US Patent 6862583 Authenticated secure printing

Authorized printout of an image corresponding to print data received at a print node from a network. The authorized printout comprises encrypting print data by a print node and storing the encrypted print data without printout, receiving authentication of an intended recipient to print the print data, and decrypting the encrypted print data by the print node and printing the decrypted print data by an image forming device, responsive to receipt of authentication in the receiving step. The print node may be the image forming device itself or a gateway to multiple image forming devices. The print node encrypts the print data with either a symmetric key or an asymmetric key.