JP7247492B2 - Information processing device, information processing system, and information processing program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing system, and an information processing program.

US Pat. No. 6,201,202 proposes a method of storing and processing expense receipts using a system that includes an image capture device such as a scanner or digital camera connected to a computer processor. In particular, receiving an electronic image of an expense receipt on a computer processor; processing the electronic image to obtain expense data; entering the expense data into an electronic expense report; and displaying the letter.

Patent Document 2 describes a computer that transmits expense data including at least a specific user ID indicating a specific user, image data indicating an image of a receipt, and receipt information data indicating a character included in the image data to a network. Data acquisition means acquired from a terminal device connected via a specific user ID, image data, and receipt information data included in the expense data acquired by the data acquisition means, and an expense ID for identifying the expense data and service information used in a series of data processing relating to a specific business procedure, the service including at least a service ID for identifying the service information and a user ID A service specifying means for specifying a service ID associated with a specific user ID stored in the first storage device, and a service ID specified by the service specifying means, from a second storage device for storing information. A data management program has been proposed that functions as a second storage means for storing in a first storage device in association with an expense ID that is associated with a user ID.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-511896 JP 2015-162077 A

When correlating the evidence information related to the evidence extracted from the image of the evidence such as a receipt with the evidence report information representing the report contents of the pre-registered evidence, the information required for association is insufficient depending on the evidence. There was a case where it could not be associated. Therefore, the present invention provides an information processing device, an information processing system, and an information processing apparatus capable of associating evidenced information extracted from an image of an evidencedness with registered evidenced report information even when information required for association is insufficient. The purpose is to provide an information processing program.

The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 includes evidence information related to the evidence extracted from the image representing the evidence, and an evidence report representing report contents created for each of the evidences registered in advance in a predetermined application unit. an acquiring unit that acquires information; and an associating unit that associates the evidenced report information with the evidenced information using a degree of correspondence between the evidenced report information and the evidenced information acquired by the acquisition unit, and The unit obtains from the evidenced information a correspondence function representing a degree of correspondence to the evidenced report information, and associates the evidenced information with the evidenced report information for which the correspondence function is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1 , wherein the correspondence function is a function for obtaining the degree of correspondence of the evidenced information with respect to the evidenced items included in the evidenced report information.

The invention according to claim 3 is based on the invention according to claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein when the degree of correspondence is lower than a predetermined degree of correspondence, the association unit newly creates the evidenced report information. and associates the evidenced information with the newly created evidenced evidence report information.

In the invention according to claim 4 , in the invention according to claim 3 , when the correlating part newly creates the evidenced report information, the evidenced report information newly created using the evidenced report information Decide on a name.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , further comprising: a receiving unit for receiving the image; and a section, wherein the obtaining section obtains the evidenced document information extracted by the extracting section.

The invention according to claim 6 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the evidenced information associated with the evidenced report information by the associating unit is transmitted together with the image corresponding to the evidenced information. , further comprising a transmission unit for transmitting the evidenced report information to a management device that manages the evidenced report information.

The information processing system according to claim 7 comprises an image reading unit for reading an image representing a voucher, an extracting unit for extracting voucher information related to the voucher from the reading result of the image reading unit, and a Using a storage unit that stores report information in units of predetermined applications, and the degree of correspondence between the evidenced report information stored in the storage unit and the evidenced information extracted by the extraction unit, the evidenced report information is extracted. and an associating unit that associates the documented evidence information.

The information processing program according to claim 8 causes a computer to function as each part of the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 .

According to the information processing apparatus of claim 1, information processing capable of associating the evidence information extracted from the image of the evidence with the registered evidence report information even when the information required for association is insufficient. equipment can be provided.

According to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to obtain the degree of correspondence of the evidenced evidence information to the evidenced report information.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to suppress erroneous association of evidenced evidence information with evidenced report information with a low degree of correspondence.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, when newly creating evidenced report information, it is possible to assign a name that matches the evidenced evidence information.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, it is possible to extract evidenced information to be associated with the evidenced report information from the image.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, it is possible to register the image together with the evidenced information associated with the evidenced report information in the management device.

According to the information processing system of claim 7 , even if the information required for association is insufficient, the information processing is capable of associating the evidence information extracted from the image of the evidence with the registered evidence report information. system can be provided.

According to the information processing program according to claim 8 , information processing capable of associating the evidence information extracted from the image of the evidence with the registered evidence report information even if the information required for association is insufficient. can provide the program.

It is a figure showing a schematic structure of an information processing system concerning this embodiment. 2 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the electrical system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment; FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an electrical system of a relay server, a cloud server, and an information processing terminal device according to the present embodiment; It is a figure for demonstrating the cloud service performed by the information processing system which concerns on this embodiment. FIG. 11 shows an example of an expense report; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of expense entry information; 4 shows an example image of a receipt associated with an expense entry. 3 is a functional block diagram showing functions of an image forming apparatus, a relay server, and a cloud server according to the embodiment; FIG. It is a diagram showing an example of items related to a receipt, such as date, amount, expense item, and location. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen when starting reading a receipt of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment; 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a flow of specific processing performed by the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment;

Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, an information processing system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses, a relay server, and a cloud server are connected to each other via a communication line such as a network will be described as an example. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing system 10 according to this embodiment.

An information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment includes an image forming device 12, a relay server 14 as an information processing device, a cloud server 16, and an information processing terminal device 17, as shown in FIG. Although only one image forming device 12 and one information processing terminal device 17 are shown in this embodiment, a plurality of them may be provided. Also, in this embodiment, an example in which one relay server 14 and one cloud server 16 are provided will be described, but at least one of them may be plural.

Each image forming apparatus 12, relay server 14, and cloud server 16 are connected via a communication line 18 such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), the Internet, an intranet, or the like. Each of the image forming apparatus 12 , the relay server 14 , and the cloud server 16 can mutually transmit and receive various data via the communication line 18 .

In the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment, information such as image information read by the image forming apparatus 12 is transferred to the cloud server 16 designated in advance. Further, when information is transferred from the image forming apparatus 12 to the cloud server 16 , the information is transferred via the relay server 14 .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the electrical system of the image forming apparatus 12 according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 12 according to this embodiment includes a control unit 20 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 20A, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 20B, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 20C. ing. The CPU 20A controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 12. FIG. The RAM 20C is used as a work area or the like when various programs are executed by the CPU 20A. Various control programs, various parameters, and the like are stored in advance in the ROM 20B. In the image forming apparatus 12 , each part of the control unit 20 is electrically connected by a system bus 42 .

On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 12 according to this embodiment includes a HDD (hard disk drive) 26 that stores various data, application programs, and the like. The image forming apparatus 12 also includes a display control unit 28 that is connected to the user interface 22 and that controls display of various operation screens and the like on the display of the user interface 22 . The image forming apparatus 12 also includes an operation input detection unit 30 that is connected to the user interface 22 and detects an operation instruction input via the user interface 22 . In the image forming apparatus 12 , the HDD 26 , display control section 28 and operation input detection section 30 are electrically connected to the system bus 42 . In the image forming apparatus 12 according to the present embodiment, an example in which the HDD 26 is provided will be described, but the image forming apparatus 12 is not limited to this, and may be provided with a non-volatile storage unit such as a flash memory.

Further, the image forming apparatus 12 according to the present embodiment includes a reading control unit 32 that controls an optical image reading operation by the document reading unit 46 and a document feeding operation by the document conveying unit, and image forming by the image forming unit 24. and an image formation control unit 34 that controls processing and conveyance of sheets to the image forming unit 24 by the conveying unit 25 . Further, the image forming apparatus 12 is connected to a communication line 18, and communicates with other external devices such as the relay server 14 and the cloud server 16 connected to the communication line 18, and communicates data with a communication line interface (communication line I). /F) section 36 and an image processing section 44 for performing various image processing. The image forming apparatus 12 also includes a facsimile interface (facsimile I/F) unit 38 that is connected to a telephone line (not shown) and performs transmission and reception of facsimile data with a facsimile device connected to the telephone line. The image forming apparatus 12 also includes a transmission/reception control section 40 that controls transmission/reception of facsimile data via the facsimile interface section 38 . In the image forming apparatus 12 , the transmission/reception control section 40 , reading control section 32 , image formation control section 34 , communication line interface section 36 , facsimile interface section 38 , and image processing section 44 are electrically connected to the system bus 42 . ing.

With the above configuration, the image forming apparatus 12 according to the present embodiment accesses the RAM 20C, the ROM 20B, and the HDD 26 by the CPU 20A. Further, the image forming apparatus 12 controls display of information such as operation screens and various messages on the display of the user interface 22 via the display control unit 28 by the CPU 20A. Further, the image forming apparatus 12 controls the operation of the document reading section 46 and the document conveying section via the reading control section 32 by the CPU 20A. Further, the image forming apparatus 12 controls the operation of the image forming section 24 and the transport section 25 via the image forming control section 34 and the transmission and reception of communication data via the communication line interface section 36 by the CPU 20A. Execute each. Further, the image forming apparatus 12 controls transmission and reception of facsimile data via the facsimile interface section 38 by the transmission/reception control section 40 by the CPU 20A. Further, the CPU 20A of the image forming apparatus 12 grasps the operation content of the user interface 22 based on the operation information detected by the operation input detection unit 30, and executes various controls based on this operation content.

Next, the main configuration of the electrical system of the relay server 14 and the cloud server 16 according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the essential configuration of the electrical system of the relay server 14, the cloud server 16, and the information processing terminal device 17 according to this embodiment. Since the relay server 14 and the cloud server 16 are basically configured as general computers, the relay server 14 will be described as a representative.

Relay server 14 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, includes CPU 14A, ROM 14B, RAM 14C, HDD 14D, keyboard 14E, display 14F, and communication line interface (I/F) section 14G. The CPU 14A controls the operation of the relay server 14 as a whole. Various control programs, various parameters, and the like are stored in advance in the ROM 14B. The RAM 14C is used as a work area or the like when various programs are executed by the CPU 14A. The HDD 14D stores various data, application programs, and the like. Note that the HDD 14D functions as a storage 16D as a storage unit for storing information in the cloud server 16. FIG. The keyboard 14E is used to input various information. The display 14F is used to display various information. The communication line interface unit 14G is connected to the communication line 18 and transmits and receives various data to and from other devices connected to the communication line 18. FIG. Each part of the relay server 14 described above is electrically connected to each other by a system bus 14H. In the relay server 14 according to the present embodiment, an example in which the HDD 14D is provided will be described, but the relay server 14 is not limited to this, and may be provided with another non-volatile storage unit such as a flash memory.

With the above configuration, relay server 14 according to the present embodiment accesses ROM 14B, RAM 14C, and HDD 14D, acquires various data via keyboard 14E, and displays various information on display 14F, using CPU 14A. Also, the relay server 14 controls transmission and reception of communication data via the communication line interface unit 14G by the CPU 14A.

In the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above, receipts as evidence are read, digitized, stored in the cloud server 16, and an expense settlement report for a predetermined application unit is created. Provide an expense settlement service as a cloud service. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a cloud service provided by the information processing system 10 according to this embodiment.

Specifically, the cloud server 16 stores expense reports and expense entries representing the content of expense reports created by the user operating the information processing terminal device 17 or the like. Note that the expense report and expense entry correspond to the documented report information, and the expense report represents an expense report to be applied once. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, it is created once a month as an example of an application unit. do. FIG. 5 shows an example of an expense report, and in the example of FIG. 5 shows a list of expense types included in the December 2017 expense report. The expense entry, as shown in FIG. 6, represents the contents of each expense included in the expense report. An expense entry can be stored in association with an image of a receipt. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of expense entry information. Also, FIG. 7 shows an example image of a receipt associated with an expense entry.

The expense report stored in the cloud server 16 is approved when a content confirmation request or an approval request is made. Approval of the expense report is electronically approved by, for example, operating the information processing terminal device 17 or the like.

Further, the image forming apparatus 12 reads the receipt and transmits electronic receipt information to the relay server 14 .

The relay server 14 performs character recognition processing (so-called OCR (Optical Character Recognition/Reader) processing) on the receipt information using its own device or another server or the like, and extracts the receipt as the voucher information related to the voucher. Extract item information about an item. For example, item information such as date, place, item name, and amount is extracted. In the following description, it is assumed that the character recognition process is performed by the relay server 14, not by another server.

Also, the relay server 14 determines an expense report or expense entry with which the receipt information is associated, and performs a process of registering the receipt information in the associated expense entry or expense report.

Next, the functional configuration of the information processing system 10 for implementing the expense settlement service will be described. FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the information processing system 10 according to this embodiment.

The image forming apparatus 12 executes the functions of the image reading section 50 and the transmitting section 52 by the CPU 20A executing programs stored in the ROM 20B of the control unit 20. FIG.

In the image reading unit 50, the reading control unit 32 controls the document reading unit 46 to read the receipt and generate receipt information.

The transmission unit 52 transmits the receipt information generated by the document reading unit 46 reading the receipt to the relay server 14 via the communication line I/F unit 36 .

The relay server 14 executes the functions of the reception unit 60, the extraction unit 62, the acquisition unit 64, and the association unit 66 by the CPU 14A executing programs stored in the ROM 14B or the HDD 14D.

The receiving unit 60 receives the receipt information transmitted from the transmitting unit 52 via the communication line I/F unit 14G and outputs the received receipt information to the extracting unit 62 .

The extraction unit 62 performs character recognition processing on the receipt information received by the reception unit 60 , extracts item information related to items on the receipt, and outputs the item information to the acquisition unit 64 . For example, as shown in FIG. 9, item information such as date, amount, expense item, and location are extracted. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of item information related to a receipt, such as date, amount, expense item, and location.

The acquisition unit 64 acquires an existing expense report stored in the storage 16D of the cloud server 16 and outputs the existing expense report to the association unit 66. FIG. Also, it acquires the item information related to the item of the receipt extracted by the extraction unit 62 and outputs it to the association unit 66 .

The association unit 66 registers the receipt information in the determined expense report or expense entry by determining the expense report or expense entry with which the receipt information is to be associated and transmitting the determined expense report or expense entry to the cloud server 16 .

Specifically, the association unit 66 sets a correspondence function for calculating the degree of correspondence between the receipt information and the existing expense report. For the correspondence function, for example, correspondence function = {Max [degree of correspondence with existing expense entry (without image)], Ave [degree of correspondence with existing expense entry (with image)], degree of correspondence with report name} . Also, the degree of correspondence is set as follows: degree of correspondence=W1*S (period)+W2*S (location)+W3*S (expenditure item)+W4*S (amount). W1 to W4 represent weighting coefficients, which are 0 depending on the report.

Regarding the degree of correspondence with an existing expense entry (without image), the values of S (period), S (location), S (expense item), and S (amount) match the period, location, expense item, and amount. is calculated as 1, otherwise as 0. If there is an existing expense entry (without image) that matches the period, location, expense item, and amount, the degree of correspondence is high.

Regarding the degree of correspondence with the existing expense entry (with image), the values of S (period), S (place), and S (expense item) for the common period, place, and expense item are set to be high. As a result, expense reports containing many expense entries (with images) similar to receipt information will be more compatible (for example, expense reports containing many expense entries for transportation expenses, and many expense entries with Osaka as the place name). expense reports, etc.).

Regarding the degree of correspondence with the report name, for example, if the report name of the expense report is "Expense Report_February 2018", if the period is from February 1, 2018 to February 28, 2018, S (Period)=1. If the report name is "Osaka Business Trip Settlement Report" and the location is Osaka, then S (place)=1. If the report name is "transportation expense settlement report" and the expense item is transportation expense, then S (expense item)=1.

To calculate the degree of correspondence with existing expense reports, the degree of correspondence with each expense report is obtained using values such as the date, place, expense item, and amount extracted from the receipt information.

The expense report to be associated is determined by calculating the maximum value of the degree of correspondence. If the maximum value of correspondence is higher than a predetermined threshold, it is selected as a corresponding expense report. For example, if the maximum value of the degree of correspondence is greater than or equal to the threshold and the degree of correspondence is based on an existing expense entry (without image), the existing expense entry (with no image) is selected. On the other hand, if the degree of correspondence is not based on an existing expense entry (with no image), the expense entry is added. Also, if the maximum value of the degree of correspondence is lower than a predetermined threshold, a new expense report is created and an expense entry is added. When creating a new expense report, the name of the expense report to be newly created is determined using the item information relating to the item of the receipt. For example, the date of the information related to the item of the receipt is determined as the name of the expense report to be newly created, such as "expense of x month x day".

Next, processing performed by each unit of the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

In the image forming apparatus 12, the user sets the receipt at the reading position of the image reading section 50 of the image forming apparatus 12 and, for example, operates the screen shown in FIG. 10 to start reading the receipt. The example of FIG. 10 shows an example in which automatic selection is selected as report selection. In addition to automatic selection, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, existing reports may be specified manually, or new reports may be created.

When the reading start is instructed, the image reading section 50 reads the image of the receipt and generates the receipt information.

Then, the transmission unit 52 transmits the receipt information generated by the image reading unit 50 to the relay server 14 .

In the relay server 14, when the receipt information is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 12, the process of FIG. 11 is performed. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the flow of specific processing performed by the relay server 14 of the information processing system 10 according to this embodiment. Note that the process of FIG. 11 starts when the receipt information is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 12 .

At step 100 , the receiving section 60 receives the receipt information transmitted from the transmitting section 52 and proceeds to step 102 .

At step 102 , the extraction unit 62 performs character recognition processing from the received receipt information, and proceeds to step 104 .

At step 104 , the extracting unit 62 extracts item information relating to items on the receipt from the character recognition result, and the process proceeds to step 106 .

At step 106 , the acquisition unit 64 acquires an existing expense report from the storage of the cloud server 16 and acquires the extraction result of the extraction unit 62 , and proceeds to step 108 .

At step 108 , the associating unit 66 sets a corresponding function to the existing expense report and proceeds to step 110 . That is, the correspondence function={Max [degree of correspondence with existing expense entry (without image)], Ave [degree of correspondence with existing expense entry (with image)], degree of correspondence with report name} is set.

At step 110 , the associating unit 66 calculates the degree of correspondence using the set correspondence function, and proceeds to step 112 .

At step 112, the association unit 66 determines whether or not there is an expense report whose calculated degree of correspondence is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 114, and if the determination is positive, the process proceeds to step 116.

At step 114 , the associating unit 66 generates a new expense report and associates the receipt information with it, and proceeds to step 118 . The name of the new expense report is determined using the item information for the receipt item. For example, the date of the receipt item information is determined as the name of the expense report to be newly created, such as "expenses for x month x day".

On the other hand, in step 116 , the associating unit 66 associates the receipt information with the existing expense report with the degree of correspondence equal to or higher than the threshold, and the process proceeds to step 118 .

In step 118, the association unit 66 registers the receipt information in the cloud server 16 by returning the associated expense report to the cloud server 16, and the series of processing ends.

In the above embodiment, correspondence functions are set using the degree of correspondence with existing expense entries (without images), the degree of correspondence with existing expense entries (with images), and the degree of correspondence with report names. is not limited to A correspondence function using at least one of the degree of correspondence with the existing expense entry (without image), the degree of correspondence with the existing expense entry (with image), and the degree of correspondence with the report name may be used.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the receipt is explained as an example of the evidence, but the evidence is not limited to the receipt. For example, vouchers such as purchase orders, delivery notes, and contracts may be applied.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the information processing system 10 includes the image forming apparatus 12, the relay server 14, and the cloud server 16. However, the information processing system 10 is not limited to this. For example, the functions of the relay server 14 may be provided in the image forming apparatus 12 or the cloud server 16, and the relay server 14 may be omitted.

Further, the processing performed by each unit (the image forming apparatus 12, the relay server 14, and the cloud server 16) of the information processing system 10 according to the above-described embodiment may be performed by software, or may be performed by hardware. It may be a process that combines the two, or a process that combines both. Further, the processing performed by each part of the information processing system 10 may be stored as a program in a storage medium and distributed.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 information processing system 12 image forming apparatus 14 relay server 16 cloud server 16D storage 50 image reading unit 62 extraction unit 64 acquisition unit 66 association unit

Claims (8)

an acquisition unit that acquires evidence information related to the evidence extracted from the image representing the evidence, and evidence report information that represents the content of a report created for each of the evidences registered in advance in a predetermined application unit;
an association unit that associates the evidenced report information with the evidenced information using the degree of correspondence between the evidenced report information and the evidenced information acquired by the acquisition unit;
including
The association unit obtains from the evidenced information a correspondence function representing a degree of correspondence with respect to the evidenced report information, and associates the evidenced information with evidenced report information for which the correspondence function is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said correspondence function is a function for determining the degree of correspondence of said evidenced information with respect to said evidenced items included in said evidenced report information. If the degree of correspondence is lower than a predetermined degree of correspondence, the association unit newly creates the evidenced report information, and associates the evidenced information with the newly created evidenced report information. 3. The information processing device according to 2. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the evidenced report information is newly created, the association unit determines a name of the evidenced report information to be newly created using the evidenced evidence information. a receiving unit that receives the image;
an extraction unit that extracts the documented evidence information from the image received by the reception unit;
further comprising
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the acquisition unit acquires the documented evidence information extracted by the extraction unit . Claims 1 to 5, further comprising a transmitting unit that transmits the evidenced information associated with the evidenced report information by the associating unit together with the image corresponding to the evidenced report information to a management device that manages the evidenced report information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of items 1 and 2 . an image reading unit for reading an image representing a voucher;
an extraction unit for extracting evidence information related to the evidence from the reading result of the image reading unit;
a storage unit that stores evidence report information representing the content of the evidence report in units of predetermined applications;
an association unit that associates the evidenced report information with the evidenced information by using the degree of correspondence between the evidenced report information stored in the storage unit and the evidenced information extracted by the extraction unit;
Information processing system including; An information processing program for causing a computer to function as each part of the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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