Image reading apparatus, electronic document generation method, and storing medium storing electronic document generation program

Abstract

An image reading apparatus which reads an original document and generates a digitized scanned document, and which includes a document storage section that stores the scanned document, a document bundling section that identifies one or more scanned documents stored by the document storage section, and bundles the identified documents into one document, and a time stamp affixing section that creates a digital signature of the document bundled by the document bundling section, and affixes a time stamp.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram giving an example of the electronic document generation method including the scanner of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a drawing giving an example of instruction document written for time stamping processing in the time shift mode;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of operation for document scanning processing; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation for time stamping processing in the time shift mode.

Claims

1. An image reading apparatus that reads an original document and generates a digitized scanned document, comprising: a document storage section that stores the scanned document,a document bundling section that identifies one or more scanned documents stored by the document storage section, and bundles the identified documents into one document, anda time stamp affixing section that creates a digital signature of the document bundled by the document bundling section, and affixes a time stamp.

2. The image reading apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a process start condition management section that manages a condition for a start of the processes by the document bundling section and the time stamp affixing section,a process execution section that, when the condition for the start of the processes managed by the process start condition management section is met, controls the document bundling section and the time stamp affixing section to start the processes of bundling the identified documents and creating the digital signature.

3. The image reading apparatus of claim 2, wherein the condition for the start of the processes is that a number of the scanned documents stored in the document storage section becomes a prescribed value or more.

4. The image reading apparatus of claim 2, wherein the condition for the start of the processes is that a total data size of the scanned documents stored in the document storage section exceeds a specific data size.

5. The image reading apparatus of claim 2, wherein the condition for the start of the processes is that a user's instruction for the start is detected.

6. The image reading apparatus of claim 1, wherein the digital signature by the time stamp affixing section is a digital signature that is based on a digital certificate issued for the image reading apparatus.

7. An electronic document generation method, comprising: storing, by a document storage section, a scanned document,identifying one or more scanned documents stored by the document storage section,bundling, by a document bundling section, the identified scanned documents into one document, andcreating a digital signature of the bundled document, and affixing a time stamp by a time stamp affixing section.

8. The electronic document generation method of claim 7, further comprising: managing a condition for starting the processes by the document bundling section and the time stamp affixing section, andcontrolling the document bundling section and the time stamp affixing section to start the processes, when the managed condition for starting of the processes is met.

9. A storage medium readable by a computer, the storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a function for causing the computer to execute an electronic document generation process in an image reading apparatus that reads an original document and generates a digitized scanned document, the function comprising: storing the scanned document,identifying one or more scanned and stored documents for bundling the identified documents into one document, andcreating a digital signature of the bundled document and affixing a time stamp thereto.