| US 7,587,677 B2 | ||
| Workflow management apparatus and method | ||
| Kensaku Yamamoto, Saitama (Japan); Satoshi Imago, Kanagawa (Japan); and Hiroyasu Kurose, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Aug. 19, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/921,340. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2003-301777 (JP), filed on Aug. 26, 2003; and application No. 2004-232296 (JP), filed on Aug. 09, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0091600 A1, Apr. 28, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 3/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 715—752 [709/206] | 25 Claims |
| 1. A computer-readable recording medium storing a workflow function addition program for causing a computer to execute a method,
the method comprising the steps of:
displaying a list of work items on a screen of the computer on a first region within a user interface area of an e-mail program,
said e-mail program providing the user interface for a user to send and receive e-mail messages and being stored on the computer;
changing a display state of the list of the work items displayed in said displaying a list of work items; and
obtaining a form template from a workflow management system after a user selects one of the displayed work items, said workflow
management system is configured to manage a process related to a workflow and is external to the computer; and
displaying a second region within the user interface area of the e-mail program for processing the one of the work items on
the screen of the computer based on the form template obtained from the workflow management system, wherein a user can edit
the one of the work items within the second region by entering data into the form template to complete the one of the work
items within the e-mail program user interface area without separately starting an application for workflow management.
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