Document rearrangement system

Claim 2

A computer-processed apparatus for storing electrical document image information representing paper documents in acccordance with a changable rearranging/indexing system and for performing the filing of the document information, characterized in that said apparatus comprises: a memory device (16) for storing a totality of document information; first display means (76) for displaying a piece of document image information to be newly filed; second display means (52) for selectively displaying a first picture image pattern which represents a pictorial illustration of an actual work place in which various types of office equipment (90, 92, 94, 96) commonly used to store the paper documents are arranged and which provides an operator a model image of a local work location of the actual work place, and a second picture image pattern representing one set of filing holders among a plurality of sets of filing holders in the office equipments (90, 92, 94, 96); and control means (20, 40), connected to said memory device (16) and said first and second display means (76, 52), for causing said second display means (52) to display the first picture image pattern, for changing a display screen of said second display means (52) so as to display the second picture image pattern which enlarges and illustrates a set of filing holders contained in one type of office equipment among the various types of office equipment (90, 92, 94, 96) when the operator selects said one type of office equipment upon referring to a conceptual work place image pattern displayed at said second display means (52), for producing electrical code data specifying a holder image pattern component when the operator selects the holder image pattern component, for correlating the document information with the electrical code data, and for storing the document information in said memory device (16).

Claim 3

The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, when subsequent selection of image components representing first and second filing holders each contained in different office equipments is detected while the operator observes the first picture image pattern displayed on said second display means (52), said control means (20, 40) causes said first display means (76) to display desired document information imaginarily filed in the first holder and required by the operator, and changes code data associated with the document information to another code data specifying the second filing holder, thereby making the operator feel as if he is actually changing a filing location of the desired document for document rearrangement at the local work location displayed on said second display means (52).

Claim 4

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by further comprising touch screen means (50), mounted to said second display means (52) so as to cover a display screen of said second display means (52), for detecting that the operator directly touches an area of a desired image pattern component of the picture image patterns and for generating an electrical coordinate signal corresponding to a selected image pattern component.

Claim 5

The apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said control means (20, 40) produces the code data associated with the document information in accordance with the electrical coordinate signal.

Claim 6

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by futher comprising magnetic memory means (48), connected to said control means (20, 40) and said second display means (52), for storing coordinate data to be updated so as to specify display positions of image pattern components on said second display means (52), the image pattern components being adapted to represent the various types of office equipments, including a desk (92) with drawers and a filing cabinet (90) which are represented by the first picture image pattern, and filing holders contained in each office equipment.

Claim 7

The apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said control means (20, 40) controls said second display means (52) such that the holder image pattern components are aligned in accordance with the coordinate data assigned thereto when the filing holders contained in one office equipment is displayed on said second display means (52), whereby display positions of the holder image pattern components are freely changed, just as if the operator was actually changing filing positions in actual filing holders in the actual work place.

Claim 8

A document rearranging system for storing electrical document image information representing paper documents in accordance with a changable rearranging/indexing system and for performing the rearrangement of the document information, characterized in that said system comprises: a plurality of work station units (12) each assigned to an operator, each work station including scanner means (78) for optically scanning a paper document to produce corresponding electrical document image information, first display means (76) for displaying the document information, second display means (50) for selectively displaying a first image pattern which represents a perspective pictorial illustration of an actual work place in which various types of office equipment including a desk (92) with drawers and a filing cabinet (90) are arranged and which provides an operator an image of a local work location of the actual work place, and a second picture image pattern representing one set of filing holders among a plurality of sets of filing holders in the disk drawers and the filing cabinet (90), and first control means (40), connected to said first and second display means (76, 50), for causing said second display means (52) to display the first picture image pattern, for changing a display screen so as to display the second picture image pattern which enlarges and illustrates filing holders contained in one type of office equipment, into which the paper document is to be filed, among the various types of office equipment when the operator selects said one type of office equipment upon referring to a conceptual work place image displayed at said second display means (52), and for producing electrcal code data for specifying a holder image pattern component when the operator selects the holder image pattern component; and a host control unit (10), connected to said work station units (12), for controlling said work station units (12), said host control unit (10) including optical disk memory means (16) for storing a totality of document information entered at said plurality of work station units (12), and second control means (20) for correlating the document information with the code data and for supplying the document information to said optical disk memory means (16), said second control means (20) being arranged to read out the document information from said optical disk memory means (16) in accordance with the code data and to allow said first display means (76) to display the document information when the operator selects the filing holder displayed on said second display means (52) included in any one of said plurality of work station units (12).

Claim 9

A document rearranging system for storing electrical document image information representing paper documents in accordance with a changable rearranging/indexing system and for performing the rearrangement of the document information, characterized in that said system comprises: a plurality of work station units (12) each assigned to an operator, each work station including scanner means (78) for optically scanning a paper document to produce corresponding electrical document image information, first display means (76) for displaying the document information, second display means (50) for selectively displaying a first image pattern which represents a perspective pictorial illustration of an actual work place in which various types of office equipment including a desk (92) with drawers and a filing cabinet (90) are arranged and which provides an operator an image of a local work location of the actual work place, and a second picture image pattern representing one set of filing holders among a plurality of sets of filing holders in the disk drawers and the filing cabinet (90), and first control means (40), connected to said first and second display means (76, 50), for causing said second display means (52) to display the first picture image pattern, for changing a display screen so as to display the second picture image pattern which enlarges and illustrates filing holders contained in one type of office equipment, into which the paper document is to be filed, among the various types of office equipment when the operator selects said one type of office equipment upon referring to a conceptual work place image displayed at said second display means (52), and for producing electrcal code data for specifying a holder image pattern component when the operator selects the holder image pattern component; and a host control unit (10), connected to said work station units (12), for controlling said work station units (12), said host control unit (10) including optical disk memory means (16) for storing a totality of document information entered at said plurality of work station units (12), and second control means (20) for correlating the document information with the code data and for supplying the document information to said optical disk memory means (16), said second control means (20) being arranged to read out the document information from said optical disk memory means (16) in accordance with the code data and to allow said first display means (76) to display the document information when the operator selects the filing holder displayed on said second display means (52) included in any one of said plurality of work station units (12).

Claim 10

The system according to claim 7, characterized by further comprising: data transferring means (14) for performing data transfer between said plurality of station units (12) and said host control unit (10).

Claim 11

The system according to claim 8, characterized in that said second control means (20) supplies to any one of said plurality of work station units (12) desired document information which is read out from said optical disk memory means (16) in accordance with a need of the operator at said any one of said plurality of work station units (12), and allows the operator to freely determine a filing location of the desired document information at said one work station unit, independently of other work station units of said plurality of work station units (12), by properly selecting one of the office equipments contained is a conceptual work space displayed at said second display means (52) thereby performing document rearrangement.

Claim 12

The system according to claim 9, characterized in that said second control means (20) supplies identical document information to at least two work station units of said plurality of work station units (12) when said second control means (20) detects that said at least two work station units require the identical document information, whereby the identical document information stored in said optical disk memory means (16) is assigned with different filing location code data in accordance with different index systems given to operators at said at least two station units.

Claim 13

The system according to claim 10, characterized in that each of said plurality of work station units further comprises a plurality of page memory means (68, 70) connected to said first display means (76), for temporarily storing document information to be displayed on said first display means (76), thereby increasing a screen switching speed of document image information corresponding to one paper document displayed on said first display means (76).

Claim 16

The method according to claim 12, characterized by further comprising the steps of: detecting that the operator sequentially specifies first and second document filing positions on a display screen while referring to the first picture image pattern displayed on said second display device (52); displaying on said first display device (76) document information desired for the operator, which is conceptually stored in said first document filing position; and changing code data correlated with the desired document information to another code data specifying the second filing position, whereby the operator feels as if he has performed a filing job for changing the filing position of the document in accordance with an updated indexing system.