Systems and methods for monitoring document life cycle and destruction
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for monitoring and managing documents printed by an imaging device, including receiving an electronic copy of a document printed by the imaging device and metadata associated with the document, automatically storing the electronic copy of the document and the associated metadata, associating a time period with the stored electronic copy and the associated metadata, the time period being a time during which the document is available for use. The methods further include automatically sending a notification, after the time period has elapsed, to a user, the notification requesting that the document needs to be destroyed.
1. A method of monitoring one or more documents processed by an imaging device, comprising:
receiving, from an imaging device, an electronic copy of a document printed by the imaging device and metadata associated with the document;
tagging the electronic copy as active;
automatically storing the electronic copy of the document and the associated metadata;
associating a time period with the stored electronic copy and the associated metadata, the time period being a time during which the printed document is available for use;
after the time period has elapsed, automatically sending a notification that the printed document needs to be destroyed; and
receiving by a data storage an indication that the printed document has been destroyed and tagging by the data storage the electronic copy of the document as inactive to indicate that the printed document has been destroyed.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the associated metadata comprises a user identifier corresponding to a user who requested printing of the document.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the time period is determined based on the user identifier.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the associated metadata comprises an imaging device identifier corresponding to the imaging device, wherein the associating the time period comprises associating the time period based upon the imaging device identifier.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automatically sending is performed upon the time period elapsing as measured from a time the document is printed by the imaging device.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the associated metadata comprises a document identifier encoded on each page of the document.
7. A method of managing processed documents, comprising:
maintaining a database containing electronic copies corresponding to documents printed by at least one imaging device;
receiving, by a data storage from a device communicatively coupled to the data storage, a document identifier associated with a page of a printed document recently destroyed;
searching the database for an electronic copy of the page of the printed document corresponding to the received document identifier;
upon finding the electronic copy of the of the page of the printed document, updating the database by tagging the electronic copy of the printed document as inactive to indicate that the page of the printed document corresponding to the document identifier has been destroyed; and
at substantially the same time the database is updated, sending, by the data storage, a confirmation message to a user that the page of the document corresponding to the document identifier has been destroyed.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising automatically sending the confirmation to a second user.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the updating comprises tagging the page of the electronic copy of the printed document as inactive.
10. A device with non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions to:
receive, from a imaging device, an electronic copy of a document printed by the imaging device and metadata associated with the document;
tag the electronic copy as active;
automatically store the electronic copy of the document and the associated metadata;
determine a time period with the stored electronic copy and the associated metadata, the time period being a time during which the printed document is available for use;
after the time period has elapsed, automatically send a notification that the printed document needs to be destroyed; and
receive by a data storage an indication that the printed document has been destroyed and tag by the data storage the electronic copy of the document as inactive to indicate that the printed document has destroyed.
11. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the associated metadata comprises a user identifier corresponding to a user who requested printing of the document, wherein the instructions to determine the time period comprises instructions to determine the time period based upon the user identifier.
12. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the associated metadata comprises an imaging device identifier corresponding to the imaging device, wherein the instructions to determine the time period comprises instructions to determine the time period based upon the imaging device identifier.
13. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions to automatically send is comprises instructions to send the notification as measured from a time the document is printed by the imaging device.
14. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the associated metadata further comprises a document identifier encoded on each page of the printed document.
15. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions include instructions to tag the printed document and the associated metadata as active.
16. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions include instructions to receive an indication that the printed document has been destroyed and tag each page of the electronic copy of the printed document as inactive to indicate that the printed document corresponding to the document identifier has been destroyed.