Information processing system and program

Abstract

To provide an information processing system capable of appropriately determining whether or not it is possible to perform processing that has already been performed on a document that has already been processed, compared to the case where processing is performed on a document without considering the processing that was performed on the document in the past.SOLUTION: A multi-feed determination unit 21 determines whether or not a flow ID of a past document matches a flow ID of a target document. The multi-feed determination unit 21 then notifies a job processing unit 11 of a determination result. When the job processing unit 11 receives, from the multi-feeding determination unit 21, the determination result that the flow IDs match each other, the job processing unit determines not to perform the processing to be performed on a target document (newly input document).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing system and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent document 1 discloses a process including a step in which the HC searches a database to determine whether there is order data in the database that has a specified relationship with the transmitted order data, and a step in which, if it is determined that there is order data in the database that has a specified relationship with the transmitted order data, the HC processes the order data as invalid in the database. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2001-147964 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art In an information processing system that processes documents, when a target document that is a document to be processed is input, processing may be performed on the target document. If a process is performed on a target document without taking into account past processes, a situation may occur in which a process that has already been performed is repeated on a document that has already been processed, which may result in unintended processes, such as duplicate transmission of information. The object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system that can appropriately determine whether or not to perform a process that has already been performed on a document that has already been processed, compared to when processing is performed on a document without taking into account processing that has previously been performed on the document. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The invention described in claim 1 is an information processing system including a processor, the processor acquiring characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed, acquiring processing information which is information about processing performed on the target document, and acquiring past information which is information about processing performed on a past document, which is a document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past; determining, when the processing performed on the past document is to be performed on the target document, not to perform the processing on the target document; Information Processing System and the processor is an information processing system that makes a decision to perform processing on the target document even if the processing performed on the past document is to be performed on the target document if the person who inputted the target document into the information processing system is different from the person who inputted the past document into the information processing system. The invention recited in claim 2 is the information processing system recited in claim 1, in which the processing performed on the target document and the processing performed on the past document are a combination of a plurality of processes. The invention described in claim 3 is an information processing system including a processor, the processor acquiring characteristics of a target document which is a document to be processed, and determining a processing to be performed on the target document. The identity associated with and acquiring a processing result for a past document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. The identity associated with Get When identification information associated with the process to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process to be performed on the past document, a decision is made to not perform the process to be performed on the target document. Information Processing System The processor is an information processing system that makes a decision to perform the processing on the target document when the settings made for the processing to be performed on the target document differ from the settings made for the processing to be performed on the past document, even if the identification information associated with the processing to be performed on the target document matches the identification information associated with the processing performed on the past document. Claim 4 The invention described in the claim 1 is characterized in that, when a setting made for an information transmission process included in the process performed on the target document is different from a setting made for an information transmission process included in the process performed on the past document, the processor makes a decision to perform the process on the target document. 3 The information processing system is as described above. The invention described in claim 5 is an information processing system including a processor, the processor acquiring characteristics of a target document which is a document to be processed, and determining a processing to be performed on the target document. The identity associated with and acquiring a processing result for a past document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. The identity associated with Get When identification information associated with the process to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process to be performed on the past document, a decision is made to not perform the process to be performed on the target document. Information Processing System The processor is an information processing system that makes a decision to perform processing on the target document when a plug-in used for an information transmission process included in the processing performed on the target document is different from a plug-in used for an information transmission process included in the processing performed on the past document, even if identification information associated with the processing performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the processing performed on the past document. The invention described in claim 6 is an information processing system including a processor, the processor acquiring characteristics of a target document which is a document to be processed, and determining a processing to be performed on the target document. The identity associated with and acquiring a processing result for a past document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. The identity associated with Get When identification information associated with the process to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process to be performed on the past document, a decision is made to not perform the process to be performed on the target document. Information Processing System and the processor makes a decision to perform processing on the target document when the person who input the target document and the person who input the past document are different, even if identification information associated with the processing performed on the target document and identification information associated with the processing performed on the past document match. The invention described in claim 7 has a function of acquiring characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; a function of acquiring processing information, which is information about processing performed on the target document; and a function of acquiring past information, which is information about processing performed on a past document, which is a document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. When the process specified by the past information is performed on the target document, a decision is made to prevent the process from being performed on the target document. A function and a program to realize it on a computer and the function of making the decision is a program that makes a decision to perform the processing specified by the past information on the target document even if the processing is to be performed on the target document when the person who input the target document is different from the person who input the past document. The invention described in claim 8 is a function for acquiring the characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed, and a processing performed on the target document. The identity associated with A function of acquiring a processing result of a past document which has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. The identity associated with The ability to obtain a function of determining not to perform the process on the target document when identification information associated with the process on the target document matches identification information associated with the process on the past document; A program to realize this on a computer and the function of making the decision is a program that makes a decision to perform the processing on the target document when the settings made for the processing on the target document differ from the settings made for the processing on the past document, even if the identification information associated with the processing on the target document matches the identification information associated with the processing on the past document. The invention described in claim 9 provides a function for acquiring characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed, and a processing function for performing on the target document. The identity associated with A function of acquiring a processing result of a past document which has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. The identity associated with The ability to obtain a function of determining not to perform the process on the target document when identification information associated with the process on the target document matches identification information associated with the process on the past document; A program to realize this on a computer The function of making the decision is a program that makes a decision to perform the processing on the target document when the identification information associated with the processing performed on the target document matches the identification information associated with the processing performed on the past document, but the plug-in used for the information transmission processing included in the processing performed on the target document is different from the plug-in used for the information transmission processing included in the processing performed on the past document. The invention described in claim 10 includes a function for acquiring the characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed, and a processing function for performing on the target document. The identity associated with A function of acquiring a processing result of a past document which has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past. The identity associated with The ability to obtain a function of determining not to perform the process on the target document when identification information associated with the process on the target document matches identification information associated with the process on the past document; A program to realize this on a computer and the function of making the decision is a program that makes a decision to perform the processing on the target document when the person who input the target document and the person who input the past document are different, even if identification information associated with the processing performed on the target document and identification information associated with the processing performed on the past document match. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the invention of claim 1, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not to perform a process that has already been performed on a document, compared to a case where a process is performed on a document without taking into account past processes performed on the document. In addition, when the person who inputs the target document into the information processing system is different from the person who inputs the past document into the information processing system, the processing performed on the past document can be performed on the target document. It is possible to provide an information processing system. According to the invention of claim 2, when the processing performed on the target document and the processing performed on the past document are a combination of multiple processes, it is possible to provide an information processing system that can appropriately determine whether or not to perform an already-processed process on a document that has already been processed, compared to when processing is performed on the target document without taking into account the processing that has previously been performed on the past document. Claim 3 According to the invention, In comparison with a case where a document is processed without taking into account past processes performed on the document, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not a process that has already been performed can be performed on a document that has already been processed, and Even if the identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches the identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, the process can be performed on the target document. An information processing system can be provided. . Claim 4 According to the invention, even if identification information associated with the processing performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the processing performed on the past document, the processing can be performed on the target document. Claim 5 According to the invention, In comparison with a case where a document is processed without taking into account past processes performed on the document, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not a process that has already been performed can be performed on a document that has already been processed, and Even if the identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches the identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, the process can be performed on the target document. An information processing system can be provided. . According to the invention of claim 6, In comparison with a case where a document is processed without taking into account past processes performed on the document, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not a process that has already been performed can be performed on a document that has already been processed, and Even if the identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches the identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, the process can be performed on the target document. An information processing system can be provided. . Claim 7According to the invention, it is possible to appropriately determine whether or not to perform a process that has already been performed on a document that has already been processed, compared to a case where a process is performed on a document without taking into account the processes that have already been performed on the document. In addition, if the person who inputs the target document is different from the person who inputs the past document, the processing performed on the past document can be performed on the target document. It is possible to provide an information processing system. According to the invention of claims 8-10, compared to processing a document without taking into account processing that has been previously performed on the document, it is possible to provide an information processing system that can appropriately determine whether or not to perform processing that has already been performed on a document that has already been processed, and that can perform processing on a target document even if identification information associated with processing to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with processing performed on a past document. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an information processing system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a flow DB. [Diagram 3] 11 is a diagram illustrating information stored in a processing data storage unit. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 illustrates a process executed by a plug-in. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing system. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of processing executed in the present embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a process executed when a new document is input. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a device of a person who inputs a target document. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a screen that a user refers to when setting a judgment condition. [Figure 10] 13 is a diagram showing a flow of processing executed when a user sets a judgment condition via a screen. FIG. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a flow of processing executed when a screen is displayed. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of a series of processes executed when a document is input into the information processing system. [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of a series of processes executed when a document is input into the information processing system. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of a series of processes executed when a document is input into the information processing system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an information processing system 1 according to this embodiment. The information processing system 1 of this embodiment includes a job processing section 11, a document feature extraction section 13, a flow management section 15, a user management section 17, a process data storage processing section 19, and a multiple feed determination section . The information processing system 1 also includes a content (database) DB 23, a flow DB 25, a user management DB 27, a job DB 29, a processing data storage unit 31, and a setting information storage unit 33.

[0009] The job processing section 11 passes a document input from a device 40 provided outside the information processing system 1 to each of the plug-ins 50, and also obtains a processing result from each of the plug-ins 50. In this embodiment, a case will be illustrated in which a document input from a device 40 provided outside the information processing system 1 is accepted by a confidential box plug-in 51, which is one of the plug-ins 50. The job processing section 11 passes the document received by this confidential box plug-in 51 to another plug-in 50 and obtains the processing result from this plug-in 50 .

[0010] The job processing section 11 performs the process of passing a document to the plug-in 50 and the process of obtaining a processing result from the plug-in 50 as many times as the number of plug-ins associated with a flow (described later). Each of the plug-ins 50 performs a predetermined process on the document passed from the job processing unit 11, and returns the result of the process (information on the processed document, etc.) to the job processing unit 11.

[0011] The flow management unit 15 has a flow DB 25. The flow management unit 15 stores information about a combination of a plurality of plug-ins set by the user in the flow DB 25 for each combination. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the flow DB 25. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a flow ID is associated with each combination of plug-ins set by the user, as shown by reference numeral 2A. Each combination of multiple plug-ins is identified by this flow ID.

[0012] In this embodiment, for each flow ID, multiple plug-ins to be executed are registered in the order in which they will be executed. In other words, the flow DB 25 also registers information about the order in which multiple plug-ins are executed. In this embodiment, the plug-in to be executed first is registered in the leftmost column, labeled "First" in the drawing, and the plug-ins to be executed thereafter are lined up toward the right in the drawing. Further, detailed flow information, which is detailed information of a flow, is registered in association with each flow ID in the flow DB 25. The detailed flow information is, for example, information about each plug-in that constitutes a flow and the settings of each plug-in.

[0013] In this embodiment, every time a job is executed, information about the job is stored in the processing data storage unit 31 (see FIG. 1). FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining information stored in the processing data storage unit 31. As shown in FIG. 3, the document data of an input document, the flow ID of the flow used to process the document, and the flow detail information are stored in a mutually associated state in the processing data storage unit 31. These pieces of information are examples of information about processing performed on a document. Here, the "document data" stored in the processing data storage unit 31 refers to data that includes information that represents the characteristics of a document, such as data on the document itself. This document data may be the document data itself, or may be data that extracts the characteristics of the document, such as a hash value.

[0014] The process data storage unit 31 also stores information on a flow manager who is a manager associated in advance with each flow, in a state associated with the document data. The processed data storage unit 31 also stores information about the person who inputs the document into the information processing system 1. In this embodiment, information about the person who input the document to the information processing system 1, such as a user ID, is obtained from the device 40 (see FIG. 1) that has output the document to the information processing system 1. Then, this information about the person who input the document is stored in the processed data storage unit 31 in association with the document data.

[0015] In this embodiment, as indicated by the reference symbol 3G, information on the results of the transmission process performed in association with the execution of a job is also stored in the processing data storage unit 31. In other words, in this embodiment, information indicating whether the process of transmitting information to the outside has ended normally or not is also stored in the processing data storage unit 31. Here, in this specification, "normal" refers to a state in which the originally expected result is obtained. In this embodiment, information indicating whether or not the process of transmitting information to the outside has been completed normally is also stored in the processed data storage unit 31 in association with the document data. Furthermore, in this embodiment, when multiple information transmission destinations are set, information indicating whether or not the transmission process has been completed normally is stored for each information transmission destination.

[0016] In this embodiment, multiple destinations may be set in the transmission plug-in 53 (see FIG. 1) used to transmit information, and multiple transmission plug-ins 53 with different destinations may be included in one flow. In this case, the processing data storage unit 31 stores, for each destination, information indicating whether the information transmission process has been completed normally or not.

[0017] In this embodiment, every time one job is executed, the processing data storage processing unit 19 (see FIG. 1) stores information about this job in the processing data storage unit 31. Specifically, each time a job is executed, the processing data storage processing unit 19 stores the above-mentioned document data, flow ID, flow detailed information, flow administrator, document inputter, and results of the transmission process in the processing data storage unit 31 in a correlated state. In this embodiment, the process data storage processor 19 also associates setting information (described later) with the document data, flow ID, flow detailed information, flow manager, document inputter, and transmission process result, as indicated by reference symbol 3A in FIG.

[0018] In this embodiment, a user first registers a flow consisting of a combination of multiple plug-ins 50. Then, in this embodiment, information on each of the multiple plug-ins associated with this flow to be registered is registered in the flow DB 25 (see FIG. 2) for each flow ID. In the information processing system 1 of this embodiment, a document input to the information processing system 1 is processed in sequence by each of the plug-ins 50 included in the flow associated with the mailbox plug-in 51 to which the document was input and the flow designated by the user. In other words, in this embodiment, one process is composed of a process that combines a plurality of processes, and the processes included in the plurality of processes are sequentially performed on the document input to the information processing system 1.

[0019] The plug-in 50 refers to software for expanding the functions of an application. When the plug-in 50 is installed in the information processing system 1, the functions of the application already installed in the information processing system 1 are expanded. In this embodiment, examples of the plug-in 50 include a confidential box plug-in 51, a format conversion plug-in 52, and a transmission plug-in 53. Note that these are just examples, and there are also plug-ins with other functions, such as a plug-in for performing OCR (Optical Character Reader) processing on documents.

[0020] The confidential box plug-in 51 is a plug-in for acquiring a document in a predetermined format, such as "acquire a document in JPEG format." The format conversion plug-in 52 is a plug-in for converting a document format into another format, such as "converting JPEG into TIFF." The transmission plug-in 53 is a plug-in for transmitting a processed document to a specified external service (a destination outside the information processing system 1) or the like.

[0021] When these plug-ins 50 are associated with one flow in this order, the process shown in FIG. 4 (a diagram showing the process executed by the plug-ins 50) is carried out when this flow is executed. First, for example, a document scanned by the device 40 (document indicated by reference symbol 4A) is imported into the information processing system 1 by the private box plug-in 51 as JPEG image data. The format conversion plug-in 52 then converts the format of this document from JPEG to TIFF. The send plug-in 53 then sends the TIFF converted document to the specified external service.

[0022] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the information processing system 1. As shown in FIG. The information processing system 1 of this embodiment includes an information processing unit 101, an information storage device 102 that stores information, and a network interface 103 that realizes communication via a LAN (=Local Area Network) cable or the like. The information storage device 102 is realized by an existing information storage device such as a hard disk drive, a semiconductor memory, or a magnetic tape.

[0023] The information processing unit 101 has a CPU (=Central Processing Unit) 111 as an example of a processor, a ROM (=Read Only Memory) 112 in which basic software, a BIOS (=Basic Input Output System), etc. are stored, and a RAM (=Random Access Memory) 113 used as a work area. The CPU 111 may be a multi-core processor. The ROM 112 may be a rewritable non-volatile semiconductor memory. The information processing unit 101 is a so-called computer. The information processing unit 101, the information storage device 102, and the network interface 103 are connected via a bus 104 and a signal line (not shown).

[0024] Here, the program executed by CPU 111 may be provided to information processing system 1 in a state where it is stored in a computer-readable recording medium such as a magnetic recording medium (magnetic tape, magnetic disk, etc.), an optical recording medium (optical disk, etc.), a magneto-optical recording medium, a semiconductor memory, etc. Also, the program executed by CPU 111 may be provided to information processing system 1 using a communication means such as the Internet.

[0025] In this embodiment, the term "processor" refers to a processor in a broad sense, including general-purpose processors (e.g., CPU: Central Processing Unit, etc.) and dedicated processors (e.g., GPU: Graphics Processing Unit, ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array, programmable logic device, etc.). In addition, the operations of the processor may not only be performed by one processor, but may be performed by multiple processors in physically separate locations working together. The order of the operations of the processor is not limited to the order described in this embodiment, and may be changed.

[0026] In this embodiment, a CPU 111 as an example of a processor executes programs stored in a ROM 112 or an information storage device 102 to realize the above-mentioned job processing unit 11, document feature extraction unit 13, flow management unit 15, user management unit 17, multi-feed determination unit 21, and processing data storage processing unit 19. In other words, in the following, each of the job processing unit 11, document feature extraction unit 13, flow management unit 15, user management unit 17, double feed determination unit 21, and processing data storage processing unit 19 executes processing, but this processing is executed by the CPU 111 as an example of a processor. In this embodiment, the content DB 23, the flow DB 25, the user management DB 27, the job DB 29, the processing data storage unit 31, and the setting information storage unit 33 are realized by the information storage device 102. In this embodiment, each of the plug-ins 50 is stored in the ROM 112 or the information storage device 102.

[0027] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the flow of processing executed in this embodiment. Note that Figure 6 explains the processing flow when the document data of the input sentence is not stored in the processing data storage unit 31, in other words, when the characteristics of the input sentence are not stored in the processing data storage unit 31. In this embodiment, first, a document (document data) is input to the information processing system 1 as indicated by reference symbol 6A. More specifically, in this example, a document is input to the mailbox plug-in 51 . Next, in this embodiment, the document feature extraction unit 13 acquires the features of the document input to the confidential box plug-in 51. Specifically, the document feature extraction unit 13 acquires a hash value or the like as the feature of the document.

[0028] In this embodiment, the processed data storage processing unit 19 judges whether this feature (feature amount) of the document is stored in the processed data storage unit 31 or not. Then, when the processed data storage processing unit 19 determines that this feature of the document is not stored in the processed data storage unit 31, it stores this feature of the document in the processed data storage unit 31. Specifically, it stores it in the document data column of the processed data storage unit 31, indicated by reference symbol 3B in FIG. In this case, the processing data storage processor 19 stores the flow ID and the detailed flow information in the processing data storage unit 31 together with the characteristics.

[0029] Specifically, the processing data storage processing unit 19 associates a flow ID that identifies the flow used to process the document with this feature of the document, and flow detail information that indicates the specific content of this flow, and stores this information in the processing data storage unit 31. In this embodiment, a flow ID is previously associated with each confidential box plug-in 51, and the processing data storage processor 19 grasps the flow ID based on the confidential box plug-in 51 to which the document is input. The processing data storage processor 19 also refers to the flow DB 25 (see FIG. 2) to grasp the flow detail information associated with this flow ID. Then, the processing data storage processing unit 19 associates the grasped flow ID and detailed flow information with the characteristics of the document, and stores this information in the processing data storage unit 31.

[0030] Furthermore, the process data storage processing unit 19 also stores information about the flow manager and information about the document inputter who input the document in the process data storage unit 31 after associating them with the document characteristics, flow ID, and detailed flow information. In this embodiment, the case where the flow ID is obtained based on the confidential box plug-in 51 to which the document is input has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the flow ID may be obtained by having the user specify a flow ID every time a document is input, and the flow ID obtained by this specification may be stored in the processing data storage unit 31 in association with the characteristics of the document.

[0031] Thereafter, in this embodiment, processing of the document is performed in sequence by each plug-in 50 (see FIG. 6). Then, when processing by the last transmission plug-in 53 is completed, the processing data storage processing unit 19 stores the transmission processing result, which is information indicating whether the transmission processing has been completed normally, in the processing data storage unit 31. Specifically, it is stored in the field indicated by the symbol 3G in FIG. 3. In this case as well, the information on the transmission process result is stored in the process data storage unit 31 in a state associated with the above-mentioned document characteristics, flow ID, flow detailed information, flow manager, and document inputter.

[0032] In this embodiment, when storing the transmission process results in the processing data storage unit 31, as described above, information indicating whether the transmission process has been normally completed is stored for each transmission destination. Specifically, in this embodiment, a plurality of destinations may be set in the transmission plug-in 53, or a plurality of transmission plug-ins 53 with different destinations may be used. In this case, information indicating whether or not the transmission process has been normally completed for each of the plurality of destinations is stored in the processing data storage unit 31. Note that the information indicating whether or not this process has been normally completed is also included in the information regarding the process. Through the above processing, information is stored in each column of the processed data storage unit 31, for example, as shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows the state of the processed data storage unit 31 after processing has been performed on two documents.

[0033] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a process executed when a new document is input. In FIG. 7, the flow of processing in the case where the characteristics of a newly input sentence have already been stored in the processing data storage unit 31 will be described. In this processing example shown in FIG. 7, a document (document data) is first input to the confidential box plug-in 51, similarly to the above. Then, the document feature extraction unit 13 acquires features of the document to be processed (hereinafter, referred to as the "target document"). Specifically, the document feature extraction unit 13 acquires features such as a hash value.

[0034] Next, the processed data storage processing unit 19 judges whether or not information about a past document, which is a document that has the characteristics of this target document and has been processed in the past, is stored in the processed data storage unit 31 . More specifically, the processed data storage processing unit 19 determines whether a feature that is identical or similar to the feature obtained from the target document is stored in the column of the processed data storage unit 31 where document data is stored (the column indicated by symbol 3B in Figure 3). More specifically, the processed data storage processing unit 19 determines whether or not a feature obtained from the target document and the feature stored in the processed data storage unit 31 are stored in the processed data storage unit 31, the difference between which falls within a predetermined threshold range.

[0035] Then, when the processed data storage processing unit 19 determines that information about a past document having the characteristics of the target document is stored in the processed data storage unit 31, it refers to the information stored in the processed data storage unit 31 and obtains information about the processing performed on the past document (hereinafter referred to as "past information"). Specifically, the processing data storage processing unit 19 acquires the flow ID of the flow used in processing this past document from the processing data storage unit 31. In other words, the processing data storage processing unit 19 acquires the flow ID stored in the processing data storage unit 31 in association with this past document.

[0036] Next, the multifeed determination unit 21 acquires the flow ID of the past document acquired by the processed data storage processing unit 19. Furthermore, the multifeed determination unit 21 determines the flow ID of the flow used to process the target document. Specifically, the multifeed determination unit 21 determines the flow ID of the flow used to process the target document based on the private box plug-in 51 to which the target document is input. In other words, the multifeed determining unit 21 acquires processing information that is information about the processing to be performed on the target document.

[0037] Then, the multifeed determination unit 21 determines whether the flow ID of the past document and the flow ID of the target document match, and notifies the job processing unit 11 of the result of this determination. When the job processing section 11 receives a determination result from the multifeed determination section 21 that the flow IDs match, it makes a decision not to perform the process on the target document (the newly input document). In other words, when a flow ID, which is identification information associated with processing performed on a past document, matches a flow ID, which is identification information associated with processing to be performed on the target document, the job processing unit 11 makes a decision to not perform the processing on the target document.

[0038] In other words, when the same process as that performed on the past document is to be performed on the target document, the job processing section 11 makes a decision not to perform the process on the target document. In other words, when the process performed on the past document and the process to be performed on the target document match, the job processing section 11 determines not to perform the process on the target document.

[0039] In this embodiment, a decision is made as to the processing to be performed on the target document based on the acquired past information and the acquired processing information in this manner. In other words, in this embodiment, a decision is made regarding the processing to be performed on the target document based on a flow ID, which is an example of identification information associated with processing performed on a past document, and a flow ID, which is an example of identification information associated with processing to be performed on the target document. By the above-described processing, in this embodiment, the same processing is prevented from being executed on the same document, and the same information is prevented from being sent multiple times to the same destination. In other words, the same information is prevented from being sent multiple times.

[0040] In the information processing system 1 of the present embodiment, the process of transmitting information to an external service may be performed unintentionally multiple times, and the process of transmitting the same information may be performed multiple times. Specifically, in this embodiment, even if a job has been completed normally, the user may re-execute the job, which may result in the transmission process for the same document being performed multiple times. More specifically, in this embodiment, if the timing at which the job processing unit 11 determines that a timeout has occurred is close to the timing at which the job ends, it may be determined that a timeout has occurred even though the job has ended normally.

[0041] In this case, the user is notified of the error and attempts to re-execute the job even though the job has actually ended normally. In this case, as described above, there is a risk that the same information will be transmitted multiple times. Therefore, in this embodiment, the above-described process is performed to prevent the information from being transmitted multiple times.

[0042] In this embodiment, when a decision is made to not perform processing on the target document, a notification that processing will not be performed on the target document is sent to the flow administrator and the document inputter of the target document via a communication line not shown. Information about the flow manager is registered in a field indicated by reference symbol 3E (see FIG. 3) in the processing data storage unit 31, and the flow manager can be specified by referring to this field. Additionally, information such as a user ID is sent together with the target document from the device 40 (see FIG. 7). By obtaining this user ID, the person who input the target document can be identified.

[0043] The user management unit 17 (see FIG. 7) refers to the user management DB 27 and acquires information about the notification destination for each of these specified persons, such as an email address. Then, the user management unit 17 notifies each of these notification destinations that no processing is performed on the target document via a communication line (not shown).

[0044] In addition, in the present embodiment, when no processing is performed on the target document, such notification processing is performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and information indicating that no processing is performed on the target document may be stored in a database that stores the progress status of each job. In this case, the flow administrator and the document inputter can grasp that no processing is performed on the target document by accessing this database.

[0045] On the other hand, when the flow ID for the target document is different from the flow ID for the past document, the job processing unit 11 determines to perform the processing to be performed on the target document. In other words, when the processing to be performed on the target document does not match the processing performed on the past document, the job processing unit 11 determines to perform the processing to be performed on the target document.

[0046] Here, when the flow ID for the target document matches the flow ID for the past document, it is determined that no processing is performed on the target document. By the way, the present invention is not limited to this, and even when the flow IDs match, if predetermined specific conditions are satisfied, a determination may be made to perform the processing to be performed on the target document.

[0047] Specifically, for example, even when the flow IDs match, if the setting made for the processing to be performed on the target document is different from the setting made for the processing performed on the past document, a determination may be made to perform the processing to be performed on the target document. For example, if the settings made regarding the information transmission process included in the processing performed on the target document differ from the settings made regarding the information transmission process included in the processing performed on the past document, a decision may be made to perform the processing on the target document.

[0048] In addition, for example, even if the flow IDs match, a decision may be made to perform processing on the target document even if the sending plug-in 53 used in the processing performed on the target document is different from the sending plug-in 53 used in the processing performed on the past document.

[0049] In this embodiment, after the user executes a job for the first time, the user may edit the flow and then execute the job again. In this embodiment, a flow can be edited without changing the flow ID, and a user may edit a flow and re-execute a job while maintaining the flow ID. Specifically, for example, a user may change the transmission plug-in 53 to another transmission plug-in 53 with a different transmission destination while maintaining the same flow ID, and then re-execute the job.

[0050] Also, for example, a user may make changes so that the processing result by the transmission plug-in 53 is different while maintaining the same flow ID, and then re-execute a job. More specifically, for example, a user may make changes so that the format, attributes, parameters, etc. of the data for transmission obtained after processing by the transmission plug-in 53 are different while maintaining the flow ID, and then re-execute the job.

[0051] If the user makes this change, it can be assumed that different processing will take place afterwards. In this case, it is preferable to allow processing of the target document to continue even if the flow IDs match. For this reason, in this embodiment, even if the flow IDs match, if a specific predetermined condition is satisfied, the processing performed on the target document continues.

[0052] More specifically, even if the flow IDs match, for example, if the transmission plug-in 53 used for processing the target document is different from the transmission plug-in 53 used for processing the past document, the processing on the target document will continue. Furthermore, even if the flow IDs match, if the settings for the processing performed on the target document differ from the settings for the processing performed on the past document, the processing performed on the target document continues.

[0053] In this embodiment, when the user performs a change process while maintaining the flow ID, the content of the change process is reflected in the flow detailed information (see FIG. 2). More specifically, the content of the change process is associated with the flow ID and stored in the flow DB 25. In other words, in this embodiment, when the user performs a change process while maintaining the flow ID, the flow detail information stored in the flow DB 25 is changed in accordance with this change process.

[0054] In addition, even if the flow IDs match, if the document inputter who input the target document and the document inputter who input the past document are different, a decision may be made to perform the same processing on the target document. In other words, even if processing performed on a past document is performed on a target document, if the document inputter who inputted the past document into information processing system 1 is different from the document inputter who inputted the target document into information processing system 1, the processing performed on the target document may be allowed to continue.

[0055] In this embodiment, information on the document inputter who inputted the past document is stored in the processed data storage unit 31 (see FIG. 3). Furthermore, in this embodiment, information on the person who inputs the target document is acquired based on the user ID and the like transmitted from the device 40. In this embodiment, even if the flow IDs match, if the document inputters are different, the process that is performed on the target document may be performed.

[0056] Here, similarly to the above, even if the job IDs match, if the document inputters are different, it can be considered that different processes are essentially performed. In this case, even if the flow IDs match, processing of the target document may continue.

[0057] In addition, even if the flow IDs match, if at least some of the processes performed on the past document have not completed normally, a decision may be made to perform the process on the target document. More specifically, even if the flow IDs match, for example, if the information transmission process included in the process performed on the past document has not completed normally, the process performed on the target document may be performed.

[0058] In other words, even if processing performed on a past document is performed on the target document, if at least some of the processing performed on the past document has not completed normally, the processing may be performed on the target document. More specifically, even if processing performed on a past document is performed on the target document, if the processing of transmitting information to the outside, which is included in the processing performed on the past document, has not completed normally, the processing performed on the target document may be performed.

[0059] In addition, even if processing performed on a past document is performed on the target document, if the transmission processing by the transmission plug-in 53 used in the processing performed on the past document has not ended normally, the processing may be performed on the target document. Here, if some of the processes included in the series of processes, such as the transmission process, does not end normally, it is assumed that the originally scheduled process has not been completed. Therefore, in this case, even if the flow IDs match, processing of the target document may continue, and the document may be resent or the like.

[0060] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on the device 40 (see FIG. 1) of the person who inputs the target document. In this embodiment, when the above-mentioned determination is made not to process the target document, a screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the device 40 of the document inputter of the target document.

[0061] 8, the target document input by the document input user and past documents are displayed. In addition, the processing history of the past documents is displayed in the area indicated by reference numeral 8A on the screen. In other words, information about the processing contents of the past documents is displayed. Furthermore, on this screen, the result of the transmission process for the past document is displayed in the area indicated by the reference symbol 8 B. Specifically, on this screen, information indicating whether the transmission process for the past document has been normally completed is displayed for each transmission destination. In this example, it is shown that transmission processing to some destinations was not performed normally.

[0062] Furthermore, this screen displays a first continuation button 61 for the user to instruct the user to continue processing, a second continuation button 62 for the user to instruct the user to continue processing, and a stop button 63 for the user to instruct the user to stop processing. In this embodiment, when the first continuation button 61 is selected by the user, information is sent to all destinations, including destinations to which information was successfully sent in the processing of the past document. Note that "successful information transmission" refers to information scheduled for transmission reaching the scheduled destination.

[0063] In addition, when the second continuation button 62 is selected by the user, destinations to which information was successfully sent in processing of the past document are excluded, and information is sent only to destinations to which information was not successfully sent in processing of the past document. Moreover, when the user selects the stop button 63, the processing of the target document is stopped, and information about the target document is not transmitted to the outside.

[0064] In this embodiment, the user is also able to set the judgment conditions. When a user sets the judgment conditions, the screen shown in Figure 9 (a diagram showing the screen the user refers to when setting the judgment conditions) is displayed on the device 40 operated by the document inputter or the device operated by the flow administrator (not shown). This screen shown in Figure 9 allows you to set whether or not to include the document inputter in the judgment conditions (hereinafter referred to as "inputter setting"), and set the criteria for judging whether or not the information transmission has been completed successfully (hereinafter referred to as "judgment criteria setting"). Furthermore, in this embodiment, these settings are made for each flow ID. In this embodiment, a flow ID can be selected by operating the portion indicated by reference symbol 9A in Fig. 9. After selecting a flow ID, a document inputter or flow manager (hereinafter simply referred to as a "user") performs the above two settings, that is, inputter setting and judgment criterion setting.

[0065] In this embodiment, information about these settings made by the user is stored in the setting information storage unit 33 (see FIG. 1). Specifically, information on the inputter settings and the judgment criteria settings are associated with each flow ID, and then the information is stored in the setting information storage unit 33.

[0066] In this embodiment, the settings made by the user are also reflected in the field indicated by reference numeral 3A in the processing data storage unit 31 (see FIG. 3). Specifically, information about the settings made by the user is stored in the setting information field of the processing data storage unit 31. More specifically, the settings made by the user are stored in the setting information field in a location corresponding to the corresponding flow ID.

[0067] In this embodiment, each time information about a past document is newly stored in the processing data storage unit 31, information about the above-mentioned inputter settings and judgment criteria settings associated with the flow ID of this past document is read and obtained from the setting information storage unit 33. The acquired information on the inputter settings and criterion settings is then stored in the setting information column of the processing data storage unit 31.

[0068] It should be noted that for a flow ID for which no inputter or criterion has been set by the user, default setting information is stored in the processing data storage unit 31. In this embodiment, when information about a past document is newly stored in the processing data storage unit 31, it is assumed that the input person setting and the judgment criterion setting corresponding to the flow ID of this past document have not yet been performed. In this case, default setting information that is set in advance for each of the inputter setting and the judgment criterion setting is stored in the setting information column of the processing data storage unit 31.

[0069] The inputter setting is a setting as to whether or not the document inputter of the document is to be included in the judgment conditions, and it is possible to set the document inputter of the document to be included in the judgment conditions or to not include the document inputter of the document in the judgment conditions. If the user selects the section indicated by symbol 9C in Figure 9 to set the document inputter to be included in the judgment conditions, as described above, even if the flow IDs match, processing of the target document will continue as long as the document inputters are different. Furthermore, if the user selects the section indicated by the symbol 9B and sets the document inputter not to be included in the judgment conditions, a decision is made as to the processing of the target document without taking into account information about the document inputter.

[0070] In the judgment criteria setting, which is the standard for determining whether or not the information transmission was completed successfully, the user can set the judgment criteria from three options: "If any one is successful," "If all are successful," or "Do not include in judgment conditions." Here, if the user selects the option "If at least one is successful" indicated by symbol 9D, if the information is successfully sent to at least one of the multiple destinations in the sending process for the past document, the sending of the information for this past document is determined to have been successful (details will be described later).

[0071] In addition, if the user selects the option "If all successful" indicated by symbol 9E, if all transmissions to the destinations in the transmission process for the past document are successful, the transmission of information about this past document is determined to have been successful (details will be described later). In other words, in this case, if the transmission of information to some of the multiple destinations has failed, it is determined that the transmission of the information about this past document has failed. Furthermore, if the user selects the option "not included in the judgment conditions" indicated by reference symbol 9F, the decision as to what to do with the target document is made without taking into consideration the success or failure of transmission of information about the past document.

[0072] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the flow of processing executed when the user sets the judgment conditions via the screen shown in FIG. In this embodiment, first, the flow ID stored in the field indicated by reference symbol 3C (see FIG. 3) of the processing data storage unit 31 is extracted (step S101). If there are duplicate flow IDs, only one flow ID is extracted. Next, the screen for accepting settings from the user shown in Fig. 9 is generated, and this screen is transmitted to the user's device 40. As a result, the screen for accepting settings from the user shown in Fig. 9 is displayed on the user's device 40 (step S102).

[0073] Next, when the user operates the portion indicated by the symbol 9A on this screen (see FIG. 9) displayed on the device 40 to select a flow ID, the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit 33 in association with this flow ID is obtained. Then, this setting information is transmitted to the device 40. As a result, for each of the above two settings, that is, the inputter setting and the judgment criterion setting, the setting information set at that time point is displayed on the device 40 (step S103). For a flow ID for which the user has not yet set the inputter and judgment criteria, default setting information is displayed for each of the two settings.

[0074] In this embodiment, the user operates this screen to set new settings for each of the above two settings as necessary. Then, the setting information newly set by the user is stored in the setting information storage unit 33, and the setting information stored in the setting information storage unit 33 is updated. Furthermore, the setting information newly set by the user is reflected in the processing data storage unit 31 (step S104). Specifically, the setting information newly set by the user is reflected in the field indicated by reference symbol 3A (see FIG. 3) in the processing data storage unit 31. More specifically, the setting information newly set by the user is reflected in the location corresponding to the flow ID designated by the user. As a result, when a new target document is input thereafter, a judgment about the target document is made based on the reflected information.

[0075] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the flow of processing executed when the screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed. In this embodiment, as described above, if it is determined not to process the target document based on information about the target document and past documents, the screen shown in Figure 8 is displayed on the device 40 of the document inputter who input the target document. To display this screen, first, document data of past documents is acquired (step S201). Specifically, in this embodiment, the document data of past documents is stored in the content DB 23 (see FIG. 1), and the document data of past documents is acquired from the content DB 23. Specifically, the content DB 23 is searched based on the hash value (document data) of the past document stored in the process data storage unit 31, and the document data of the past document is acquired.

[0076] In this embodiment, the job DB 29 (see FIG. 1) is searched based on the hash value of the past document stored in the processing data storage unit 31 to obtain the processing history of the past document (step S202). In this embodiment, the job DB 29 stores the processing history of documents that have been processed in the past, and the processing history of past documents is acquired from the job DB 29. In this embodiment, past processing results associated with the hash values ​​of past documents are obtained from the processing data storage unit 31 (step S203). Specifically, the results of transmission processing to each of the transmission destinations are obtained.

[0077] In this embodiment, the document data of the target document input from the device 40 to the confidential box plug-in 51 is also obtained. In this embodiment, the screen shown in Fig. 8 is generated based on the acquired information, and this screen is transmitted to the device 40 of the document inputter who inputted the target document. As a result, the screen shown in Fig. 8, which is referred to by the document inputter, is displayed on this device 40 (step S204).

[0078] In this embodiment, the button selected by the user from among the multiple buttons displayed on this screen is identified (step S205). More specifically, this screen displays a first continuation button 61, a second continuation button 62, which the user can use to instruct the user to continue processing, and a stop button 63, which the user can use to instruct the user to stop processing, and specifies which of these buttons the user has selected.

[0079] If the button selected by the user is the stop button 63, the processing of the target document is stopped (step S206). Furthermore, if the button selected by the user is the first continuation button 61, processing of the target document continues as is (step S207), and information is sent to all destinations, including destinations to which information was successfully sent during processing of the previous document. In this embodiment, if permission is given from the user, the process to be performed on the target document is carried out and the information is sent to the destination.

[0080] Furthermore, if the button selected by the user is the second continuation button 62, destinations to which information was successfully sent in processing of the past document are excluded, and information is sent only to destinations to which information was unsuccessfully sent in processing of the past document (step S208). Specifically, if the button selected by the user is the second continuation button 62, it is determined whether the sending plug-in 53 used to process the target document matches the sending plug-in 53 used to process the past document that failed to send information. If the transmission plug-ins 53 match, the matching transmission plug-in 53 is used to transmit information about the target document. In this case as well, if permission is given from the user, the processing to be performed on the target document is carried out, and the information is sent to the destination.

[0081] 12 to 14 are diagrams showing the flow of a series of processes executed when a document is input to the information processing system 1 of this embodiment. In this embodiment, when a document (hereinafter, referred to as an "input document") is input to the information processing system 1, first, the feature amount of this input document is acquired (step S301). Next, it is determined whether or not the acquired feature amount is stored in the processing data storage unit 31 (step S302).

[0082] If it is determined in step S302 that the flow is not stored, the flow ID of the flow used to process the input document is obtained (step S303), and the flow detail information associated with this flow ID is obtained from the flow DB 25. Furthermore, information on the flow manager included in the flow detailed information is obtained from the flow detailed information. In this embodiment, the flow detailed information includes information on the flow manager, and the information on the flow manager is obtained from the flow detailed information. Moreover, the acquired flow ID, flow detailed information, and information about the flow manager are stored in the process data storage unit 31 in association with the feature amount of the input document (step S304).

[0083] Also, information about the person who inputs the input document is obtained, and this information about the person who inputs the document is also stored in the processed data storage unit 31 in association with the feature amount of the input document (step S304). Next, it is determined whether the flow ID acquired in step S303 is stored in the setting information storage unit 33 (step S305). If stored, the setting information based on the above inputter setting and criterion setting is acquired, which is associated with this flow ID and stored in the setting information storage unit 33. Then, this setting information is stored in the processed data storage unit 31 in association with the feature amount of the input document (step S306).

[0084] On the other hand, if the flow ID acquired in step S303 is not stored in the setting information storage unit 33, the process proceeds to step S307. In the process of step S307, default setting information that is set in advance for each of the inputter setting and the judgment criterion setting is stored in the process data storage unit 31 in association with the feature amount of the document.

[0085] In this embodiment, the setting information storage unit 33 stores default setting information in advance. The default setting information is "do not include the document submitter in the judgment conditions" and "do not include the results of the transmission process in the judgment conditions". These two setting information are associated with the document features and stored in the processing data storage unit 31. More specifically, these two pieces of default setting information are stored in the field indicated by reference symbol 3A in FIG.

[0086] Next, in this embodiment, when the processing of the input document by the plug-in 50 is completed, information on the result of the processing is associated with the feature amount of the input document and stored in the processed data storage unit 31 (step S308). Specifically, information on the result of the transmission process is stored in the processed data storage unit 31 at reference numeral 3G (see FIG. 3). More specifically, in this embodiment, information on the success or failure of transmission is stored for each destination. In this embodiment, the process then proceeds to step S309, where further jobs are processed if there are any.

[0087] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S302 that the acquired feature amount is stored in the processing data storage unit 31, the process proceeds to step S310. In step S310, it is determined whether the flow ID of the flow used to process the input document from which the features were obtained matches the flow ID associated with the features stored in the processing data storage unit 31 (hereinafter referred to as "stored features"). If it is determined in step S310 that the flow IDs do not match, the process proceeds to step S309. In this case, the process of the input document is continued without being stopped.

[0088] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S310 that the flow IDs match, the process proceeds to step S311. In the process of step S311, a comparison is made between information contained in the flow detail information. Specifically, in this embodiment, for example, it is determined whether the information set for the transmission plug-in 53 among the information included in the flow detail information matches each other. If it is determined that the set information does not match, the process proceeds to step S309. In this case, the process of the input document is continued without being stopped.

[0089] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S311 that the set information matches, information about the document inputter associated with the stored features stored in the processing data storage unit 31 and information about the transmission processing result associated with the stored features are obtained (step S312). Also, the setting information associated with the stored feature amount stored in the processing data storage unit 31 is acquired (step S312). Then, in step S313, a determination process is performed based on this information.

[0090] In this embodiment, as described above, setting information regarding inputter settings and setting information regarding judgment criterion settings are acquired as setting information associated with the stored features stored in the processing data storage unit 31. Specifically, the setting information regarding the inputter setting is obtained as to whether the setting is "a setting that includes the document inputter of the document in the judgment conditions" or "a setting that does not include the document inputter of the document in the judgment conditions." Also, as setting information for the judgment criteria setting, information is obtained as to whether the setting is "successful at least in one delivery destination," "successful in all," or "not included in the judgment criteria." In step S313, a determination process is performed including these setting information.

[0091] Specifically, for example, if the setting information for the inputter setting is set to "not include the document inputter in the judgment criteria," in step S313, the judgment is made based only on the transmission processing result associated with the stored features. If the judgment is based only on the transmission process results associated with the stored features, it is necessary to determine whether the above setting is set to "successful at least at one destination," "successful at all destinations," or "not included in the judgment criteria." If the setting is "not included in the judgment conditions", for example, the process proceeds to step S314, where processing of the input document is stopped.

[0092] Also, if the setting is "if at least one delivery destination is successful," a determination is made based on this setting as to whether the transmission process result associated with the stored feature is successful or unsuccessful. In other words, if the setting is "if successful at even one delivery destination," a determination is made based on this setting as to whether the transmission process result associated with the stored feature is a result indicating that the information transmission process was completed successfully.

[0093] Specifically, if at least one of the one or more transmission process results included in the transmission process result associated with the stored feature indicates that the transmission was successful, the transmission process result is determined to be successful. In this case, the process proceeds to step S314, where processing of the input document is stopped.

[0094] In this case, in the information transmission process executed in the processing of the past document from which the stored feature amount was obtained, the information has been successfully transmitted to at least some of the destinations. In this case, it is determined that the information transmission process has been completed normally, and no processing is carried out on the input document.

[0095] In addition, if the setting is "successful at even one delivery destination," and one or more transmission process results included in the transmission process result associated with the stored feature result in failure, the transmission process result is determined to be a failure. In this case, the process proceeds to step S309, where the processing of the input document is continued without being stopped.

[0096] In this case, in the information transmission process executed in the processing of the past document from which the stored feature amount was obtained, the transmission of information to all destinations has failed. In this case, it is determined that the information transmission process has not been completed normally, and the process to be performed on the input document is carried out.

[0097] Also, if the setting is "if all successful," a determination is made based on this setting as to whether the transmission process result associated with the stored feature is successful or unsuccessful. Specifically, if one or more transmission process results included in the transmission process result associated with the stored feature result in a successful transmission, the transmission process result is determined to be successful. In this case, the process proceeds to step S314, where processing of the input document is stopped.

[0098] In this case, the information transmission process executed in the processing of the past document from which the stored feature amount was obtained has resulted in successful transmission of the information to all destinations. In this case, it is determined that the information transmission process has been completed normally, and no processing is carried out on the input document.

[0099] In addition, when the setting is "if all successful," if at least one of the one or more transmission process results included in the transmission process result associated with the stored feature is a failure, the transmission process result is determined to be a failure. In this case, the process proceeds to step S309, where the processing of the input document is continued without being stopped.

[0100] In this case, in the information transmission process executed in the processing of the past document from which the stored features were obtained, the information transmission to one or more destinations has not been successful. In this case, it is determined that the information transmission process has not been completed normally, and the process to be performed on the input document is carried out.

[0101] On the other hand, if the setting information for the inputter setting is set to include the document inputter of the document in the judgment conditions, a match or mismatch is determined between the document inputter associated with the stored features and the document inputter who entered the input document. If the document input person associated with the stored feature does not match the document input person who input the input document, the process proceeds to step S309, and the processing of the input document is continued without being stopped.

[0102] In addition, when the setting is such that the document inputter of the document is included in the judgment conditions, if the document inputter associated with the stored features matches the document inputter who entered the input document, a judgment is made based on the transmission processing result associated with the stored features. When making a judgment based on the transmission process result associated with the stored feature, as described above, it is necessary to determine whether the setting is "successful at any one destination," "successful at all destinations," or "not included in the judgment criteria." Then, depending on whether the setting is "successful at least one of the destinations," "successful at all," or "not included in the judgment criteria," a process according to this setting is performed. Note that the process according to this setting is as described above, and therefore will not be described here.

[0103] If the process proceeds to step S314 and the process for the input document is cancelled, then the process proceeds to step S315. In the process of step S315, a notification that the input document will not be processed is sent to the document submitter of the input document and the flow manager. In addition, a notification that the document will not be processed may also be sent to the document submitter associated with the stored feature. In other words, a notification that the document will not be processed may also be sent to the document submitter of the past document.

[0104] Although not illustrated in FIGS. 12 to 14, when the processing of the input document is stopped, the screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the device 40 of the person who input the input document. Then, when the document inputter selects the first continuation button 61 or the second continuation button 62 on the screen, processing of the input document is resumed. In this embodiment, even if a decision is made to not perform processing on the input document, processing will be performed on the input document if certain conditions are met, such as with the user's permission.

[0105] Here, as described above, when the document inputter selects the first continuation button 61, information is sent to all destinations, including destinations to which information was successfully sent in the processing of the past document. When the document inputter selects the second continuation button 62, destinations to which information was successfully sent in processing of the past document are excluded, and information is sent to destinations to which information was not successfully sent in processing of the past document.

[0106] (others) In the above, we have explained a case where the process continues even if the flow IDs match if certain conditions are met. However, this is not limiting, and it is also possible to decide not to carry out the process if the IDs match without considering certain conditions. In addition, in the above, several conditions have been described as specific conditions, such as whether the document inputter matches or does not match, whether the transmission process is successful or unsuccessful, and whether the transmission plugin matches or does not match, but not all of these conditions are required, and only one condition may be used. Alternatively, these conditions may not be used at all, and a decision may be made such that, as described above, if the flow IDs match, no processing is performed. [Explanation of symbols]

[0107] 1...information processing system, 11...job processing unit, 13...document feature extraction unit, 15...flow management unit, 17...user management unit, 19...processing data storage processing unit, 21...multiple feed determination unit, 31...processing data storage unit, 33...setting information storage unit, 40...device, 50...plug-in

Claims

1. An information processing system including a processor, The processor, Obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; obtaining processing information that is information about a process to be performed on the target document; Obtaining past information which is information about processing performed on a past document which has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past; determining, when the processing performed on the past document is to be performed on the target document, not to perform the processing on the target document; An information processing system, The processor, Even if the processing performed on the past document is to be performed on the target document, if the person who inputted the target document into the information processing system is different from the person who inputted the past document into the information processing system, a decision is made to perform the processing on the target document. Information processing system.

2. the process performed on the target document and the process performed on the past document are a combination of a plurality of processes; The information processing system according to claim 1 .

3. An information processing system including a processor, The processor, Obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; acquiring identification information associated with a process to be performed on the target document; acquiring identification information associated with a process performed on a past document that has the characteristics of the target document and that has been processed in the past; When identification information associated with the process to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process to be performed on the past document, a decision is made to not perform the process to be performed on the target document. An information processing system, The processor, Even if identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, if a setting made for the process performed on the target document differs from a setting made for the process performed on the past document, a decision is made to perform the process on the target document. Information processing system.

4. The processor, An information processing system as described in claim 3, wherein when the settings made regarding the information transmission process included in the processing performed on the target document differ from the settings made regarding the information transmission process included in the processing performed on the past document, a decision is made to perform the processing on the target document.

5. An information processing system including a processor, The processor, Obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; acquiring identification information associated with a process to be performed on the target document; acquiring identification information associated with a process performed on a past document that has the characteristics of the target document and that has been processed in the past; When identification information associated with the process to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process to be performed on the past document, a decision is made to not perform the process to be performed on the target document. An information processing system, The processor, Even if identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, if a plug-in used for the information transmission process included in the process performed on the target document is different from a plug-in used for the information transmission process included in the process performed on the past document, a decision is made to perform the process on the target document. Information processing system.

6. An information processing system including a processor, The processor, Obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; acquiring identification information associated with a process to be performed on the target document; acquiring identification information associated with a process performed on a past document that has the characteristics of the target document and that has been processed in the past; When identification information associated with the process to be performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process to be performed on the past document, a decision is made to not perform the process to be performed on the target document. An information processing system, The processor, Even if identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, if a person who inputted the target document is different from a person who inputted the past document, a decision is made to perform the process on the target document. Information processing system.

7. A function for obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; A function of acquiring processing information which is information about processing to be performed on the target document; A function of acquiring past information which is information about processing performed on a past document which has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past; a function of determining, when a process specified by the past information is to be performed on the target document, not to perform the process on the target document; It is a program to realize the above on a computer. The function of making the decision is Even if the processing specified by the past information is to be performed on the target document, if a person who inputted the target document is different from a person who inputted the past document, a decision is made to perform the processing on the target document. program.

8. A function for obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; A function of acquiring identification information associated with a process to be performed on the target document; A function of acquiring identification information associated with a process performed on a past document, which is a document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past; a function of determining not to perform the process on the target document when identification information associated with the process on the target document matches identification information associated with the process on the past document; It is a program to realize the above on a computer. The function of making the decision is Even if identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, if a setting made for the process performed on the target document differs from a setting made for the process performed on the past document, a decision is made to perform the process on the target document. program.

9. A function for obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; A function of acquiring identification information associated with a process to be performed on the target document; A function of acquiring identification information associated with a process performed on a past document, which is a document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past; a function of determining not to perform the process on the target document when identification information associated with the process on the target document matches identification information associated with the process on the past document; It is a program to realize the above on a computer. The function of making the decision is Even if identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, if a plug-in used for the information transmission process included in the process performed on the target document is different from a plug-in used for the information transmission process included in the process performed on the past document, a decision is made to perform the process on the target document. program.

10. A function for obtaining characteristics of a target document, which is a document to be processed; A function of acquiring identification information associated with a process to be performed on the target document; A function of acquiring identification information associated with a process performed on a past document, which is a document that has the characteristics of the target document and has been processed in the past; a function of determining not to perform the process on the target document when identification information associated with the process on the target document matches identification information associated with the process on the past document; It is a program to realize the above on a computer. The function of making the decision is Even if identification information associated with the process performed on the target document matches identification information associated with the process performed on the past document, if a person who inputted the target document is different from a person who inputted the past document, a decision is made to perform the process on the target document. program.

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