JPH1145282A - Document processing apparatus, storage medium storing document processing program, and document processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide a document processing device capable of easily determining a workflow for an acquired target document. SOLUTION: A typical document characterizing a plurality of workflows, the workflow, and a document vector thereof are stored in a database in association with each other. Then, when determining the workflow for the target document, first, the document vector of the target document is determined. The similarity between the target document and each typical document is calculated from the determined document vector of the target document and each document vector of the document vector database, and the workflow of the typical document having the highest similarity is displayed on the screen. The user confirms the workflow for the document of interest by appropriately selecting and correcting the displayed workflow as needed, and registers, prints, and executes the workflow.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus and a storage medium storing a document processing program, and more particularly, to a workflow support for an acquired document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various documents such as correspondences, proposals, reports, papers and the like have been processed in a company or the like according to a predetermined workflow. For example, in the case of a proposal document related to a certain project, approval in accordance with the proposal order is sequentially performed, and in the case of technical documents related to development, circulation and distribution are performed to related departments. Such a workflow is a LAN
When performed electronically via a network such as a (local area network), the system is performed under the names of approval system, approval system, electronic approval system, circulation, distribution, and the like.

[0003]

Conventionally, workflows such as approval, approval, circulation, distribution, distribution, etc., have to be determined for each document unless the approval order, circulation order, distribution destination, distribution destination, etc. are determined. did not become. For this reason, when deciding what kind of workflow to use, it is necessary to make a decision while paying attention to security every time, and the burden on the decider is large. For example, in the case of a new employee, it is burdensome to determine what workflow should be performed on a report or the like created by the employee, and an appropriate workflow has not always been determined. In addition, when the president distributes or distributes a document or article to an employee, the employee to be distributed or the like must be determined each time, which is a heavy burden.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a document processing apparatus capable of easily determining a workflow for an acquired target document. And Also, the present invention
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a storage medium storing a computer-readable document processing program that can easily determine a workflow for an acquired target document. It is a third object of the present invention to provide a method capable of easily determining a workflow for an acquired target document.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 8, a document storage unit 501 for storing a document defining a workflow and a target document for which a workflow is to be determined are acquired. Target document acquisition means 502
A search unit 503 for searching a document stored in the document storage unit 501 for a document similar to the target document acquired by the target document acquisition 502; The document processing apparatus is provided with an output unit 504 for outputting a prescribed workflow, thereby achieving the first object. According to the second aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 9, in the document processing apparatus according to the first aspect, a first vector for acquiring a document vector characterizing a target document acquired by the target document acquiring unit 502 is acquired. Document vector acquisition means 505, and second document document vector acquisition means 506 for acquiring a document vector of each document stored in the document storage means 501, and the search means 503 includes the first document vector A similar document is retrieved by calculating the similarity between the document vector acquired by the acquisition unit 505 and the document vector of each document acquired by the second document vector acquisition unit 506. According to the third aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 10, a workflow storage unit 601 for storing a workflow for a document, and a document vector storage unit 602 for storing a document vector characterizing the document in association with the workflow. A target document acquisition unit 603 for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined, and a first document vector acquisition unit 60 for acquiring a document vector of the target document acquired by the target document acquisition unit 603.
4, the document vector acquired by the first document vector acquisition means 604 and the document vector storage means 60
A search unit 605 for searching for the workflow stored in the workflow storage unit 601 based on the similarity with each document vector stored in the storage unit 2; an output unit 606 for outputting the workflow searched by the search unit 605;
Is provided in the document processing apparatus to achieve the first object. According to the invention described in claim 4, in the document processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 3, the workflow searched by the search unit 503 is modified as shown in FIG. The output unit 504 outputs the workflow corrected by the correction unit 650. According to the invention described in claim 5, in the document processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 3, as shown in an example in FIGS. It is characterized in that the workflow is at least one of workflows in which the order, the distribution destination, and the distribution destination are determined. In the invention according to claim 6, as shown in FIG. 12, a document storage function 701 for storing a document defining a workflow, a target document acquisition function 702 for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined, A document similar to the target document acquired by the target document acquisition function 702 is stored in the document storage function 70.
Search function 703 for searching from the documents stored in No. 1
An output function 704 for outputting a prescribed workflow for the document searched by the search function 703;
The second object is achieved by a storage medium storing a computer-readable document processing program for causing a computer to realize the above. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 13, in a storage medium storing the document processing program according to the sixth aspect, a document vector characterizing the target document acquired by the target document acquisition function 502 is stored. And a second document document vector acquisition function 706 for acquiring a document vector of each document stored in the document storage function 705. The search function 703 includes:
A document vector acquired by the first document vector acquisition function 705 and a second document vector acquisition function 706
A similar document is searched by obtaining the similarity between each document and the document vector obtained by the above. According to the invention described in claim 8, as shown in FIG. 14, a workflow storage function 801 for storing a workflow for a document,
A document vector storage function 802 for storing a document vector characterizing the document in association with the workflow;
A target document acquisition function 803 for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined, and a first document vector for acquiring a document vector of the target document acquired by the target document acquisition function 803.
And the workflow storage function 801 based on the similarity between the document vector acquired by the first document vector acquisition function 804 and each document vector stored in the document vector storage function 602.
Search function 805 for searching the workflow stored in the server
The second object is achieved by a storage medium storing a computer-readable document processing program for causing a computer to realize a workflow searched by the search function 805 and an output function 806 for outputting the workflow searched by the search function 805. According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 15, in the storage medium storing the document processing program according to the sixth, seventh or eighth aspect, the search function 805 The output function 806 includes a modification 850 for modifying the searched workflow, and outputs the workflow modified by the modification function 850. Claim 1
In the invention described in No. 0, as shown in FIG. 12 to FIG. 15, one example is shown in claim 6, claim 7, claim 8, or claim 9
Wherein the workflow is at least one of a workflow in which an approval order, a circulation order, a distribution destination, and a distribution destination are determined. .
In the invention described in claim 11, as shown in FIG.
Acquisition of target document to be determined for workflow 901
And retrieves a document similar to the acquired target document 902
The third object is achieved by outputting 903 a specified workflow for the searched similar document.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a document processing apparatus, a storage medium storing a document processing program, and a document processing method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. . (1) Overview of Embodiment In this embodiment, profiles of a plurality of workflows and typical documents characterizing the plurality of workflows are prepared in advance and stored in the document database 164, and the workflow defined in each typical document is stored in the document database 164. The document vector of each typical document is stored in the workflow database 165 and the document vector database 166 in association with the typical document. When the workflow for the target document is determined by the workflow determination support process,
First, the document vector of the target document is determined. The similarity between the target document and each typical document is calculated from the determined document vector of the target document and each document vector of the document vector database, and the workflow of the typical document having the highest similarity is displayed on the screen (output means). . The user confirms the workflow for the document of interest by appropriately selecting and correcting the displayed workflow as needed, and registers, prints, and executes the workflow.

(2) Details of the Embodiment The document processing system of the present embodiment is not only constituted by a computer system including a personal computer, a word processor, etc., but also by a LAN (local area network) server, a computer (personal computer). ) It can also be constituted by a communication host, a computer system connected to the Internet, and the like. Also,
It is also possible to distribute the functions to each device on the network and configure a document processing system on the entire network.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the document processing system. The document processing system includes a control unit 11 for controlling the entire system as shown in FIG. The control unit 11 has a keyboard 12 and a mouse 13 as input devices, a display device 14, a printing device 15, a storage device 16, and a bus line 21 such as a data bus.
Storage medium drive 17, communication controller 18, input / output I / O
F19 and the character recognition device 20 are connected. The control unit 11 includes a CPU 111, a ROM 112, a RAM 113
It has. The ROM 112 is a read-only memory in which various programs and data for the CPU 111 to perform various controls and calculations are stored in advance.

The RAM 113 is a random access memory used as a working memory for the CPU 111. The RAM 113 stores a target document storage area 1131 in which a target document to be determined for a workflow is stored, and a document vector characterizing the target document as an area for performing a foreign language document search process according to the present embodiment. Target document vector storage area 1132, a typical document vector storage area 113 for storing a typical document vector characterizing a typical document for which a workflow has been defined.
3. A similar typical document storage area 1134 storing a typical document similar to the target document, a workflow storage area 1135 storing a workflow defined corresponding to the similar typical document, and other various areas are secured. It has become.

The keyboard 12 constitutes a part of a target document acquisition unit for inputting a target document in the own system and a part of a correction unit for correcting a workflow, and includes a kana key and a numeric keypad for inputting a kana character. , Various keys such as a function key for executing various functions, a cursor key, and the like. The mouse 13 is a pointing device, and is an input device for designating a corresponding function by left-clicking a key, an icon, or the like displayed on the display device 14.

As the display device 14, for example, a CRT or a liquid crystal display is used. On this display device, the input result by the keyboard 12 and the mouse 13 is displayed. The display device 14 functions as a part of the output unit to display a typical document determined by the workflow determination support processing of the present embodiment and the workflow thereof.

The printing device 15 is for printing documents displayed on the display device 14 and documents stored in the document storage section 164 of the storage device 16. Further, the printing device 15 functions as a part of the output unit, and prints out the contents of the workflow (approval order, distribution target person, etc.) finally determined according to the present embodiment. Various printing apparatuses such as a laser printer, a dot printer, an ink jet printer, a page printer, a thermal printer, and a thermal transfer printer are used as the printing apparatus.

The storage device 16 comprises a readable and writable storage medium and a drive device for reading and writing various information such as programs and data on the storage medium.
As a storage medium used for the storage device 16, a hard disk is mainly used, but a readable and writable storage medium among various storage media used in a storage medium driving device 17 described later may be used. Good. The storage device 16 stores the kana-kanji conversion dictionary 161 and the program storage unit 1
62, a data storage unit 163, a document database 164,
It has a workflow database 165, a document vector database 166, and other storage units (not shown) (for example, storage units for backing up programs, data, and the like stored in the storage device 16).
The program storage unit 162 stores, as the document processing program of the present embodiment, various programs such as a workflow determination support processing program and a document vector creation processing program, as well as a kana character string input using the kana-kanji conversion dictionary 161. Various programs such as a kana-kanji conversion program for converting into a mixed-kanji sentence are stored. The data storage unit 163 stores various data required by the system, such as data on the user.

The document database 164 stores a typical document as a typical document defining a workflow, a normal document other than the typical document, and the like. The format of each document stored in the document database 164 is not particularly limited, and a text format document, HTML,
(Hyper Text Markup Language) format documents and various types of documents such as JIS format documents can be stored.

FIG. 2 shows the workflow database 165.
Are conceptually represented. As shown in FIG. 2, the workflow database 165 is stored for each workflow form such as approval, circulation, distribution, and distribution. For example, the workflow of the typical document A11 regarding the approval is defined so that approval of the approval document is obtained in the order of P (person) 10 → P11 → P12 chief → P14 manager. In addition, the workflow of the typical document A21 related to circulation is defined to be sequentially circulated from P41 manager to P45, and to discard the target document after the circulation is completed. Similarly, it is specified that the typical document A22 returns the target document to the circulator after circulation, and the typical document A23 is specified to file the document after circulation. The file of this document is not the case where the target document digitized in the HTML format is electronically circulated on the network, but the document (including the printed out) written on the document such as paper is directly sent to the person. It is defined as a workflow for handing over. Typical document A3 for distribution
1,..., Typical documents A41,... Related to distribution also have a workflow defined as shown in FIG. Here, the distribution is to distribute the document to each user through the network, and the distribution is to distribute the document in the form of a printout.

FIG. 3 shows a document vector database 166.
Are conceptually represented. As shown in FIG. 3, the importance f (x) obtained for the keyword x automatically extracted from the document Ajk is stored as the element value f (x) of the document vector. This document vector is associated with each typical document jk (j = 1, k = 1) stored in the document database 164.
It is stored for each workflow form such as approval and distribution. In the document vector database 166, in addition to the document vector of the typical document, the document vector of the document stored in the document database 164 as a normal document is stored in association with the document. The dimension of each document vector is the number of keywords x (key words) to be adopted.
When the similarity between two documents is obtained from both document vectors, the number of unions of keywords of both documents is the dimension of both document vectors. In this case, the element value of the other document vector for the keyword included in only one document vector is defined as “0”.

For example, in FIG. 3, the keywords of document B are "important, important words, importance,...", And the keywords of document C are "important,... Politics,...". It is as follows. Document vector of document B = (1,18,19, ...) Document vector of document C = (18, ..., 21, ...) On the other hand, when calculating the similarity between document B and document C, Keywords for both documents are "important, important words, importance,
..., politics, ... ", and the document vectors of both documents are defined as follows. Document vector of document A = (1,18,19, ...,
0,...), Document vector of document C = (18, 0, 0,.
1,…)

The storage medium drive 17 (FIG. 1) has a CPU
Reference numeral 111 denotes a driving device for reading data including computer programs and documents from an external storage medium.
The computer programs and the like stored in the storage medium also include various processing programs such as a workflow determination support process executed by the document processing system of the present embodiment, and dictionaries and data used therein. Here, the storage medium refers to a storage medium in which a computer program, data, and the like are stored, and specifically, a magnetic storage medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, and a magnetic tape, and a semiconductor storage medium such as a memory chip and an IC card. , C
A storage medium such as a D-ROM, MO, or PD (phase change rewritable optical disk) from which information can be read optically, and a storage using paper (such as a paper card or a paper tape) (and a medium having a function equivalent to paper). Media and other storage media in which computer programs and the like are stored by various methods are included. As a storage medium used in the document processing system of the present embodiment, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, or the like is mainly used. The storage medium drive 17 can read data stored in the RAM 113 or the storage device 16 into a writable storage medium such as a floppy disk in addition to reading a computer program from these various storage media. It is.

In the document processing system of this embodiment, the CPU 111 of the control section 11 reads a computer program from an external storage medium set in the storage medium drive 17 and stores (installs) it in each section of the storage device 16. . Then, when executing various processes such as the workflow determination support process according to the present embodiment, the corresponding program is read from the storage device 16 into the RAM 113 and executed. However, not from the storage device 16,
The storage medium drive 17 directly outputs R from an external storage medium.
It is also possible to read the program into the AM 113 and execute it. Further, depending on the document processing system, the other language document search processing program or the like of the present embodiment may be stored in the ROM
12, and this may be executed by the CPU 111. Further, various programs and data such as the workflow determination support processing program of the present embodiment may be downloaded from another storage medium via the communication control device 18 and executed.

The communication control device 18 is a control device for connecting a network between the document processing system and various electronic devices such as a personal computer and a word processor. The communication control device 18 can access a document in the same language as the target document of these various electronic devices, a document in another language input, and a database of documents in the same language or another language as search targets. It is possible. The target document includes various types of data such as bitmap data in addition to various types of documents such as a text format and an HTML format. The input / output I / F 19 is an interface for connecting various devices such as a speaker that outputs audio, music, and the like. The character recognition device 20 is a device for recognizing characters written on paper or the like in various formats such as a text format or HTML, and is configured by an image scanner, a character recognition program, and the like.

In the present embodiment, in addition to a document created by an input operation of the keyboard 12 (stored in a predetermined storage area of the RAM 113), a document created externally and stored in a predetermined storage medium is read from the storage medium driving device 17. Documents, documents stored in advance in a document database, documents downloaded from the communication control device 18, and the character recognition device 2.
It is possible to acquire various documents such as a document whose character has been recognized with 0 as a target document to be searched (target document acquisition means, target document acquisition function).

Next, the operation of the workflow decision support processing by the document processing system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the main operation of the workflow determination support processing. First, the CPU 111 acquires the target document T for which the workflow is to be determined, and stores it in the target document storage area 1131 of the RAM 113 (step 11).

The CPU 111 displays on the display device 14 a screen for prompting the user to select a workflow mode (a screen on which workflows such as approval, circulation, etc. are described), and acquires the workflow mode specified by the user (step 12).
Then, the document vector Bjk corresponding to the acquired workflow form is acquired from the document vector database 166 (second document vector acquiring means) and stored in the typical document vector storage area 1133 of the RAM 113 (step 13).

Next, the CPU 111 sets the acquired target document T
It is confirmed whether or not the document vector Bt has already been created and stored in the document vector database 166 (step 14). If it is stored (; Y), the document vector Bt is read and the It is stored in the document vector storage area 1132 (step 1
5). When the document vector Bt of the target document is not stored in the document vector database 166 (Step 1)
4; N), the CPU 111 creates a document vector Bt for the target document (step 16).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the document vector creation processing. The CPU 111 extracts a self-sufficient word from the target document T by performing morphological analysis (step 131), and extracts candidate words (phrases) including a noun phrase, a compound noun phrase, etc. from the target document T, and performs a predetermined operation of the RAM 113. It is stored in the area (step 132). Then, the degree of importance f (x) of each candidate word (phrase) is determined from the frequency of appearance of the extracted candidate word (phrase) in the target document T and the evaluation function (step 133). Here, as the evaluation function, for example, when a predetermined important word is specified in advance, weighting for the important word, weighting according to the type of a candidate word (phrase) such as a word, a noun phrase, a compound noun phrase, and the like are used. used. Further C
The PU 111 determines the keywords a, b,... Of the target document T from the determined value of the importance f (x) (step 13).
4). Then, the document vector B = (f (a), f (b),...) Is stored in the target document vector storage area 1132 of the RAM 113 using the importance f (x) of each keyword as an element (step 135). The process returns to the workflow determination support processing routine of FIG.

Next, the CPU 111 calculates the similarity S between the target document T and the typical document Ajk (step 17). That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the CPU 111 compares the document vector Bt of the target document with the document vector Bjk of the typical document, and calculates the similarity S between the two documents based on the cosine depending on the angle of both vectors. Generally, the angle between the document vector Bx of the document Ax and the document vector By of the document Ay is θ, the inner product of both document vectors is Bx · By, and the magnitudes of both document vectors are | Bx | and | B, respectively.
When y |, the similarity S between the two document vectors is obtained by the following equation (1).

[0027]

## EQU1 ## Similarity S = COS (θ) = (Bx · By) /
(| Bx | × | By |)

The value of the similarity S takes a value of -1 ≦ S ≦ 1, and as the value is closer to 1, the two document vectors are closer to each other in parallel, and the two documents Ax and Ay are considered to be similar to each other. be able to.

The CPU 111 sets the target document T and the typical document A
After calculating the similarity S with jk, typical documents whose similarity is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (for example, 0.8) are listed (step 18), and the similar typical document Ajk is stored in the similar typical document storage area 1134. At the same time, the corresponding workflow is stored in the workflow storage area 1135 (step 19).

Next, the CPU 111 displays the typical document Ajk and its workflow stored in the RAM 113 on the display device 1.
4 is displayed on the screen (step 21). FIG. 7 shows a workflow selection screen displayed on the display device 14. As shown in FIG. 7, a workflow display 71, a document content display 72, and a selection key 73 are displayed on the workflow selection screen. In the workflow display 71,
The document name of the similar typical document Ajk similar to the searched target document T, the similarity S with the target document T, and the workflow are displayed. In addition, the title field 71a displays the workflow forms “Approval”, “circulation”, “distribution”, and “distribution”, and the current selection is “approval” by reverse display. It is shown.

The document content display 72 displays the content of a typical document having the document name "XXX" designated by the reverse display cursor in the workflow display 71. The user can confirm the contents of each typical similar document by changing the reverse position of the reverse display cursor in the workflow display 71, and can refer to the selection of the workflow.

The user selects the most appropriate workflow by the reverse display in the workflow display 71, and selects one of the selection keys 73 to select the subsequent processing. The CPU 111 monitors the selection key 73 selected by the user, and if it is the “correct” key (step 21;
Y) After performing the correction process (step 22), the process returns to step 21 to monitor the selection of the selection key 73. In the correction processing, the contents of the workflow designated by the reverse display cursor of the workflow display 71 (FIG. 7) are corrected and changed and displayed on the screen. The correction result here is reflected on the display screen and the workflow in the workflow storage area 1135 (the relevant portion is corrected), but the relevant portion of the workflow database 165 is not changed since it is a typical document workflow.

If the selection key 73 is a "cancel" key (step 23; Y), the CPU 111 closes the workflow selection screen shown in FIG. 7 and ends the processing.
If the key is a "help" key (step 24; Y), the CP
U111 returns to step 21 after the help processing (step 25) for displaying the commentary screen for the specified content.
If it is the "OK" key (step 26), the CPU 11
1 finalizes the workflow designated by the inverted display cursor of the workflow display 71 (FIG. 7), shifts to processing according to the workflow form acquired in step 12 (step 29), and performs workflow determination support processing. To end. When the OK key is selected in the state of FIG. 7, the target document T is transmitted in the order of the workflow selected with the reverse display cursor (P20 section manager → P21 manager →...) In accordance with the workflow mode “Approval”, and the target document T is transmitted. Payment processing such as approval and rejection is sequentially performed on the document T.

On the other hand, if the selection key 73 is a “typical document registration” key (step 27; Y), the CPU 111
A new document database 1 with the target document T as a typical document
64 and a workflow display 71 (FIG. 7).
Are stored in the workflow database 165 and the document vector database 166, respectively, in correspondence with the workflow designated by the reverse display cursor and the document vector stored in the target document vector storage area 1133 (corresponding to the newly registered typical document). Step 28). Thereafter, in step 29, the workflow specified by the inverted display cursor of the workflow display 71 (FIG. 7) is finally determined, and the process shifts to a process according to the workflow mode acquired in step 12 (step 29). The support processing ends.

As described above, the workflow determination support processing of the present embodiment allows the user to easily determine the workflow with reference to the workflow of a typical document similar to the target document T. Therefore, the user is less liable to pay attention to security each time a workflow is determined, and can distribute necessary information to required members in necessary circulation order without paying careful attention every time.
Documents can be distributed to necessary members.

Further, according to the present embodiment, when the target document comes in (transmitted) from the external network as a new document, or when a newspaper / newspaper is sent from a Push type distribution site.
Even when target documents such as magazine articles are distributed, etc., efficiently (without labor) on the intranet
The workflow for the target document can be immediately determined, and document processing such as circulation and distribution can be performed. in this case,
Not only when a document vector database is searched for a certain workflow, but when a certain target document is acquired, it is compared with a typical document (reference document, characteristic document), and an appropriate workflow such as a belt conveyor is performed. It is also possible to stream (distribute, etc.) (generally, a plurality).

Although the configuration of the document processing apparatus and the workflow decision support processing according to the present embodiment have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
Various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention described in the claims. For example, in the embodiment described above, the storage device 16 includes both the document database 164 and the document vector database 166. However, if the document vector for the typical document and the corresponding workflow exist, the typical document itself is not necessarily required. Not necessary. Conversely, if there is a typical document and a corresponding workflow, the document vector for the typical document is not necessarily required. In this case, in step 13 of the workflow determination support process, the document vector of the typical document may be created and acquired according to the document document vector creation process (FIG. 5) (second document vector acquisition means).

The typical document does not necessarily have to be selected in advance, and among the normal documents stored in the document database 164, all the documents whose corresponding workflows are stored in the workflow database 165 are set as typical documents. You may use it. Alternatively, a document automatically extracted by the clustering process from all the documents for which a workflow is specified may be used as a typical document.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the target of the workflow determination support processing is described as an example of a target document in Japanese. However, the present invention is not limited to the target document in Japanese, and is applicable to target documents in any language. It is possible to In this case, it is only necessary to change a part that does not affect the configuration of the present invention, such as using a morphological analysis algorithm for the language of the target document. However, the language of the typical document needs to be the same as the language of the target document.

In the embodiment, the document vectors of the two documents are used to determine a similar typical document similar to the target document T. However, the present invention is not limited to the method using the document vectors, but may be any other known one. The similarity between the two documents may be examined and determined using various methods.

Each device, each unit, each operation, each process, and the like described in the above embodiment can be constituted by each unit as a high-level concept including these units. It is. For example, “CPU 111
Compares the document vector Bt of the target document with the document vector Bjk of the typical document as shown in FIG. 6, and calculates a similarity S between the two documents by using a cosine depending on the angle of both vectors.
Is calculated. May be configured as “similarity calculating means”. Similarly, the embodiment may be configured with a higher concept such as “「 (operation) means ”for various other operations.

[0042]

According to the present invention, a target document for which a workflow is to be determined is obtained, a document similar to the obtained target document is searched, and a specified workflow is output for the searched similar document. As a result, the workflow for the acquired target document can be easily determined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a document processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing the contents of a workflow database in the document processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view conceptually showing the contents of a document vector database in the document processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a workflow determination support process in the document processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of a document vector creation process in the workflow determination support process.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a similarity relation to a target document T in the document processing apparatus using a document vector.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a workflow determination screen in a workflow determination support process.

FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 1;

FIG. 9 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 2;

FIG. 10 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 3;

FIG. 11 is an example of a claim correspondence diagram of the invention described in claim 4;

FIG. 12 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 6;

FIG. 13 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 7;

FIG. 14 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 8;

FIG. 15 is an example of a claim correspondence diagram according to the ninth aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the invention described in claim 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 control unit 112 ROM 113 RAM 1131 target document storage area 1132 target document vector storage area 1133 typical document vector storage area 1134 similar typical document storage area 1135 workflow storage area 12 keyboard 13 mouse 14 display device 15 printing device 16 storage device 161 kana kanji Conversion dictionary 162 Program storage 163 Data storage 164 Document database 165 Workflow database 166 Document vector database 17 Storage medium drive 18 Communication controller 19 Input / output I / F 20 Character recognition device

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A document storage unit for storing a document defining a workflow, a target document acquisition unit for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined, and a target document acquired by the target document acquisition unit. A search unit that searches for a document from the documents stored in the document storage unit; and an output unit that outputs a workflow defined for the document searched by the search unit. Document processing device. 2. A first method for obtaining a document vector characterizing a target document obtained by the target document obtaining means.
Document vector acquisition means, and second document document vector acquisition means for acquiring a document vector of each document stored in the document storage means, wherein the retrieval means acquires by the first document vector acquisition means. 2. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a similar document is searched by obtaining a similarity between the obtained document vector and a document vector of each document acquired by the second document vector acquiring unit. . 3. A workflow storage unit for storing a workflow for a document, a document vector storage unit for storing a document vector characterizing the document in association with the workflow, and an object for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined. Document acquisition means, first document vector acquisition means for acquiring a document vector of a target document acquired by the target document acquisition means, document vector acquired by the first document vector acquisition means, and storage of the document vector Search means for searching the workflow stored in the workflow storage means from the similarity with each document vector stored in the means, and output means for outputting the workflow searched by the search means. Characteristic document processing device. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a correction unit configured to correct the workflow searched by the search unit, wherein the output unit outputs the workflow corrected by the correction unit. The document processing device according to claim 3. 5. The workflow according to claim 1, wherein the workflow is at least one of workflows in which an approval order, a circulation order, a distribution destination, and a distribution destination are determined. The document processing device according to claim 3 or 4. 6. A document storage function for storing a document defining a workflow, a target document acquisition function for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined, and a target document acquired by the target document acquisition function. A computer for realizing a search function for searching for a document from the documents stored in the document storage function and an output function for outputting a prescribed workflow for the document searched by the search function A storage medium storing a readable document processing program. 7. A first method for obtaining a document vector characterizing a target document obtained by the target document obtaining function.
And a second document document vector acquisition function for acquiring a document vector of each document stored in the document storage function, wherein the search function is acquired by the first document vector acquisition function. 7. The document according to claim 6, wherein a similar document is searched by obtaining a similarity between the obtained document vector and a document vector of each document acquired by the second document vector acquisition function. A storage medium storing a processing program. 8. A workflow storage function for storing a workflow for a document, a document vector storage function for storing a document vector characterizing the document in association with the workflow, and an object for acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined. A document acquisition function, a first document vector acquisition function for acquiring a document vector of the target document acquired by the target document acquisition function, a document vector acquired by the first document vector acquisition function, and the document vector storage A computer realizes a search function for searching for a workflow stored in the workflow storage function based on the degree of similarity with each document vector stored in the function, and an output function for outputting the workflow searched by the search function. Computer readable document processing program for憶 is the storage medium. 9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising a correction function for correcting the workflow searched by the search function, wherein the output function outputs the workflow corrected by the correction function. A storage medium storing the document processing program according to claim 8. 10. The workflow according to claim 6, wherein the workflow is at least one of workflows in which an approval order, a circulation order, a distribution destination, and a distribution destination are determined. Item 8 or 9 Item 4
A storage medium storing the document processing program according to 1. 11. A document characterized by acquiring a target document for which a workflow is to be determined, searching for a document similar to the acquired target document, and outputting a prescribed workflow for the searched similar document. Processing method.