indicating that the workflow is being executed from the workflow application 2004 to the document management server application 2001. The application of the server terminal 102 operates using the hardware devices CPU 221, RAM 223, ROM 222, etc. existing on the server terminal 102 of FIG.

  A document management client application 2008 is installed in the client terminal 101, and becomes the starting point of the operation in the document display flow of FIG. An image viewer 2007 and a PDF viewer 2006 are viewers that are activated when an image document or a PDF (Portable Document Format) document is edited and viewed by the document management client application 2008, and are activated according to the flow of FIGS. 12 and 13. Is an application. The other application viewer 2010 is a viewer that is activated when editing or browsing another application document, and is provided by each application manufacturer. Add-in software 2005 is added to the other application viewer 2010 and provided as an extended function of the viewer.

  Each application of the client terminal 101 operates using the hardware device CPU 201, RAM 203, ROM 202, and the like on the client terminal 101.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a user interface of the document management application. The document management application mainly includes a main window 301. The main window 301 is a window for handling files stored in the database 103.

The repository display area 304 is a tree view that displays the cabinet configuration and the folder configuration in the database 103 used in the document management application. The document display area 305 is a thumbnail mode for a document in the area selected in the repository display area 304. This is the area to be displayed in the list mode.
A cabinet is an independent unit for document management, and is a storage unit that collects folders created by a user, and manages a database for each cabinet.

  When the user adds or deletes (that is, edits) various files of documents and images in the repository display area 304 and the document display area 305 at the client terminal 101, the database 103 used in the document management application is edited. Is possible. At this time, various files in the folder can be added and changed (that is, edited), and cabinets and folders can be added and deleted (that is, edited).

  FIG. 3 shows an example in which three documents A, B, and C are stored in the cabinet “I-Fol1” in a thumbnail format. Document A is an application document. The application icon is displayed at the lower right of the thumbnail image of the first page obtained from the application data. In this example, an icon “Z” is displayed. Document B and document C are image documents. The arrow below the thumbnail indicates page turning. If the arrow is changed, the thumbnail of the corresponding page can be displayed.

  The cabinet button 302 is a button indicating a cabinet, and the folder button 303 is a button indicating a folder. A display button 306 is a button for selecting whether to display a folder or a document object to be displayed in the document display area 305 in a thumbnail format or a list (list) format.

  FIG. 4 shows an editing viewer used when editing an image document or a PDF document. When the document is opened in the edit mode, as shown in FIG. 5, the user selects a document object to be edited in the document display area 305 and right-clicks to display a pop-up menu. When “Open in Edit Mode” is selected from this pop-up menu, an editing viewer is displayed.

  A menu bar 402 is a Windows (registered trademark) standard menu operation area for activating a function. The tool bar 403 displays the characteristic functions of the menu bar 402 as “tool buttons” with buttons. The thumbnail view 404 is an area for displaying a thumbnail image of a registered document (registered image) being browsed in units of pages. The page toolbar 406 is an icon for switching pages displayed in the page view. An annotation tool 407 is a toolbar used when an annotation (annotation image) 409 is added to a document. The status bar 408 is a standard of Windows (registered trademark).

  FIG. 5 is a view showing a pop-up menu 501 displayed when a document is selected and right-clicked in the document display area 305. In the pop-up menu 501, an “open in edit mode” menu and an “open in read mode” menu are displayed. In the pop-up menu 501, an operation menu for other documents can be incorporated.

  FIG. 6 is a read-only viewer that is activated when a document is opened for reading and viewed. This is displayed when “Open in reading mode” is selected in the pop-up menu 501 of FIG. The difference between the read-only viewer and the editing viewer shown in FIG. 4 is that the read-only viewer does not have the annotation tool 407 and an annotation cannot be newly added, and editing operations such as page deletion and page replacement are performed. It is a point that cannot be done.

  FIG. 7 shows an application viewer that is activated when an application document stored in the document management software is used. A menu bar 702 and a tool bar 703 are Windows (registered trademark) standard menu operation areas for activating functions in the same manner as the editing viewer and the read-only viewer. The add-in bar 704 is an icon area in which a tool to which each application is added is displayed. The page view 705 is an area for displaying a document. In the present embodiment, a Microsoft Office (registered trademark) document is assumed as an application document.

  The add-in 704 is an add-in application activated from the add-in menu, and measures the time during which each page of the application viewer 701 is open. The stopwatch 706 has a function of automatically measuring the time until an arbitrary page is closed. The values accumulated until the measurement is completed are stored in the RAM 203 of the client terminal 101. A stop button 708 is a button used when the measurement of the stopwatch 706 is temporarily stopped. To resume the measurement once stopped, the measurement can be continued by clicking the start button 707.

  FIG. 8 is a screen for the administrator to specify thumbnail determination conditions displayed on the server terminal 102. The thumbnail determination condition screen 801 includes a priority view 802 and an item selection view 803. In the priority view 802, a smaller priority value indicates a higher importance condition. Based on this condition, the importance level of each page in the document is measured, and the page with the highest importance level is determined as the page suitable for the thumbnail.

  In the item selection view 803, items that can be specified in advance as thumbnail determination conditions are displayed. For example, browsing time, number of annotations, number of references, and the like. The administrator moves the items to the priority list 802 in the order in which the importance is set higher among the items. The administrator can move an item to the priority view 802 by selecting the item to be moved from the item selection view 803 and clicking the left arrow of the arrow button 804. On the other hand, to delete an item set in the priority order view 802, select the item to be deleted from the priority order view 802 and click the right arrow of the arrow button 804 to move the item to the item selection view 803. it can.

  In this embodiment, a plurality of conditions are set as priority conditions and priorities are set. However, a single condition can be registered without registering a plurality of conditions. For example, when only the browsing time is registered, the page with the longest browsing time is determined as the page for thumbnail display. That is, the thumbnail of the page having the longest time (viewing time) from displaying the document on the screen in FIG. 6 to ending the document display and returning to the screen in FIG. 3 is displayed in the document display area 305.

  In this embodiment, the thumbnail determination condition is applied to all documents in the document management system. However, the thumbnail determination condition may be set for each document.

The document table 901 and page table 1001 in FIG. 9 will be described.
In the document table 901, document information of the document management system stored in the database 103 is described in one record per record. The table items are “document ID” 903 and “document name” 905 unique in the document table 901, “file format” 907 indicating the file format of the document, and “thumbnail page” 909 indicating the page number which is the thumbnail of the document. In addition, there is a “workflow execution state” 911 that is a flag indicating whether or not the document is being processed by the workflow system, and a “last browsing page” 913 that indicates a previously viewed page.

  The workflow is executed by a workflow application that runs on the server terminal 102. When workflow processing is executed for a document in the document management server, a status indicating that the workflow is being executed is passed from the workflow application to the document management system. In the server terminal 102, the document table 901 holds a status indicating that the workflow is being executed. As a supplement, when a workflow is being executed, another workflow cannot be flowed unless the workflow of the document is completed or rejected.

  The entity of the document thumbnail is stored in the page table 1001, and only the thumbnail page 909 information indicating which page is displayed is stored in the document table 901.

  In the page table 1001, a record for each page is written simultaneously with the record writing to the document table 901. The configuration of the page table 1001 includes a “document ID” 1003 indicating a relationship with a document, a “page number” 1005 in the document, an “viewing time” 1007 in which an elapsed time of browsing the page is stored, and an editing time “Editing time” 1009 in which “No.” is stored, “Annotation number” 1011 in which the number of annotations attached to the page is held, “Font size” 1013 indicating the font size of the annotation, and the page is viewed or edited “Number of references” 1015 indicating the number of times, “Thumbnail image” 1017 holding the thumbnail image file name, and “Importance” 1019 quantifying the importance of the page.

The “browsing time” 1007 and “editing time” 1009 items are defined in an hour / minute / second format. The “importance” 1019 indicates that a page with a larger number is more important. “Number of annotations” 1011 indicates the number of annotations 409 assigned using the annotation tool 407. The thumbnail entity may be stored in the external memory 231 of the server terminal 102, and the file name of the thumbnail image associated with the thumbnail entity may be held. In this case, the thumbnail image of the server terminal 102 is searched according to the file name, acquired, and displayed as a thumbnail. It should be noted that the configurations and contents of these various tables are not limited, and needless to say, they are configured with various configurations and contents according to the application and purpose.

  Next, a basic processing flow when a document is registered in the document management system will be described with reference to FIG.

  When a document is registered in the document management system, a document registration flow is executed in the server terminal 102. An image to be registered in the document management system is captured (S1201), and an initial thumbnail of the captured image is created (S1202). Examples of the image capturing method include a method of capturing with a scanner, and a method of capturing a document saved on Windows (registered trademark) through a GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the server terminal 102.

  The captured document is registered in the database 103, and one record of document information is added to the document table 901 (S1203). At this time, the server terminal 102 automatically assigns the document ID 903 so that the document ID 903 is unique in the document table 901. Also, the file format of the captured image is determined from the extension, and stored in the item “file format” 907 of the document table 901. Also, a record for each page of the captured image is added to the page table 1001. The thumbnail image of each page is stored in the “thumbnail image” 1017 of the page table 1001, and the thumbnail image of the first page of the captured image is registered in the database 103 as the initial thumbnail of the document.

  Create thumbnails of all pages of the captured image when registering the document in the document management system. When the document data is changed (edited, annotated), the thumbnail of the page is recreated.

  In this embodiment, the thumbnails of all pages are created at the time of document registration. However, only the thumbnails (the thumbnails of the first page of the document) that are displayed by default at the time of document registration are created, and the thumbnail page switching button 307 is created. A thumbnail may be created when the button is pressed, or when the document data is changed, a thumbnail of the changed page (to be displayed) may be created.

  A flow when browsing a document stored in the document management system from the client terminal 101 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In order to select a document, the user selects a cabinet in which the document is stored with the button 302 on the screen shown in FIG. 3 displayed on the client terminal 101, and designates a folder in the cabinet with the button 303. The client terminal 101 transmits cabinet information and folder information to the server terminal 102 to request thumbnail list data (S1301).

  The server terminal 102 receives the thumbnail list request from the client terminal 101 and the folder information selected in the repository display area 304 (S1302), and the thumbnail list under the folder is received from the document table 901 and page table 1001 of the database 103. It is acquired and transmitted to the client terminal 101 (S1303). The thumbnail list acquired from the server terminal 102 is displayed in the document display area 305 shown in FIG. 3 (S1304).

  The user selects a document to be viewed from the thumbnail list in the document display area 305 and displays a pop-up menu 501 by right-clicking. When the user selects either “open in edit mode” or “open in read mode” from the pop-up menu 501, the client terminal 101 acquires the document data (S1305), and the document ID of the selected document. Is transmitted to the server terminal 102 (S1306). The server terminal 102 receives the document ID (S1307), uses the acquired document ID as a key, acquires document information from the document table 901, and acquires document data from the database 103 (S1308).

  The server terminal 102 transmits the acquired document data to the client terminal 101 (S1309). The client terminal receives the document data (S1310) and stores it in the memory 211. The client terminal 101 determines the mode based on the viewing mode selected by the user (S1311). In the reading mode, the document data is opened in the reading mode (S1312). In the editing mode, the client terminal 101 is opened in the editing mode (S1311). S1313).

  In addition to the pop-up menu 501, the document browsing mode can be specified by using a standard menu bar of Windows (registered trademark), and the browsing mode can be switched once the document is opened.

  As the thumbnail information transmitted from the server terminal 102 to the client terminal 101, only one page of thumbnails of the document may be transmitted, or thumbnails of all pages may be transmitted at once. When acquiring thumbnails for only one page, the thumbnails are transmitted from the server terminal 102 to the client terminal 101 at the timing when a page switching request is generated in the thumbnail page switching button 307 or the viewer.

  Further, the thumbnail information transmitted from the server terminal 102 to the client terminal 101 may be extracted by transmitting, for example, thumbnails of three pages having high importance based on the thumbnail determination condition. Further, the thumbnails displayed on the client terminal 101 may be only three pages with high importance. As a result, it is possible to transmit an optimal thumbnail for document identification while shortening the communication time between the client terminal 101 and the server terminal 102.

  Next, a processing flow for opening a document in the edit mode will be described with reference to FIG. The client terminal 101 acquires the document file format from the document information stored in the memory 211 (S1401). If the file format is an image document such as JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), or BMP (Bit MaP), the editing management viewer of the document management system of FIG. 4 is activated (S1408). Even in the case of a PDF document, the editing viewer of FIG. 4 is activated (S1405). Thereafter, the page designated as the thumbnail is displayed as the initial page in the page view of the editing viewer (S1406). At this time, the thumbnail of the page displayed in the page view is highlighted in the thumbnail view area of the editing viewer of FIG. From the time when the document is opened, the editing time is counted up for each page of the document (S1407).

  If the document file format is not an image or PDF but another application format, a viewer dedicated to the application is activated (S1402). For example, in the case of a Microsoft Office Word (registered trademark) document, the Microsoft Office Word is activated and the document is opened (S1403). When there is an add-in function (an extension function that can be added to the software later) as in Microsoft Office (registered trademark), the time for browsing the document with the application viewer can be increased by adding the add-in tool 704 shown in FIG. Measure (S1404).

  In addition, if an application provides an API (Application Programming Interface) that opens a specific page as an initial page, the page specified as the thumbnail can be displayed as the initial page.

  It is determined whether the viewer being measured is an active window (S1409). If the viewer is an active window, page information being edited is acquired and the editing time is counted up (S1410). Acquisition of a page being edited and acquisition of an active window can be realized by using a VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) macro in the case of Microsoft Office. If the editing viewer is not an active window and other windows are active, the editing time is not counted up. The active window determination is repeated until editing is completed (S1411). When the editing is finished, the acquisition of the editing time is finished (S1412). The updated document data entity and editing time are transmitted to the server terminal 102 (1413). The client terminal 101 closes the opened editing viewer (S1414). The server terminal 102 receives the updated document data (S1415), and executes importance level calculation 1 described later (S1416). The page table 1001 is referred to, and the page with the highest importance in the document is designated as a thumbnail image in the “thumbnail image” 1017 of the page table 1001 (S1417). The updated thumbnail data is transmitted to the client terminal 101 (S1418). The client terminal receives the updated thumbnail data (S1419), and displays the updated thumbnail in the document display area 305 of FIG.

  In this embodiment, the calculation of the importance and the thumbnail changing means are executed by the server terminal 102, but may be executed by the client terminal 101. In this case, after the acquisition of the editing time, the client terminal 101 calculates the importance and changes the thumbnail, and transmits the changed document substance and table information and the document thumbnail to the server terminal 102.

  Next, a processing flow for opening a document in the reading mode will be described with reference to FIG. The document file format is acquired from the document information stored in the memory 211 (S1501). If the file format is an image document such as JPEG, TIFF, or BMP, the read-only viewer of the document management system in FIG. 6 is activated (S1504). If the document is a PDF document, the read-only viewer shown in FIG. 6 is activated as in the case of the image document (S1503).

  Thereafter, the page designated as the thumbnail is displayed as the initial page in the page view of the read-only viewer (S1505). At this time, the thumbnail of the page displayed in the page view is highlighted in the thumbnail view area of the read-only viewer in FIG. From the time when the document is opened, the browsing time is counted up for each page of the document (S1506).

  When the document file format is not an image or PDF but another application format, a viewer dedicated to the application is activated (S1502). If the function of the application can open the document in a read-only format, the document is opened in the read-only format. For example, in the case of a Microsoft Office Word (registered trademark) document, the Microsoft Office Word is activated and the document is opened (S1518). When there is an add-in function (an extension function that can be added later to the software) as in Microsoft Office, the add-in tool 704 shown in FIG. 7 is added to measure the time during which a document is viewed with the application viewer ( S1519).

  It is determined whether the read-only viewer is an active window (S1507). In the case of an active window, the page information being browsed is acquired, and the editing time is counted up (S1508). Acquisition of page information during browsing and acquisition of active windows is the same as the flow in the browsing mode, and in the case of Office, it can be realized by using a VBA macro. As a result, the editing time is updated.

If the read-only viewer is not an active window and other windows are active, the browsing time is not counted up. The active window determination is repeated until the browsing is completed (S1509). When browsing ends, acquisition of browsing time ends (S1510). The client terminal 101 transmits the browsing time to the server terminal 102 (S1511). The client terminal closes the open read-only viewer (S1512). The server terminal 102 receives the document data (S1513), and executes importance level calculation 2 described later (S1514). The server terminal 102 refers to the page table 1001 and designates the page with the highest importance in the document as a thumbnail image in the “thumbnail image” 1017 of the page table 1001 (S1515). The updated thumbnail data is transmitted to the client terminal 101 (S1516). The client terminal 101 receives the updated thumbnail data (S1517), and displays the updated thumbnail in the document display area 305.

A flow of importance calculation 1 when the document is opened in the edit mode will be described with reference to FIG. It is determined whether the edited document is a workflow-executed (registered) document (S1601). If a value meaning “execution in progress” is stored in the item of the workflow execution state 911 of the document table 901, the workflow is being executed. Conversely, if no value is saved, the workflow is not executed.

  When the workflow is being executed, the editing time acquired from the client terminal 101 is added to the page table 1001 for each page (S1602). For example, when one page of the document ID 1003 “00001” is edited for 2 minutes and the third page is edited for 30 seconds, the editing time is added to the “editing time” item of the corresponding table, and the table is changed as shown in FIG. . Since a document being executed in a workflow continues a series of flows, it is necessary to determine which page is important for the entire workflow. Therefore, “editing time” is accumulated during the execution of the workflow. The editing time is a value (operation value) determined (updated) by a plurality of users who execute the workflow. In addition, about the addition of time, even if it is editing 29 seconds, you may comprise so that it may add as 30 seconds. That is, an error may occur in the number of seconds in the accumulation process of adding.

If it is determined whether the edited document is a workflow execution document, if the workflow is not being executed, the editing time 1009 of the page table 1001 of the document is reset to 0 (S1603). That is, the editing time is a value (operation value) determined (updated) only by a value operated by the user who is currently editing the document. The editing time acquired by the client terminal 101 is stored for each page in the reset page table 1001 (S1604). The server terminal 102 acquires the priority condition held in the database 103 (S1605). The priority conditions are set in advance on the thumbnail determination condition screen 801 and stored in the database 103. Importance is calculated based on a predetermined importance multiplication factor in order from the smallest priority value (S1606). The acquisition of the priority condition and the calculation of the importance are repeated until all the priorities are completed (S1607).

As a method for determining the importance, for example, when the priority condition is set only for the editing time, the largest numerical value is set in the importance 1019 of the page table 1001 in order from the page with the longest editing time. In short, the page with the longest editing time is the thumbnail.

As another example, when three priority conditions are specified, the importance is calculated with a magnification of 3, 2, 1 from the highest priority. A value indicating which page is important in one document is defined as an importance coefficient. With regard to the browsing time and editing time, it is determined that the longer page is the page that the user is paying more attention to and is a characteristic document, and the importance coefficient increases. As the number of annotations increases, the more important the number of annotations, the more important pages can be determined by showing the document to other staff, seeing it yourself, or using it as memos. Will grow.

When the processing of all the priorities is completed, a value obtained by multiplying the importance coefficient and the importance multiplication factor is added up to obtain the total importance, and the importance 1019 of the page table 1001 is updated (S1608). The page having the highest importance 1019 is determined as the most characteristic page in the document, and the page is determined as a thumbnail.

  The flow of importance calculation 2 when the document is opened in the reading mode will be described with reference to FIG. It is determined whether the browsed document is a document being executed in the workflow (S1701). When the workflow is being executed, the browsing time acquired from the client terminal 101 is added to the page table 1001 for each page (S1702). Similar to the calculation of importance 1, since the document in which the workflow is being executed continues a series of flows, “viewing time” is added. If the workflow is not being executed, the browsing time 1007 of the page table 1001 of the corresponding document is reset and returned to 0 (S1703). The browsing time acquired from the client terminal 101 is stored for each page in the browsing time 1007 of the reset page table 1001 (S1704). Note that the browsing time is an operation value determined by a user operation.

  The priority condition held in the server terminal 102 is acquired (S1705), the importance is calculated (S1706), and this process is repeated until all priorities are completed (S1707). The flow is the same as the process in the edit mode. So I will omit the explanation.

  When the processing of all the priorities is completed, the importance 1019 is updated (S1708), the page having the largest importance is determined as the most characteristic page in the document, and the page is determined as the thumbnail. to decide.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the most characteristic page of a document can be automatically set as a thumbnail, so that the user can select a target document without changing the thumbnail or opening the document. This makes it easy to identify documents and improves work efficiency.
In addition, when performing data communication between the server and the client, the thumbnail information of all pages of the document is not transmitted, but only the highly important pages are transmitted, thereby reducing the amount of data flowing through the network. By making the thumbnail page created on the server a highly important page, the data capacity of the server can also be reduced.

  Although the embodiments have been described in detail above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, an apparatus, a method, a program, or a storage medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system that is configured, or may be applied to an apparatus that includes a single device.

  The preferred embodiments of the document management system and the like according to the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea disclosed in the present application, and these naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a document management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the various terminals of embodiment of this invention The figure which shows schematic structure of the main window of the user interface of the document management system of embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows schematic structure of the viewer for edit opened from the main window of embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the pop-up menu 501 displayed in the main window of embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows schematic structure of the read-only viewer opened from the main window of embodiment of this invention The figure which shows an example of the application viewer of embodiment of this invention The figure which shows an example of the setting screen which designates the thumbnail determination conditions of embodiment of this invention FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document table 901 and a page table 1001 according to the embodiment of this invention. Basic processing flowchart when registering a document in the document management system of the embodiment of the present invention Flowchart when browsing a document stored in the document management system of the embodiment of the present invention from the client terminal 101 Processing flowchart for opening a document in edit mode according to an embodiment of the present invention Processing flowchart for opening a document in the reading mode in the embodiment of the present invention Importance calculation process flowchart when a document is opened in edit mode Importance calculation processing flowchart when a document is opened in reading mode The figure which shows an example of the document table 901 and the page table 1001 after a change Software configuration diagram of client terminal 101 and server terminal 102

Explanation of symbols

  101 ......... Client terminal 102 ......... Server terminal 103 ......... Database 104 ......... LAN 105 ......... FAX 801 ......... Thumbnail determination condition screen 802 ......... Priority order view 803 ......... Item selection view 804 ......... Arrow button 901 ......... Document table 903 ......... Document ID 905 ......... Document name 907 .... File format 909 ......... Thumbnail page 911 ......... Workflow execution state 913 ......... Last browsing page 1001 ......... Page table 1003 ......... Document ID 1005 ......... Page number 1007 ......... Viewing time 1009 ...... Editing time 1011 ...... Number of annotations 1013 ...... Font size 1015 ......... Reference count 1017 ... … Thumbnail image 1019 ……… heavy Degree

Claims (13)

An information processing apparatus that manages document data composed of a plurality of pages and thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data,
Active determination means for determining whether a window for displaying the document data is active;
An operation value update unit that updates an operation value for each page of the document data according to the user's operation, which is an operation value obtained by the user's operation content;
A specifying unit for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update unit;
Changing means for changing a thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of a page specified by the specifying means ;
The operation value updating unit updates the information when the active determination unit determines that the window is active . The specifying unit specifies a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the updated operation value for each page after the operation value is updated by the operation value update unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. Workflow determination means for determining whether a workflow is being executed for the document data;
When the workflow determination unit determines that the document data is being executed by the workflow determination unit, the specifying unit sets operation values for each page by a plurality of users performed on the document data during the workflow execution. Based on the cumulative total, a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data is specified, and when the workflow determination unit determines that the document data is not being executed, the page of the user who operates the document data 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data is specified based on each operation value. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on a priority of the plurality of operation values specified by the input unit . The information processing apparatus according to item 1.   5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying unit specifies a page having the maximum operation value as a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data. 6. 6. The operation value according to claim 1, wherein the operation value includes at least one of a browsing time of a page displaying the document data and an editing time of a page editing the document data . Information processing device. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage unit that stores the document data and the thumbnail image corresponding to a page of the document data. apparatus. 8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the document data and the document management server that stores the thumbnail image corresponding to the page of the document data are configured in a separate housing . 9. Information processing device. A method for controlling an information processing apparatus that manages document data composed of a plurality of pages and thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data,
An active determination step in which the active determination means of the information processing apparatus determines whether or not a window for displaying the document data is active;
An operation value update step in which the operation value update unit of the information processing apparatus is an operation value obtained according to a user operation content, and updates an operation value for each page of the document data in accordance with a user operation;
A specifying step of specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update step;
A changing step of changing the thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of the page specified by the specifying step;
The operation value update step updates the information processing apparatus when the window is active in the active determination step. A computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute a control method of an information processing apparatus that manages document data composed of a plurality of pages and thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data,
The information processing apparatus;
Active determination means for determining whether a window for displaying the document data is active;
An operation value update unit that updates an operation value for each page of the document data according to the user's operation, which is an operation value obtained by the user's operation content;
A specifying unit for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update unit;
Functioning as a changing means for changing the thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of the page specified by the specifying means;
The operation value update means updates the window when the window is active by the active determination means. Document data composed of a plurality of pages, a document management server that manages thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, and the document management server connected via a network to display the document data and the thumbnail images A document management system composed of various information processing devices,
The information processing apparatus includes:
Active determination means for determining whether a window for displaying the document data is active;
An operation value obtained by a user's operation content, and an operation value update means for updating the operation value for each page of the document data according to the user's operation,
The document management server
A specifying unit for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update unit;
Changing means for changing a thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of a page specified by the specifying means;
The operation value update unit updates the window when the active determination unit determines that the window is active. Document data composed of a plurality of pages, a document management server that manages thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, and the document management server connected via a network to display the document data and the thumbnail images And a document management system control method comprising an information processing apparatus,
An active determination step in which the active determination means of the information processing apparatus determines whether or not a window for displaying the document data is active;
An operation value update step in which the operation value update unit of the information processing apparatus is an operation value obtained according to a user operation content, and updates an operation value for each page of the document data in accordance with a user operation;
A specifying step of specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update step;
A changing step of changing the thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of the page specified by the specifying step;
The operation value updating step updates when the window is determined to be active in the active determination step. Document data composed of a plurality of pages, a document management server that manages thumbnail images corresponding to the pages of the document data, and the document management server connected via a network to display the document data and the thumbnail images A computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute a control method of a document management system configured with an information processing apparatus,
The information processing apparatus;
Active determination means for determining whether a window for displaying the document data is active;
It is an operation value obtained by the user's operation content, and functions as an operation value update means for updating the operation value for each page of the document data according to the user's operation,
The document management server;
A specifying unit for specifying a page to be displayed as a thumbnail image of the document data based on the operation value for each page updated by the operation value update unit;
Functioning as a changing means for changing the thumbnail image of the document data to a thumbnail image of the page specified by the specifying means;
The operation value update unit updates the window when the active determination unit determines that the window is active.

Images