Disposal apparatus, disposal system, and disposal method

Abstract

A disposal apparatus comprises: a disposal processing section that disposes of a recording medium; an authentication information acquiring section that acquires authentication information to be used for authenticating a user of the disposal apparatus; a disposal processing control section that permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figure, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a document management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a document generation apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a document management apparatus;

FIG. 4 schematically shows an exemplary mechanism of a manual-feed-type document disposal apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a document tray unit;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of the manual-feed-type document disposal apparatus;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary manner of generation of a document;

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary document management table;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a processing procedure of the manual-feed-type document disposal apparatus;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary user information table; and

FIG. 11 shows the configuration of a document management system according to another embodiment of the invention.

Claims

1. A disposal apparatus comprising: a disposal processing section that disposes of a recording medium;an authentication information acquiring section that acquires authentication information to be used for authenticating a user of the disposal apparatus; anda disposal processing control section that permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section.

2. The disposal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a restricting section that restricts insertion of the recording medium into the disposal processing section, wherein the disposal processing control section performs a control that permits or prohibits disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section by controlling operation of the restricting section based on the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section.

3. The disposal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sending section that sends the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section to a management apparatus, wherein the disposal processing control section performs a control for permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on a reply that is sent from the management apparatus in response to the authentication information sent by the sending section and that indicates permission or prohibition of disposal processing.

4. The disposal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an identification information acquiring section that acquires identification information for identification of the recording medium, wherein the disposal processing control section performs a control for permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring section and the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section.

5. The disposal apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a sending section that sends the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section to a management apparatus, and a reply holding section that holds a reply that is sent from the management apparatus in response to the authentication information sent by the sending section, wherein the disposal processing control section performs a control for permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring section and the reply held by the reply holding section.

6. The disposal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is a document ID.

7. The disposal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein charging for the disposal is performed based on the authentication information.

8. A disposal system comprising: a disposal apparatus comprising a disposal processing section that disposes of a recording medium; and a management apparatus that performs disposal management on the recording medium, wherein the disposal apparatus further comprises:an authentication information acquiring section that acquires authentication information to be used for authenticating a user of the disposal apparatus;a sending section that sends the authentication information acquired by the authentication information acquiring section to a management apparatus; anda disposal processing control section that permits or prohibits disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on a reply that is sent from the management apparatus in response to the authentication information sent by the sending section and that indicates permission or prohibition of disposal processing, andwherein the management apparatus comprises a reply sending section that sends the reply to the disposal apparatus.

9. The disposal system according to claim 8, wherein the disposal apparatus further comprises a restricting section that restricts insertion of the recording medium into the disposal processing section; andthe reply sent by the reply sending section of the management apparatus is a control signal for the restricting section.

10. The disposal system according to claim 8, wherein the disposal apparatus further comprises an identification information acquiring section that acquires identification information for identification of the recording medium,the sending section of the disposal apparatus sends the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring section to the management apparatus, andthe reply sending section of the management apparatus sends a reply indicating permission or prohibition of disposal processing to the disposal apparatus based on the identification information and the authentication information sent by the sending section of the disposal apparatus.

11. The disposal system according to claim 8, wherein the disposal apparatus further comprises identification information acquiring section that acquires identification information for identification of the recording medium; andthe disposal processing control section performs a control for permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium by the disposal processing section based on the reply from the management apparatus and the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring section.

12. The disposal system according to claim 8, further comprising an authentication information management apparatus that manages authentication-information, wherein the management apparatus acquires information relating to the authentication information from the authentication information management apparatus based on the authentication information sent by the sending section of the disposal apparatus,wherein the reply sending section sends a reply indicating permission or prohibition of disposal processing to the disposal apparatus based on the acquired information relating to the authentication information and the identification information sent by the sending section.

13. A disposal method for disposing of a recording medium, comprising: acquiring authentication information to be used for authenticating a user of a disposal apparatus; andperforming a control for permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium based on the acquired authentication information.

14. A disposal method for disposing of a recording medium, comprising: acquiring authentication information to be used for authenticating a user of a disposal apparatus;acquiring identification information for identification of the recording medium; andperforming a control for permitting or prohibiting disposal of the recording medium based on the acquired authentication information and the acquired identification information.