System, computer program product and method for managing documents

A method for managing documents, comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request for a menu from a digital copier;
• sending said menu to said digital copier and displaying said menu on a display screen integrally formed in said digital copier, said menu presenting options allowing a user to perform at least a storage operation;
• receiving a request for storing a document from said digital copier;
• receiving said document, a document type corresponding to said document and an access level corresponding to said document from said digital copier;
• automatically selecting an application service provider to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of application service providers;
• and
• performing the storage operation requested by said digital copier by interacting with said application service provider.

A system for managing documents, comprising:

• means for receiving a request to interact with a remote document manager,
• means for connecting said document manager to a digital copier via a network;
• means for requesting a menu for interacting with said document manager;
• means for receiving said menu;
• and
• means for displaying said menu on a display screen integrally formed in said digital copier, said menu displaying options allowing a user to perform at least operation means, at said digital copier, for receiving a request for storing a document;
• means, at said digital copier, for receiving an access level and document type corresponding to said document;
• means for transmitting said access level, said document type and said document to said document manager;
• and
• means for automatically selecting, at said document manager, a storage location to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of storage locations.

A system for managing documents, comprising:

• means for receiving a request for a menu from a digital copier;
• means for sending said menu to said digital copier and displaying said menu on a display screen integrally formed in said digital copier, said menu presenting options allowing a user to perform at least a storage operation;
• means for receiving a request for storing a document from said digital copier;
• means for receiving said document, a document type corresponding to said document and an access level corresponding to said document from said digital copier;
• means for automatically selecting an application service provider to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of application service providers;
• and
• means for performing the storage operation requested by said digital copier by interacting with said application service provider.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer storage medium and a computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storage medium for causing a computer to manage documents, the computer program code mechanism comprising:
• a first computer code device configured to receive a request to interact with a remote document manager,
• a second computer code device configured to connect a digital copier to said document manager via a network;
• a third computer code device configured to request a menu for interacting with said document manager;
• a fourth computer code device configured to receive said menu;
• and
• a fifth computer code device configured to display said menu on a display screen integrally formed in said digital copier, said menu displaying options allowing a user to perform at least a storage operation;
• a sixth computer code device configured to receive a request for a storage operation;
• a seventh computer code device configured to receive an access level and a document type corresponding to a document;
• and
• an eighth computer code device configured to transmit said document, said document type and said access level to said document manager, which automatically selects a storage location to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of storage locations.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer storage medium and a computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storage medium for causing a computer to manage documents, the computer program code mechanism comprising:
• a first computer code device configured to receive a request for a menu from a digital copier;
• a second computer code device configured to send said menu to said digital copier and display said menu on a display screen integrally formed in said digital copier, said menu presenting options allowing a user to perform at least a storage operation;
• a third computer code device configured to receive a storage request from said remote digital copier;
• a ninth computer code device configured to receive said document and an access level and document type corresponding to said document from said digital copier;
• a fourth computer code device configured to automatically select an application service provider to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of application service providers;
• and
• a fifth computer code device configured to perform the storage operation requested by said digital copier by interacting with said application service provider.

A method for storing a scanned document, comprising the steps of:

• receiving, at an image processing device, menu information;
• displaying said menu information on a display screen integrally formed in said image processing device;
• generating, at the image processing device, image data corresponding to an image scanned at the image processing device;
• receiving, at the image processing device, an access level and document type corresponding to said image data and a request to provide the image data, the document type and said access level to at least one network storage apparatus indicated by the received menu information;
• transmitting the image data, said document type, said access level and the request from the image processing device to a computer remote from the image processing device;
• automatically selecting, at said computer remote from the image processing device, one of the at least one network storage apparatus to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of network storage apparatuses;
• and
• communicating the image data and said access level from the computer to the selected network storage apparatus via a network, based on the received request.

A computer program product comprising a computer storage medium storing a computer program code mechanism which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method for storing a scanned document, comprising:

• receiving user identification information from an image processing device at a computer remote from the image processing device;
• retrieving, at the computer, menu information indicating at least one network storage apparatus based on the received user identification information and displaying said menu information at a display integrally formed in said image processing device;
• receiving, from the image processing device, image data, a document type corresponding to said image data, an access level corresponding to the image data and a request to provide the image data to at least one of the network storage apparatus indicated by the menu information;
• automatically selecting one of the at least one network storage apparatus to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of network storage apparatuses;
• and
• communicating the image data and said access level from the computer to the selected network storage apparatus via a network, based on the received request.

A system for storing a scanned document, comprising:

• an image processing device including a first network interface configured to receive menu information from a computer remote from the image processing device;
• a display integrally formed at the image processing device, configured to display said menu information on a display screen of said image processing device;
• a processor, at the image processing device, configured to generate image data corresponding to an image scanned at the image processing device;
• a user interface, at the image processing device, configured to receive a user request to provide the image data, a document type corresponding to said image data and an access level corresponding to said image data to at least one network storage apparatus indicated by the received menu information;
• the first network interface, at the image processing device, configured to transmit the image data, said document type, said access level and the request from the image processing device to the computer;
• a processor, at the computer, configured to automatically select one of the at least one network storage apparatus to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of network storage apparatuses;
• a second network interface, at the selected network storage apparatus, configured to receive the image data and said access level from the computer, based on the received request;
• and
• a memory, at the selected network storage apparatus, configured to store the received image data and said access level.

A system for storing a scanned document, comprising:

• means for receiving, at an image processing device, menu information;
• means for displaying said menu information on a display screen integrally formed in said image processing device;
• means for generating, at the image processing device, image data corresponding to an image scanned at the image processing device;
• means for receiving, at the image processing device, a request to provide the image data, a document type corresponding to the image data and an access level corresponding to the image data to the at least one network storage apparatus indicated by the received menu information;
• means for transmitting the image data, the document type, the access level and the request from the image processing device to the computer;
• means, at said computer, for automatically selecting one of the at least one network storage apparatus to store said document based on said document type by consulting a table identifying a document type corresponding to each of a plurality of network storage apparatuses;
• and
• means for communicating the image data and said access level from the computer to the selected network storage apparatus via a network, based on the received request.