JPH0850598A - Electronic document retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily obtain original documents by reading information added to the output documents and retrieving the electronic documents based on the information. CONSTITUTION:This system is provided with information addition means 4 and 9 for adding the information on the electronic documents to the output documents and additional information reading means 3, 5, 8, and 10 for reading the information on the electronic documents added to the documents outputted from the means 4 and 9. The electronic documents is retrieved by retrieval processing means 5 and 10 based on the information on the electronic documents read by the means 3, 5, 8, and 10. As the information added to the electronic documents, the address information, application information, and access right information or the like are added, but additional information are not limited thereto, and for example, the information required to retrieve the electronic document such as the same and the preparation date thereof may be added if necessary.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retrieval system for electronic documents generated on a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of computers, general documents (electronic documents) are often generated on computers, and the generated electronic documents are stored as electronic data in a storage device or on recording paper. It is output and the output document is circulated, distributed, or saved.

[0003]

However, when an original electronic document is requested by the distribution destination of the output document, the creator or editor of the electronic document searches the electronic document and sends it via a network or the like. You must send the original electronic document to the computer of the person who requested it. That is, according to the conventional method, when the distribution destination obtains the original electronic document, the intervention of the creator of the electronic document is always required, and the electronic document cannot be easily used. there were.

Further, when the original electronic document is required, it is necessary to perform a search on the computer based on the memory of the creator and the like, and to confirm the content of the searched electronic document. There was a problem that was.

Further, since the conventional electronic document system can easily copy and edit the electronic document, the creator of the electronic document permits the recipient to distribute, edit and display the contents of the electronic document (hereinafter referred to as "access"). There was a problem in maintainability of data because it was not possible to restrict the right).

Further, in order to search for an electronic document and edit the searched electronic document, an application suitable for the electronic document must be newly started after the search is completed, and the work is complicated. There was a problem.

Furthermore, when the created electronic document covers several pages, the amount of paper distributed increases and
There was a problem that the time spent for searching, such as confirmation of contents, increased.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides an electronic document retrieval system in which a person who needs an original electronic document can conveniently use the electronic document. The purpose is to do.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an electronic document retrieval system for retrieving electronic documents generated on a computer. Information adding means for adding information about electronic documents to output documents. And an additional information reading unit that reads information about the electronic document added to the output document by the information adding unit, and a search process for the electronic document based on the information about the electronic document read by the additional information reading unit And a search processing means.

[0010]

According to the above structure, the information adding means adds information about the electronic document to the output document, the additional information reading means reads the information added to the output document, and the electronic document is read based on the read information. Search processing is performed.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an electronic document search system according to this embodiment. In the figure, an electronic document retrieval system (hereinafter, simply referred to as a system) 10
Reference numeral 0 denotes a display unit 1 for displaying the contents of the electronic document and a warning display for the user, a storage unit 2 for storing the created electronic document, and a reading unit 3 for reading additional information from the output document.
And an output unit 4 for printing out an electronic document on a recording paper together with additional information by a method described later, and controlling the display unit 1, the storage unit 2, the reading unit 3 and the output unit 4, and creating and editing the electronic document. And a computer 5 for searching.

The system 200 includes a display unit 1, a storage unit 2, a reading unit 3, an output unit 4, and a display unit 6 having the same functions as those of the computer 5 of the system 100, a storage unit 7, a reading unit 8, and an output unit 9. The computer 5 and the computer 10 are connected via a network 11 for connecting a plurality of computers.

Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, the system 10 will be described.
The electronic document is created and output in 0, and the system 2
A case where the electronic document is searched at 00 will be described.

The electronic document is created by an application stored in advance in the computer 5 of the system 100. Further, the user can create an electronic document while checking on the display screen of the display unit 1. The created electronic document is transferred from the memory (not shown) in the computer 5 to the storage unit 2 and stored therein.

When the electronic document stored in the storage unit 2 is output to a recording sheet or the like, the computer 5 first creates additional information of the electronic document. The created additional information is
The output document is added to the output document and output.

On the other hand, in the system 200, the system 1
When retrieving an electronic document stored in the storage unit 2 in 00, first, the reading unit 8 reads additional information added to the output document, and based on the additional information, the computer 10 sends the additional information via the network 11. Search for electronic documents. When the desired electronic document is retrieved, the computer 10 reads the retrieved electronic document from the storage unit 2 into the memory (not shown) of the computer 10 via the network 11 and displays the document content on the display unit 6.

The output processing and search processing of the electronic document performed by the electronic document search system which operates as described above will be described in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of creating and recording the additional information of the electronic document, which is executed after creating the electronic document in the computer 5.

First, the user creates an electronic document in the computer 5 (step S21), saves the electronic document in the storage unit 2 (step S22), and then outputs the electronic document at the output unit 4. It is selected whether or not to write additional information (step S23).

If the answer in step S23 is YES, that is, if the additional information is to be written, the user first sets the computer 5
It is selected whether or not to write the application information used in step 3 as additional information (step S24). If you choose to write the application information here,
The computer 10 creates application information for additional information (step S25). If it is not written, the step S25 is skipped and the subsequent step S25 is executed.
Proceed to 26.

Next, the user maintains the access right information when searching the electronic document based on the additional information, for example, electronic document maintenance such as control of permission of copying, editing, and display of contents of the electronic document by the creator of the electronic document. Information to be written as additional information is selected (step S26), and if writing is selected, the computer 10 creates access right information for additional information (step S27). If not writing is selected, step S2
7 is skipped and the process proceeds to the subsequent step S28.

In step S28, information indicating the storage location of the electronic document output by the computer 5 (address information), the name of the electronic document necessary for searching the electronic document, and the date of creation are created.

Then, the above steps S25, S27,
The application information, the access right information, and the address information created in S28 are written in the electronic document by the output unit 4 (step S29) and output (step S3).
0). If it is determined in step S23 that additional information is not written in the electronic document, steps S24-
The process proceeds to step S30 without performing the process of step S29, and the electronic document is output. In FIG. 3, the above step S2
9 shows an example of the output document to which the additional information is added in S30. In the figure, the additional information is bar-coded and output.

FIG. 4 illustrates system 200 as described above.
6 is a flowchart showing a procedure for searching an original electronic document stored in a storage unit 2 of the system 100 from the side and displaying it on a display unit 6. It should be noted that this processing is all executed under the control of the computer 10.

First, the additional information recorded on the output document is read by the reading unit 8 (step S41), and the read additional information is analyzed by the computer 10 (step S42). Next, based on the result of analysis in step S42, it is determined whether or not the description format of the additional information is correct (step S43). If it is determined that the description format is correct, go to step S44. Advances to step S52 described later.

Next, in step S44, based on the additional information analyzed in step S42, the original electronic document of the output document is searched for in all the systems connected on the network 11. And
In step S45, it is determined whether or not the original electronic document has been found. If the answer is YES, the process proceeds to step S46. If the answer is NO, the process proceeds to step S46.
Proceed to 52.

In step S46, it is determined whether the additional information analyzed in step S42 includes access right information for searching an electronic document, and if it is included, based on the access right information. The access right to the electronic document is defined (step S47), and the process proceeds to step S48.

In step S48, it is determined whether or not the additional information analyzed in step S42 includes the information of the application that created the electronic document. If it is included, in step S49, it is determined based on the application information. Then, the same application as the application that created the electronic document is launched, and the process proceeds to step S50.

In step S50, the original electronic document is read from the storage unit 2 in the system 100, which is the discovery destination, into the memory of the computer 10, and the electronic document read in step S51 is displayed on the display unit 6.

On the other hand, steps S43 and S45
If the answer is NO in step S52, the fact that the description of the additional information is incorrect or the original document is not found is displayed on the display unit 6 to warn.

Since the system 100 and the system 200 have the same function, a search by a combination other than the above is performed (for example, the electronic document is created on the system 200 side and the search is performed on the system 100 side, or The same process is performed when an electronic document is created on the 100 side and a search is performed in the system 100).

As described above, according to this embodiment, information such as address information, application information, and access information is added to the output document in a computer-readable format as needed, so that a third party The original electronic document can be retrieved and read from the network without going through.

Further, since the address information is added as the additional information, the complicated work of conducting a search on the computer based on the memory of the creator and further confirming the content of the retrieved electronic document is performed. Even without it, it is possible to automatically read the target electronic document directly from the output document.

Further, since the access right information is added as additional information, the creator of the electronic document can edit it.
You can control access rights such as reproduction and content display,
The maintainability of electronic documents can be improved.

Further, since the application information is added as additional information, an application for editing the retrieved and read electronic document can be automatically started up, and the electronic document can be edited. It becomes possible to facilitate the work.

In the present embodiment, the information added to the output document is a bar code as shown in FIG. 3, but the information is not limited to this, and a code arranged two-dimensionally,
It may be a code or a magnetic code. Further, the additional information may be added with invisible toner or ink. Further, the position where the additional information is added is not limited to the position shown in FIG. That is, the information may be added to the output document in a format that can be easily read by the reading unit by some means, and the encoding method and the recording method are not limited.

Further, in the above embodiment, the output side processing is executed by the computer 5 and the input side processing is executed by the computer 10. However, there is no reason to be limited to this and, for example, by using a highly functional peripheral device, It can be easily inferred that the processing on the output side may be performed by the output unit and the processing on the input side may be performed by the reading unit.

Further, in this embodiment, the address information, the application information and the access right information are added as the additional information of the electronic document, but the additional information is not limited to these pieces of information. Information necessary for searching the electronic document such as the date of creation may be added as necessary.

Further, when an electronic document having a plurality of pages is created, the number of pages of the electronic document is described as additional information, and the output document in which only the display or only the outline is described is distributed, and the entire text or one of the documents is distributed. Only those who need a copy can search and retrieve electronic documents. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of paper to be distributed.

[0041]

As described above, according to the electronic document retrieval system of claim 1, the information related to the electronic document is added to the output document by outputting the electronic document onto the paper, and the information is added to the output document. Since the electronic information is searched for based on the information read, it becomes possible to search for the original electronic document from the distributed output document without a third party. The effect of facilitating the work for obtaining the original document can be obtained.

According to the electronic document retrieval system of the second aspect, since the information about the electronic document is added to the output document in a format that the additional information reading unit can easily read, the configuration of the additional information reading unit can be simplified. The effect that the additional information reading operation can be executed at high speed is obtained.

According to the electronic document retrieval system of claim 3, since the address information is added as the additional information, the retrieval is performed on the computer based on the memory of the creator and the like, and the retrieved electronic document is retrieved. It is possible to automatically read the target electronic document directly from the output document without having to perform the complicated work of checking the contents, and as a result, it is possible to simplify the work. .

Further, according to the electronic document search system of claim 4, since the access right information is added as additional information, the creator of the electronic document restricts the access right for editing, copying and displaying contents. However, there is an effect that the maintainability of data can be improved.

According to the electronic document retrieval system of claim 5, since the application information is added as the additional information, the application for editing the retrieved and read electronic document is automatically started. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the effect that the work for editing the electronic document can be facilitated.

According to the electronic document retrieval system of claim 6, only the person who needs it can retrieve and retrieve the electronic document only by distributing the output document in which only the outline of the contents of the electronic document is described. As a result, the amount of paper to be distributed can be reduced, and the time spent for searching such as confirmation of contents can be shortened.

Furthermore, according to the electronic document retrieval system of claim 7, when an original electronic document is required, a person who requests the electronic document does not have to go through the creator of the electronic document to request the document via the network. Since the intended original electronic document can be directly read, the effect of further simplifying the work for obtaining the original electronic document can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic document search system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an additional information creation and recording processing operation executed by the system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a format of an output document and additional information added to the output document.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a search process for an original electronic document.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 reading unit (additional information reading unit) 4 output unit (information adding unit) 5 computer (search processing unit, additional information reading unit) 8 reading unit (additional information reading unit) 9 output unit (information adding unit) 10 computer (search Processing means, additional information reading means)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electronic document retrieval system for retrieving an electronic document generated on a computer, and an information adding unit for adding information on the electronic document to an output document obtained by outputting the electronic document on paper, and outputting by the information adding unit. An additional information reading unit that reads information about the electronic document added to the document, and a search processing unit that performs a search process for the electronic document based on the information about the electronic document read by the additional information reading unit. An electronic document retrieval system characterized by. 2. The electronic document retrieving system according to claim 1, wherein the information adding unit adds information about the electronic document to the output document in a format that is easy to read by the additional information reading unit. 3. The electronic document search system according to claim 1, wherein the information on the electronic document includes address information indicating a location of the electronic document on a computer. 4. The electronic document retrieval system according to claim 1, wherein the information about the electronic document includes access right information for controlling an access right of the electronic document. 5. The electronic document retrieval system according to claim 1, wherein the information on the electronic document includes application information for automatically launching an application for editing the electronic document. 6. The electronic document search system according to claim 1, wherein the information on the electronic document includes information indicating an outline of contents of the electronic document. 7. The computer according to claim 1, wherein the computer is connected to a network, and the search processing means can retrieve electronic information generated on another computer connected to the network. Item 7. The electronic document retrieval system according to any one of items 6.