Patent ID: 8649040

Claim:
A printing method for printing, at an image forming device, a file which is stored in a memory of an external storage device attached to the image forming device through an interface, comprising: a first receiving step of receiving, at the image forming device, printing instruction information from a print instructing device provided outside the image forming device, wherein the printing instruction information includes first print instructing device information that specifies the print instructing device which issued the printing instruction information; a second receiving step of receiving, from the external storage device, through the interface, second print instructing device information, stored on the external storage device, and that specifies a print instructing device for printing of the file; a determining step of determining at the image forming device whether the first print instructing device information included in the printing instruction information received from the print instructing device outside the image forming device is identical to the second print instructing device information received from the external storage device, through the interface and that specifies a print instructing device; and a printing step of printing the file stored on the external storage device with the image forming device based upon the printing instruction information, when it is determined in the determining step that the first print instructing device information is identical to the second print instructing device information.