JP6572984B2 - Electronic form system, form retrieval apparatus, control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic form system, form retrieval apparatus, a control method, a contact and a program.

  In the electronic form system, the form data displayed as an electronic form must be combined with the form data that defines the format of the electronic form and the actual data in the electronic form (hereinafter this data is referred to as “form actual data”). It is expressed by

  In the search in the conventional electronic form, it is considered centering on the actual form data, and the form data is regarded as accompanying the actual form data. For this reason, the operator has to set the rectangle of the search area when executing the search, and specify the position of the actual form data to be searched.

Generally, an operator searches for arbitrary data in an electronic form by performing the following operations.
<1> A form is displayed and a rectangle is set at a location where there is data to be extracted.
<2> Enter a search target rectangle or conditional statement and execute a search.
<3> The search result is written on the screen or file.

  In the conventional search method for electronic forms as described above, when searching for specific data in the electronic form, the operator operates a mouse or the like to set a rectangle at the location where the actual form data to be searched exists.

  The rectangle is set by displaying one of several pages, and the position of the rectangle set there is reflected on all pages as a position to be searched. Therefore, in order for the operator to set the rectangle reliably, it is necessary to check whether the actual form data to be searched is included in the rectangle set on all pages.

  On the other hand, there are many cases where there are multiple forms with different formats (formats) in an electronic form (in this specification, electronic forms are described in the same format across all pages). This is called “single form”, and an electronic form described in a plurality of different formats is called “multi-form”.)

  In a multi-form form, the format differs depending on the page, so that the position of the actual form data arranged based on the form also differs. In the conventional electronic form search method, for example, a search area rectangle set by looking at only the first page of a multi-form electronic form can be set at a location intended by the operator over all pages. The actual form data required for the search could not be extracted.

  Corresponding to this, Patent Document 1 proposes a form retrieval apparatus that can easily retrieve actual form data even if it is a multi-form electronic form.

JP 2007-179203 A

  In Patent Document 1, in an electronic form server device, vertical lines and horizontal lines constituting an electronic form are detected based on form data that defines the format of an electronic form requested to be displayed by a client apparatus, and the detected vertical lines and horizontal lines are detected. Detected when a rectangle constituting an electronic form is detected based on the detected rectangle, an item rectangle including a form character is extracted from the detected rectangle, and a predetermined form character is specified from the client device. The actual form data included in the rectangle that is rectangular and adjacent to the predetermined item rectangle including the predetermined form character in the predetermined direction is searched.

  As a result, it is possible to easily search the actual form data even if it is a multi-form electronic form without setting a rectangle at the place where the actual form data desired by the operator exists. However, a search cannot be performed when a rectangle is not set as a search target or when a search item is not specified.

The present invention aims to set a search condition of a form that consists of a plurality of types of forms can be changed to correspond to the form.

Electronic form system of the present invention is an electronic form system capable to perform a search against constituted form a plurality of types of forms, search conditions for searching respect displayed the form The search condition accepting means for accepting the search, the search execution means for executing the search corresponding to the search condition accepted by the search condition accepting means , and the form on which the search is executed by the search executing means comprises the plurality of types of forms And a setting means for setting the search condition received by the search condition receiving means to be changeable in correspondence with the form.

According to the present invention, it is possible to correspond to the search condition of a form that consists of a plurality of kinds of form to Form set can be changed.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration | structure of the electronic form system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of the form search apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a function structure of the form search device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the processing flow of the electronic form system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the form list screen of the electronic form system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the multiform form of the electronic form system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the search screen of the form search device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the confirmation screen of the form search device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the search result display screen of the form search device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the form selection screen of the form search device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the form data of the electronic form system concerning embodiment of this invention.

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

  It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration | structure of the electronic form system concerning embodiment of this invention.

  An electronic form system according to the present embodiment includes a client apparatus 1 (information processing apparatus) for referring to an electronic form, and an electronic form server apparatus (form search) that performs centralized management of data related to the electronic form and data search processing. Device) 2 and a network 3 for communicating and connecting them, and are communicably connected.

  Here, only one client device is shown in the electronic form system shown in FIG. 1, but a plurality of client devices may be provided in the present embodiment.

  The client device 1 includes a client control unit (viewer) 11 that performs control related to display and search of electronic forms, a display device 12 that displays electronic forms and various information based on control by the client control unit 11, and an operator. Has an input device 13 for performing input such as search and display of electronic forms.

  Here, as the input device 13, a keyboard 13a and a mouse 13b are provided. By using this input device 13, the operator can select a search area and input search conditions.

  The client control unit 11 includes a form data display control unit 111, a search result display control unit 112, an input detection unit 113, and a communication unit 114.

  The form data display control unit 111 performs control to generate an electronic form image based on the form data transmitted from the electronic form server apparatus 2 and display the electronic form image on the display screen of the display device 12. The search result display control unit 112 generates an image based on the search result sent from the electronic form server device 2 in response to a search request related to the actual form data input from the operator via the input device 13, Control to display the image on the display screen of the display device 12 is performed.

  The input detection unit 113 detects a display request for an electronic form input from an operator via the input device 13 and a search request related to actual form data. Based on the information detected by the input detection unit 113, the electronic form server device 2 executes processing. The communication unit 114 manages communication with the electronic form server device 2.

  The electronic form server device 2 defines a format of the electronic form and a server control unit 21 that controls the electronic form server device based on a display request of the electronic form from the client device 1 and a search request related to the actual form data. A form data storage unit 22 that stores form data 22a and form actual data 22b that is actual actual data in an electronic form, and a table information storage unit 23 that stores various table information are configured.

  The server control unit 21 includes a form data acquisition unit 211, a form data transmission unit 212, a search execution unit 213, a search result transmission unit 214, and a communication unit 215.

  The form data acquisition unit 211 acquires necessary form data 22a and / or actual form data 22b from the form data storage unit 22 when an electronic form is displayed or search is executed.

  The form data transmission unit 212 transmits the form data output from the form data acquisition unit 211 to the client device 1 via the communication unit 215.

  The electronic form server device can generate a multi-form form in which the electronic form is described in a plurality of different formats.

  The search execution unit 213 searches the actual form data based on the search condition requested from the client device 1. The search execution unit 213 also automatically extracts a search area specified as a search condition. The search result transmission unit 214 transmits the search execution result in the search execution unit 213 to the client device 1 via the communication unit 215. The communication unit 215 manages communication with the client device 1.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the form retrieval apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the client apparatus 1 and the electronic form server apparatus 2 include a CPU 201, a RAM (memory) 202, a ROM 203, a hard disk drive (HDD) 204, a recording medium drive 205, a network interface card (NIC) 206, a pointing device. A device includes a mouse 207, a keyboard (K / B) 208, a video adapter 209, and a display device 210, and these are connected to each other via a system bus 211.

  The CPU 201 performs various operations such as four arithmetic operations and comparison operations and hardware control based on an operating system (OS) program and application programs.

  The RAM 202 temporarily stores an OS, application programs, and the like recorded in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) 204, a ROM 203, and a recording medium (for example, CD-ROM, DVD, FD). The program stored in the RAM 202 is executed under the control of the CPU 201.

  The ROM 203 stores programs, data, and the like necessary for processing executed by the CPU 201. For example, a so-called BIOS that manages input / output to and from an external storage device in cooperation with the OS is stored. A hard disk drive (HDD) 204 stores an OS, a program for executing a customer service arrangement method, and the like.

  The recording medium drive 205 is used for reading data from an application program or the like recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or CD-R.

  A network interface card (NIC) 206 performs communication with the outside via a network in cooperation with an OS communication program controlled by the CPU 201.

  A mouse 207 and a keyboard (K / B) 208 which are pointing devices are used for input from an operator. The video adapter 209 is used to generate an image to be displayed. The display device 210 displays an image generated by the video adapter 209.

  In the client device 1 of FIG. 1, the client control unit 11 includes, for example, a CPU 201, a video adapter 209, a program recorded in the ROM 203 and the HDD 204, and the display device 12 corresponds to the display device 210. The keyboard 13a and the mouse 13b correspond to the keyboard (K / B) 208 and the mouse 207, respectively.

  In the electronic form server device 2 of FIG. 1, the server control unit 21 includes, for example, a CPU 201 and a program recorded in the ROM 203 or the HDD 204. The form data storage unit 22 and the table information storage unit 23 include For example, it is provided in the RAM 202 or the HDD 204.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the form retrieval apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The form search apparatus includes a form information determination unit 301, a target form search unit 302, a multiform determination unit 303, and a form image generation unit 304.

  The form information determination unit 301 determines target form information when a search request is received from the information processing apparatus. The form information necessary for determination is included in the search condition.

  The target form search unit 302 performs a keyword search for the specified search area of the specified form.

  The multi-form determination unit 303 determines whether the electronic form that has received the search request is a multi-form that includes a plurality of different forms.

  The form image generation unit 304 has a function of generating an image image of a form constituting an electronic form composed of multi forms.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow of the electronic form system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  Steps S402 to S413 are processed by the information processing apparatus, and steps S421 to S427 are described as being processed by the form search apparatus. However, any of these may be performed.

  In step S401, the information processing apparatus makes a form display request to the form search apparatus from a predetermined screen (for example, FIG. 5) of the electronic form system.

  The form retrieval apparatus receives the request in step S421, and transmits the form data for which the request has been accepted in step S422 to the information processing apparatus. Although details will be described later (for example, FIG. 11), the form data includes form information, form text data, form layout definition information, and form text arrangement information.

  The information processing apparatus displays the form data received in step S402 on the screen, and accepts an input of a search range in step S403. (For example, FIG. 6)

  In step S404, options for search keywords and keywords are accepted from the search condition input screen (for example, FIG. 7). In step S405, the search range and search keywords received from the user are set as search conditions, and the form search device is set. Send.

  The form search device searches for a specified search keyword for a form (for example, “form A”) for which a search range is specified according to the condition received in step S423. Which form is designated can be identified from, for example, a selection range included in the search condition.

  In step S424, a list of search results for the selected range of the predetermined form is generated.

  In step S425, it is determined whether a different form exists. Specifically, it is determined whether the form data transmitted in step 422 includes a form (form other than the search target) that is different from the form that is the search target in step S423.

  If it does not exist, the process proceeds to step S427. If it exists, in step S426, image data that can identify each form included in the form data is generated. The image data created here is displayed on the search range change acceptance screen displayed in step S408 described later. Although it is desirable to use thumbnail images in order to reduce the capacity, the present invention is not limited to this.

  In step S427, the search result list generated in step S424 and the form image generated in step 426 (if any) are transmitted as search results to the information processing apparatus. When the process of step S426 is not performed, only the search result list is transmitted.

  The information processing apparatus determines whether form data is included from the search result received in step 406. If not included, the information processing apparatus proceeds to step S411. Here, whether or not form data is included is a determination of whether or not it is a multi-form (in the case of YSE in step S425), so if it can be determined whether or not it is a multi-form, it is not limited to this method. May be. For example, it can also be determined whether or not a multi-form flag is added to the result transmitted from the form retrieval apparatus.

  If a form image is included (if it is a multi-form), it is determined in step S407 whether or not a multi-form search is to be executed by an input from a displayed confirmation screen (for example, FIG. 8). If not search is selected, the process proceeds to step S411. If search is selected, the process proceeds to step S408. For example, when the form C shown in FIG. 6 is targeted, “No” is selected because the search is unnecessary.

  In this step, the confirmation screen is displayed to allow the user to select whether or not to perform a multi-form search. However, the process proceeds to step S408 unconditionally to accept the change of the search range. Good.

  In step S408, the form image included in the form data is displayed, and a screen (for example, FIG. 10) for accepting the change of the search range is displayed for the selected form image. After the search range is specified on this screen, a search keyword input screen (for example, FIG. 7) is displayed, and the change of the search keyword is accepted from the user. In step S410, the search condition is retransmitted to the form search device. The form retrieval apparatus receives the retrieval condition and executes the processing from step S421.

  In step S411, it is determined whether there are a plurality of search result lists. When the search result is received a plurality of times in step S406, there are a plurality of search result lists.

  If there are a plurality of items, the process proceeds to step S412, and the result list is merged. If a plurality of result lists do not exist in step S411, they are displayed as they are (not merged), and the process ends.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a form list screen of the electronic form system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The form list screen 501 is a screen displayed by performing a predetermined operation on the electronic form system of the information processing apparatus (for example, selecting a form list menu or searching for a form).

  A check is made on the displayed form (for example, “C02-SALES invoice 503”), and the form search apparatus is requested to open the selected form by pressing the open button 502. Upon receiving this display request, the form retrieval apparatus transmits the corresponding electronic form to the information processing apparatus.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a multi-form form of the electronic form system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  For example, it is an example of the form data requested to be displayed in FIG. This form data is composed of multi-forms, and is composed of three different forms: Form A601, Forms B602 and 603, and Form C604. Form B is filled with data over two pages 602 and 603.

  For example, when the user wants to search for the form A601, the user designates the search area 605 and presses a search button (not shown) to input the search keyword on the search keyword input screen shown in FIG. A search request is made to the device.

  The search area can be specified by an input device such as a mouse, for example, and the data described in this area is a search target.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a search screen of the form search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The search condition 701 can specify the target area 702 specified in FIG. 6 and items (type 703, keyword 704, comparison 705) related to the keyword specified on this screen.

  As the target area 702, the search area 605 designated in FIG. 6 is set. Information on which form is specified at this time is also included. For example, a field name “product” may be given and the coordinates of the selected area and the form name may be stored as property information.

  The type 703 and the comparison 705 are optional items related to the keyword 704. In principle, the keyword specified by the keyword 704 is searched from the specified target area 702. The type 703 can specify “character”, “numerical value”, and the like. The comparison 705 can select a conditional expression such as “includes”, “equal”, “greater than” or “less than” according to the selected type.

  If the OK button is pressed after specifying the search condition, a search request is made to the form search device.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a confirmation screen of the form retrieval apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  This confirmation screen is a confirmation screen as to whether or not to execute a multi-form search in step S407 of FIG. The information processing apparatus may perform display control, or the form retrieval apparatus may perform display control so that the information processing apparatus displays the information.

  When YES 802 is pressed, the form selection screen shown in FIG. 10 is displayed, and when NO 803 is pressed, the multi-form search is not performed and the process ends.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a form selection screen of the form search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The form selection screen includes a form selection area 1001 and a search range selection area 1005. The user selects a form to be searched in the form selection area. In the example shown in the figure, the form 1002 is selected. Forms to be displayed are from form A to form C, which is an example of an electronic form that is a display target in this embodiment. If there are many forms that cannot be displayed, a hidden form is displayed by pressing the scroll button.

  When form B (1002) is selected, a screen for designating search range 1003 of the selected form is displayed in search range selection area 1005. By default, the area designated last time is displayed, and the user can widen or narrow this area with the mouse 1006 or the like.

  When the search button 1004 is pressed after accepting the change (if any) of the search range, the search screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. If necessary, the search condition is changed and the search is executed (OK button). Thus, a search request is made to the form search device.

  Here, for example, by changing the search conditions for the displayed forms on the screen of FIG. 10, it is possible to change the search conditions for other forms at once. In this case, the loop from step 410 to step S421 in FIG. 4 is not performed.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a search result display screen of the form search apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The search result list displayed in step S413 in FIG. 4 will be described using search result list 901 for form A and search result list 902 for form B as examples.

  A search result list 901 for the form A is a search result for the search condition specified in step S405 of the embodiment, and a search result list 902 for the form B is a search result for the search condition specified in step S410 of the embodiment. is there.

  The search result “orange juice” is searched for the search target area (product). As the position (X: Y / X: Y), the position where “orange juice” is displayed is written using XY coordinates. The page is a form page. In the case of form A, the page is “1”, and in the case of form B, the pages include “2” and “3” in the search results. In the form column, a form name designated as a search target is described.

  The merged search result list 903 is merged in step S412 of FIG. 4 and displayed in step S413. Since the user who performed the search may be searching without paying attention to the form, the form field may be hidden.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of form data in the electronic form system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  A form file (form data) 1101 includes form information 1102 that defines a layout such as ruled lines and drawings in the form, form text data 1103 relating to characters included in the form, and a form layout definition that defines line pitch, character font, and the like in the form. Information 1104 and form text layout information 1105 for determining the layout of the form text data in the form. Further, in the case of a multi-form composed of a plurality of different form layouts, it has a plurality of form information 1102, and each form information 1102 includes form text data 1103, form layout definition information 1104, form text arrangement information 1105. Are managed in association with each other.

  When the information processing apparatus displays a form (form image), the form search apparatus generates form data for display from the four information files shown in the figure, downloads the form data, temporarily stores it on the hard disk, and stores it in the work memory. After reading, display it as a form on the display.

  Although one embodiment has been described above, the present invention can take an embodiment as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium, and specifically includes a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to a system including a single device.

  In the above embodiment, the image is enlarged and printed. However, the present invention can be applied even when the image is printed without being enlarged. The present invention can also be applied to the execution of a poster copy in which a scanner is provided in the printer 20 and an image read by the scanner is enlarged and printed.

  The program in the present invention is a program that can execute the processing method of the flowchart shown in the embodiment, and the storage medium of the present invention stores the program that can execute the processing method of the flowchart in the embodiment. Yes. The program in the present invention may be a program for each processing method of each device in the embodiment.

  As described above, a recording medium that records a program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program stored in the recording medium. It goes without saying that the object of the present invention can also be achieved by executing the reading.

  In this case, the program itself read from the recording medium realizes the novel function of the present invention, and the recording medium storing the program constitutes the present invention.

  As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, a flexible disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, EEPROM, silicon A disk, solid state drive, or the like can be used.

  Further, by executing the program read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) operating on the computer based on an instruction of the program is actually It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board is based on the instructions of the program code. It goes without saying that the case where the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to a case where the present invention is achieved by supplying a program to a system or apparatus. In this case, by reading a recording medium storing a program for achieving the present invention into the system or apparatus, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

  Furthermore, by downloading and reading a program for achieving the present invention from a server, database, etc. on a network using a communication program, the system or apparatus can enjoy the effects of the present invention.

  In addition, all the structures which combined each embodiment mentioned above and its modification are also included in this invention.

201 CPU
202 RAM
203 ROM
204 HDD
205 Storage media drive

Claims (11)

An electronic form system capable of performing a search on a form composed of multiple types of forms,
A search condition accepting means for accepting a search condition for searching for the display has been the form,
A search executing means for executing a search corresponding to the search condition received by said retrieval condition reception means,
The search condition received by the search condition receiving means is set to be changeable in correspondence with the form on condition that the form to be searched by the search execution means is a form composed of the plurality of types of forms. Setting means;
An electronic form system characterized by comprising: The search condition accepting means includes a designation accepting means for accepting designation of a form to be searched when accepting the search condition;
Display control means for controlling to display a setting screen for setting by the setting means, and
2. The electronic form system according to claim 1, wherein the display control means controls to display a setting screen for accepting setting of a search condition for a form different from the form accepted by the designation accepting means.   The electronic form system according to claim 2, wherein the search condition received by the search condition receiving unit includes a search area of the form.   4. The electronic form system according to claim 3, wherein the display control means controls to display a setting screen that can change a search area included in the search condition. The electronic form system
The search condition is received by using the search condition received by the search condition receiving means as a first search condition, and the search condition received by the setting screen as a second search condition,
The search execution means applies the first search condition to the form that has received the designation by the search condition reception means on condition that the form for executing the search is a form composed of a plurality of types of forms. 5. A form composed of the plurality of types of forms is searched by applying the second search condition to a form different from the form for which the designation has been received. The electronic form system according to any one of the above. The display control means controls to display a form screen of a form different from the form received from the designation by the search condition receiving means among the forms composed of the plurality of types of forms on the setting screen. The electronic form system according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the electronic form system is characterized in that: The electronic form system
Search result receiving means for receiving a search result based on the search condition;
The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a search result merging unit that merges the received search results when there are a plurality of inspection results received by the search result receiving unit. Form system. An electronic form system control method capable of executing a search for a form composed of multiple types of forms,
A search condition accepting step for accepting a retrieval condition for performing a search on the displayed the form,
A search execution step of executing the search corresponding to the search condition received by said retrieval condition receiving step,
On the condition that the form to be searched in the search execution step is a form composed of the plurality of types of forms, the search condition received in the search condition reception step is set to be changeable corresponding to the form. Configuration steps;
A method for controlling an electronic form system, comprising: A form search device capable of executing a search for a form composed of multiple types of forms,
A search condition accepting means for accepting a search condition for searching for the display has been the form,
A search executing means for executing a search corresponding to the search condition received by said retrieval condition reception means,
The search condition received by the search condition receiving means is set to be changeable in correspondence with the form on condition that the form to be searched by the search execution means is a form composed of the plurality of types of forms. Setting means;
A form retrieval apparatus comprising: A form search device capable of executing a search for a form composed of multiple types of forms,
A search condition accepting step for accepting a retrieval condition for performing a search on the displayed the form,
A search execution step of executing the search corresponding to the search condition received by said retrieval condition receiving step,
On the condition that the form to be searched in the search execution step is a form composed of the plurality of types of forms, the search condition received in the search condition reception step is set to be changeable corresponding to the form. Configuration steps;
A method for controlling a form retrieval apparatus, comprising: A program for a computer to function as a form retrieval apparatus according to 9 claims.

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