PDF file creation program for slip format document transmission

Abstract

To provide a PDF file creation program corresponding to a multiple rows and multiple pages slip format document.SOLUTION: A PDF file creation program causes a computer to execute steps of: creating index data for attached file; creating a C attached file which is attached to a PDF file transmitted to a person to be transmitted; and attaching an attached file corresponding to a decomposed PDF file, by using the index data for attached file. The PDF file creation program creates the attached file by designating a row of data to be extracted as the attached file, compares a file name of the decomposed PDF file with the index data for attached file, and attaches the attached file corresponding to the decomposed PDF file.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention generally relates to a PDF file creation program. More specifically, the present invention relates to a PDF file creation program for transmitting slip-format documents that are compatible with multi-line, multi-page slip-format documents (hereinafter referred to as "slip-format documents"). [Background technology]

[0002] The inventor has proposed a password-protected PDF file creation program that can efficiently assign passwords to various single-sheet documents (e.g., pay slips, withholding tax slips, medical expense slips, etc.) when sending them as PDF (Portable Document Format) files via email (Patent Document 1).

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5435725 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Although the program in Patent Document 1 has been fortunately well-received, it does not support multi-line, multi-page slip-type documents (e.g., invoices, delivery notes, purchase orders, payment notices, etc.) On the other hand, there is a demand for a program that takes security into consideration and enables the easy transmission of multi-line, multi-page slip-type documents via email or web distribution.

[0005] The present invention was developed in consideration of the above situation, and aims to provide a PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents that are compatible with slip-format documents with multiple lines and pages. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents corresponding to documents in a multi-line, multi-page format according to claim 1 of the present application includes a first step of creating CSV-formatted transmission data for recipients, including a password and an email address, and importing the data into a storage device; a second step of executing page number and page number processing for calculating the number of pages required when outputting the document and assigning page numbers corresponding to the calculated number of pages for the transmission data; a third step of creating decomposition index data serving as an index for decomposing the document into files for each recipient, password index data serving as an index for assigning passwords to the decomposed files, and attachment index data; a fourth step of creating a CSV-formatted attachment file to be attached to the PDF file to be sent to the recipient; and a fourth step of extracting all of the data for the recipient from the transmission data into a single PDF file. and importing the resulting PDF file into a storage device; and a sixth step of decomposing the single PDF file into PDF files for each recipient using the decomposition index data, assigning passwords corresponding to the decomposed PDF files using the password index data, and attaching the attachments corresponding to the decomposed PDF files using the attachment index data, wherein the attachments are created by specifying a column containing data to be extracted as the attachments in the fourth step, and the attachments are attached to the decomposed PDF files in the sixth step by comparing the file names of the decomposed PDF files with the attachment index data.

[0007] The PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents described in claim 2 of the present application is characterized in that, in the program of claim 1, the CSV-formatted transmission data containing data about the recipient is a combination of the CSV-formatted transmission data to be sent to the recipient and the CSV-formatted data about the recipient.

[0008] The PDF file creation program for sending invoice-format documents described in claim 3 of the present application is characterized in that, in the program of claim 1 or 2, the data to be sent to the recipient includes either an invoice, a delivery note, a purchase order, or a payment notice. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] The PDF file creation program of the present invention, when sending slip-format documents rather than single-sheet documents via email or web distribution, performs the processes of decomposing, assigning a password, and attaching a CSV-formatted attachment for each recipient for a single PDF file containing information about all recipients, thereby shortening processing time and reducing work effort compared to performing the processes individually for each recipient. According to the PDF file creation program of the present invention, in addition to the PDF file to be sent, desired data from the transmitted data is attached to the PDF file as an easily editable CSV-formatted attachment, allowing the document recipient to effectively utilize the document data (for example, if the document is an invoice, analyzing the invoiced items to help reduce expenses, etc.). Furthermore, since page counts and page numbering are performed simultaneously for the entire data to be sent, processing time is shortened and work effort is reduced compared to calculating page counts and page numbering for each invoice recipient individually. Furthermore, according to the PDF file creation program of the present invention, PDF files for all billing destinations are created, then broken down to create PDF files for each billing destination and assign passwords, thereby enabling faster processing than the conventional method of creating a PDF file for each billing destination and assigning passwords. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a flowchart showing a series of steps of a program for creating a PDF file for transmitting slip-format documents according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing invoice data, destination data, and transmission data. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing transmission data in a table format. [Figure 4] This is a schematic diagram to explain the process of assigning a password to a PDF file for each invoice and attaching an attachment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this example, a case where a password is assigned to invoice data to be sent to a billing destination and a PDF file is created will be described. Figure 1 is a flow chart showing a series of steps in a PDF file creation program according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] The PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents in a preferred embodiment of the present invention is executed by a conventional computer, i.e., a computer having a CPU (central processing unit), memory, storage device (e.g., HDD, SSD), input device such as a keyboard, and a display device, all connected together by a bus.

[0013] In the program for creating PDF files for sending slip-format documents of the present invention, prepared invoice data A in CSV format is imported into a storage device. Invoice data A includes general data A1 and detail data A2, both of which are in CSV format. Because invoice data A contains a wide variety of data, it usually spans multiple lines.

[0014] General data A1 of invoice data A is general data that is written on an invoice, such as the billing code, issue date, invoice serial number, invoice amount, etc. Examples of general data A1 are "1001, March 20, 2024, R060320-001,...", "1002, March 20, 2024, R060320-002,...", "1003, March 20, 2024, R060320-003,...",...

[0015] Detail data A2 of the invoice data is data that details the contents of the invoice, such as the slip date, product number, product name, quantity, unit price, amount, and remarks. In other words, it is data that describes the actual content to be sent. Detail data A2 is, for example, "March 1, 2024, N136, Copy Paper,...", "March 3, 2024, P271, Toner,...",...

[0016] In FIG. 2(a), for convenience, the general data A1 and the detailed data A2 are shown as separate data files, but in reality, the general data A1 and the detailed data A2 may be one data file.

[0017] In addition, in the PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents of the present invention, destination data B in CSV format that has been prepared in advance is loaded into the storage device (Fig. 2(b)). The destination data B is made up of a billing code, billing name, email address, password, etc. The destination data B is, for example, "1001, Daiichi Olive Co., Ltd., olive1@xyz1.com ,ps1001,···",""1002,The Second Olive Co., Ltd., olive2@xyz2.com ,ps1002,···", "1003,The Third Olive Co., Ltd.,olive3@xyz3.com,ps1003,···",···.

[0018] The reason why invoice data A and destination data B are separate data is that the content of invoice data A changes for each invoice, while the content of destination data B basically remains the same. In addition, invoice data A and destination data B are in CSV format to reduce the data volume.

[0019] First, the PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents of the present invention compares the invoice data A and the destination data B imported into the storage device, combines data with the same invoice code to create the transmission data C, and imports it into the storage device (first step) (Figure 2(c)).

[0020] The transmission data C may be, for example, "1001, Daiichi Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-001,···", "1001, Daiichi Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-001,···", "1001, Daiichi Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-001,···", "1002, Daini Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-002,···", "1002, Daini Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-002,···". ", "1002, Dai-ni Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-002, ···", "1002, Dai-ni Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-002, ···", "1002, Dai-ni Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-002, ···", "1003, Dai-san Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-003, ···", "1003, Dai-san Olive Co., Ltd., March 20, 2024, R060320-003, ···", ···.

[0021] The transmission data C is data with multiple rows and columns (in the example shown in Figure 3, which shows transmission data C in a table format, the data for billing code "1001" spans three rows, the data for billing code "1002" spans five rows, and the data for billing code "1003" spans two rows), and the same type of data is listed in the same column (for example, the billing code in the first column, the product number in the fifteenth column, the unit price in the eighteenth column, etc.).

[0022] In Figure 3, the transmission data C is arranged in the following order from left to right: destination data B, general data A1, and detail data A2, and from top to bottom: data for billing code "1001" (3 lines), data for billing code "1002" (5 lines), data for billing code "1003" (2 lines), etc.

[0023] Note that the same data is duplicated in the destination data B and general data A1 columns of the transmission data C. This means that in each row, the data written in the same column will be of the same type (for example, the 13th column is the invoice date, the 15th column is the product number, and the 16th column is the product name), making the process easier when creating the attachment file (step 4, described later) by simply specifying the column containing the data you want to extract.

[0024] Next, page number and page number processing is performed on the transmission data C (second step). Here, page number and page number processing is a process of calculating the number of pages required when outputting a document (invoice in this example) and assigning page numbers corresponding to the calculated page number. The page number and page number data obtained in the second step is stored in a storage device.

[0025] The page count and page number processing will be explained in more detail. Assume that for transmission data C, there are 24 lines of data for billing destination code "1001," 35 lines of data for billing destination code "1002," and 18 lines of data for billing destination code "1003," and that the number of lines of data per page of the output document is 10. Then, the required number of pages for the invoice for billing destination code "1001" is 3 pages (page numbers assigned as 1 / 3, 2 / 3, and 3 / 3), the required number of pages for the invoice for billing destination code "1002" is 4 pages (page numbers assigned as 1 / 4, 2 / 4, 3 / 4, and 4 / 4), and the required number of pages for the invoice for billing destination code "1003" is 2 pages (page numbers assigned as 1 / 2 and 2 / 2). In this way, the page count is calculated and page numbers are assigned in one go for the entire transmission data C, which shortens the processing time and reduces the work effort required by the sender, compared to calculating the page count and assigning page numbers individually for each billing recipient.

[0026] Next, index data is created (third step). There are three types of index data: index data for decomposition, index data for passwords, and index data for attachments. The index data obtained in the third step is stored in a storage device.

[0027] The decomposition index data is index data that serves as an index for decomposing the transmission data C, which is a single file, into data for each billing destination. In this example, the decomposition index data is the billing destination codes "1001", "1002", etc.

[0028] The password index data is index data that serves as an index for assigning a password to the PDF file broken down for each billing destination, and includes the output PDF file name, page number, password, billing destination code, etc. For example, the password index data may be "202403-1001.pdf,3, ps1001,1001", "202403-1002.pdf,4, ps1002,1002", etc.

[0029] The attachment index data is index data that serves as an index for associating the attachments created in the fourth step (described later) with the corresponding PDF files. The attachment name index data is, for example, "202403-1001", "202403-1002", "202403-1003", etc.

[0030] Next, an attachment is created and stored in a storage device (fourth step). In this specification, an "attachment" refers to a CSV file attached to each PDF file sent to each billing recipient. The attachment is provided for the convenience of the billing recipient, and in this example, it corresponds to the detailed data A2 (encircled by a thick line in Figure 3). The attachment is a CSV file so that the billing recipient can easily edit the data. The billing recipient that receives the CSV attachment (detailed data A2) can use it for various purposes, such as analyzing purchased items to help reduce expenses on subsequent purchases.

[0031] Attachments can be created by specifying the columns containing the detailed data A2 in the transmission data C. For example, if columns 15 through 25 contain the detailed data A2, then extracting the detailed data A2 by specifying columns 15 through 25 creates an attachment file (a file containing the detailed data A2) for each billing recipient. The attachment file is given a file name containing the corresponding month of the invoice data and the billing recipient code, such as "202403-1001.csv," "202403-1002.csv," "202403-1003.csv," etc. It is also possible to select other desired data (e.g., general data A1 and detailed data A2) as attachments. By specifying specific columns in the transmission data C, an attachment file is created for each billing recipient, which reduces the effort required compared to creating individual attachments for each billing recipient.

[0032] Next, the data for all billing destinations is created as a single PDF file from the transmission data C and stored in a storage device (step 5). This PDF file is given a file name that indicates the month of the billing data (for example, "202403.pdf" for billing data for March 2024).

[0033] Next, using the three types of index data, the PDF file is decomposed into PDF files for each invoice, a password is assigned to each decomposed PDF file for each invoice, and attachments are attached to each PDF file for each invoice, which are then stored in a storage device (step 6). The decomposed PDF files for each invoice are obtained by page count and page number processing, and various data is written on each numbered page.

[0034] The sixth step will be explained in more detail. Using the decomposition index data, the PDF file for all billing destinations is decomposed into PDF files for each billing destination, and these are stored in a storage device. Here, decomposition means decomposing one PDF file containing data for all billing destinations into PDF files for each billing destination (so if there are 100 billing destinations, one PDF file will be decomposed into 100 PDF files). During decomposition, the billing destination codes listed in the decomposition index data are added (for example, "202403-1001.pdf", "202403-1002.pdf", etc.), and a PDF file for each billing destination is created (see Figure 4).

[0035] Using the password index data, a corresponding password is assigned to each decomposed PDF file and stored in a storage device. That is, the PDF file for each requesting party is compared with the password index data, and a password is assigned to the PDF file with a corresponding file name. For example, the PDF file "202403-1001.pdf" is compared with the password index data "202403-1001.pdf, ps1001," and since the file name "202403-1001.pdf" corresponds, the password "ps1001" is assigned.

[0036] Using the attachment index data, the corresponding attachment (usually the detailed data A2 file) is attached to the PDF file of each invoice that has been decomposed and assigned a password, and then stored in a storage device. For example, comparing the PDF file "202403-1001.pdf" with the attachment index data "202403-1001", and since "202403-1001" corresponds, the attachment file "202403-1001.csv" is attached to the PDF file.

[0037] The three types of work in the sixth step are performed substantially simultaneously.

[0038] In this way, the PDF file with the CSV file attached and the password assigned is sent to each billing destination by email or web distribution (7th step).

[0039] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments of the invention, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and it goes without saying that these modifications are also included within the scope of the present invention.

[0040] For example, although the above embodiment has been described in relation to an invoice, the present invention can also be applied to the transmission of multi-line, multi-page slip-type documents such as delivery notes, purchase orders, payment notices, etc. In the example of an invoice, the attached file is normally a file of detail data A2, but the sender (or the recipient, if requested by the sender) can select other desired data.

[0041] In addition, in the above embodiment, it is described that the CSV format invoice data and destination data are stored separately in a storage device, but both data may be stored in a combined state in advance in a storage device.

Claims

1. A PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents corresponding to documents in a multi-line, multi-page format, A first step of creating CSV-formatted data for transmission, which includes multiple columns and multiple rows, relating to recipients, including passwords and email addresses, and importing the data into a storage device; a second step of executing a page number and page number process for calculating the number of pages required for outputting the document and assigning page numbers corresponding to the calculated page number to the transmission data; a third step of creating decomposition index data serving as an index for decomposing the email into files for each recipient, password index data serving as an index for assigning passwords to the decomposed files, and attachment index data; a fourth step of creating a CSV file attached to the PDF file sent to the recipient; a fifth step of creating a single PDF file of all data for the recipient from the transmission data and importing the file into a storage device; a sixth step of decomposing the one PDF file into PDF files for each of the recipients using the decomposition index data, assigning passwords corresponding to the decomposed PDF files using the password index data, and attaching the attachments corresponding to the decomposed PDF files using the attachment index data, In the fourth step, the attachment is created by specifying a column containing data to be extracted as the attachment; In the sixth step, the file names of the decomposed PDF files are compared with the index data for the attached files, and the attached files corresponding to the decomposed PDF files are attached. A program for creating PDF files for sending slip-style documents.

2. A PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents as described in claim 1, characterized in that the CSV-format transmission data containing data regarding the recipient is a combination of CSV-format transmission data to be sent to the recipient and CSV-format data regarding the recipient.

3. A PDF file creation program for sending slip-format documents as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the data to be sent to the recipient includes any of an invoice, a delivery note, a purchase order, or a payment notice.

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