Printed material management system including system and method for controlling a shredder

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12464078-B2
Application number	US-202318167073-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2023
Priority date	Feb 10, 2022
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

A printed material management system includes a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a management program, a server, and a shredder. The management program is configured to cause a controller of a device in which the management program is installed to execute a print data acquisition process of acquiring print data, a generation process of determining a printed material ID, and generating a code by encoding the determined printed material ID, a printing process of printing the code and an image on a page corresponding to the printed material ID, and a transmission process of transmitting, to the server, a print log including the printed material ID and first data indicating that disposal is not completed. In a case where the code is successfully read, the shredder executes a rewriting process of transmitting a rewriting request associated with the printed material ID.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A printed material management system comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a management program; a server; and a shredder, wherein the management program is configured to cause a controller of a device in which the management program is installed to execute:
a print data acquisition process of acquiring print data,
a generation process of determining a printed material ID for each page to be printed based on the print data acquired in the print data acquisition process, and generating a code by encoding the determined printed material ID,
a printing process of printing the code generated in the generation process and an image on a page corresponding to the printed material ID encoded in the code on the same sheet using a printer, and
a transmission process of transmitting, to the server, a print log including the printed material ID and first data indicating that disposal is not completed,
wherein the print log transmitted by the management program is stored in the server, wherein the shredder includes an inlet, a cutter, and a scanner, and wherein the shredder is configured to convey a printed material input from the inlet and execute a reading process of reading the code printed on the printed material using the scanner, wherein, in a case where the code is successfully read in the reading process, the shredder is configured to execute:
a rewriting process of transmitting a rewriting request associated with the printed material ID encoded in the code read in the reading process to the server, and causing the server to rewrite the first data included in the print log corresponding to the printed material ID associated with the rewriting request among print logs stored in the server to second data indicating that disposal is completed; and
a shredding process of shredding the printed material, which is read in the reading process, using the cutter, and
wherein, in a case where the code is not successfully read in the reading process, the shredder is configured to execute:
a discharge process of discharging the printed material subjected to the reading process to the outside of the device without executing the rewriting process and the shredding process and shredding the printed material,
wherein the management program is configured to, in the generation process:
acquire a user ID;
determine the printed material ID including the acquired user ID for each page to be printed based on the print data acquired in the print data acquisition process; and
generate the code by encoding the determined printed material ID, and
wherein the shredder is configured to continuously convey a plurality of printed materials one by one, wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder reads the code from a leading printed material which is a printed material conveyed first among the plurality of printed materials in the reading process, execute a storage process of storing, in a memory, a leading user ID that is a user ID included in the printed material ID encoded in the read code, and wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder reads the code from a subsequent printed material which is a printed material conveyed after the leading printed material among the plurality of printed materials in the reading process and the user ID included in the printed material ID encoded in the read code matches the leading user ID, execute the rewriting process and the shredding process on the subsequent printed material, and wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder reads the code from the subsequent printed material in the reading process and the user ID included in the printed material ID encoded in the read code does not match the leading user ID, execute the discharge process on the subsequent printed material without executing the rewriting process and the shredding process on the subsequent printed material.

2 . The printed material management system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the management program is configured to, in the generation process:
acquire a printer ID for identifying the printer;
determine the printed material ID including the acquired printer ID for each page to be printed based on the print data acquired in the print data acquisition process; and
generate the code by encoding the determined printed material ID, and
wherein the shredder is configured to continuously conveying a plurality of printed materials one by one, wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder reads the code from a leading printed material which is a printed material conveyed first among the plurality of printed materials in the reading process, execute a storage process of storing, in a memory, a leading printer ID that is a printer ID included in the printed material ID encoded in the read code, and wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder reads the code from a subsequent printed material which is a printed material conveyed after the leading printed material among the plurality of printed materials in the reading process and the printer ID included in the printed material ID encoded in the read code matches the leading printer ID, execute the rewriting process and the shredding process on the subsequent printed material, and wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder reads the code from a subsequent printed material which is a printed material conveyed after the leading printed material among the plurality of printed materials in the reading process and the printer ID included in the printed material ID encoded in the read code does not matches the leading printer ID, execute the discharge process on the subsequent printed material without executing the rewriting process and the shredding process on the subsequent printed material.

3 . The printed material management system according to claim 1 , wherein
the management program is configured to, in the generation process:
acquire a first user ID;
determine the printed material ID including the acquired first user ID for each page to be printed based on the print data acquired in the print data acquisition process; and
generate the code by encoding the determined printed material ID,
wherein the shredder includes an input interface and configured to receive an input of a second user ID via the input interface, wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder successfully reads the code in the reading process, determine whether the first user ID matches the second user ID, wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the first user ID matches the second user ID, execute the rewriting process and the shredding process, and wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the first user ID does not match the second user ID, execute the discharge process without executing the rewriting process and the shredding process.

4 . The printed material management system according to claim 1 , wherein
the management program is configured to, in the generation process:
acquire a first printer ID;
determine the printed material ID including the acquired first printer ID for each page to be printed based on the print data acquired in the print data acquisition process; and
generate the code by encoding the determined printed material ID,
wherein the shredder includes an input interface and configured to receive an input of a second printer ID via the input interface, wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the shredder successfully reads the code in the reading process, determine whether the first printer ID matches the second printer ID, wherein the shredder is configured to, in a case where the first printer ID matches the second

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Kusumoto Naoki

Classifications

• H04N1/4473

  Destruction, e.g. shredding of documents · CPC title

• H04N2201/3269

  of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs · CPC title

• H04N2201/3202

  of communication or activity log or report · CPC title

• H04N1/32133

  on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header · CPC title

• B02C25/00

  Control arrangements specially adapted for crushing or disintegrating · CPC title