Instruction file execution device and method, recording medium, and job flow system

A job flow system comprising:

• a fee information management device that receives fee information, and sequentially performs an addition of the received fee information;
• and
• an instruction file execution device including:
• a receiver that receives an instruction file that has a job flow described therein defining a cooperative linkage among jobs, and that instructs execution of predetermined processing of document data, and receives the document data when required;
• a determination section that determines whether any of the jobs being handled supplies information to a user based on the instruction file received by the receiver;
• a job execution section that executes the job being handled with respect to the document data received by the receiver;
• and a transmission section that transmits information, wherein when the determination section determines that the job being handled does not supply information to a user,
• the transmission section transmits, to an execution destination of any of the jobs subsequent to the job being handled, the instruction file and the document data with respect to which the job being handled has been executed, and transmits, to the fee information management device, fee information of the job being handled.

A job flow system comprising:

• the instruction file execution device including:
• a receiver that receives an instruction file that has a job flow described therein defining a cooperative linkage among jobs, and that instructs execution of predetermined processing of document data, and receives fee information and the document data when required;
• a determination section that determines whether any of the jobs being handled supplies information to a user based on the instruction file received by the receiver;
• a job execution section that executes the job being handled with respect to the document data received by the reception section;
• a fee calculator that adds fee information for the job being handled and fee information received by the receiver to derive new fee information;
• and a transmission section that transmits information, wherein when the determination section determines that the job being handled does not supply information to a user, the transmission section transmits, to an execution destination of any of the jobs subsequent to the job being handled, the instruction file, the document data with respect to which the job being handled has been executed, and fee information derived by the fee calculation section;
• a fee collection device being handled of fee collection;
• and
• an instruction device that transmits, to the instruction file execution device, fee information about a fee collected by the fee collection device, and the instruction file.

An instruction file execution method comprising:

• receiving an instruction file that has a job flow described defining a cooperative linkage among jobs and that instructs execution of predetermined processing of document data, and receives fee information and the document data when required;
• determining whether any of the jobs being handled supplies information to a user based on the received instruction file;
• executing the job being handled with respect to the received document data;
• adding fee information for the job being handled and received fee information to derive new fee information;
• and
• transmitting, when the job being handled is determined as not supplying information to a user, the instruction file, the document data with respect to which the job being handled has been executed, and the derived fee information, to an execution destination of any of the jobs subsequent to the job being handled.

A recording medium storing a program executable on a computer, being operable to instruct the computer to:

• receive an instruction file that has a job flow described therein defining a cooperative linkage among jobs and that instructs execution of predetermined processing of document data, and receive information and the document data when required;
• determine whether any of the jobs being handled supplies information to a user based on the received instruction file;
• execute the job being handled with respect to the received document data;
• add fee information for the job being handled and the received fee information to derive new fee information;
• and
• transmit, when the job being handled is determined as not supplying information to a user, the instruction file, the document data with respect to which the job being handled has been executed, and the derived fee information, to an execution destination of any of the jobs subsequent to the job being handled.