Patent ID: 7783885

Claim:
A computer implemented method executed in a workflow system as part of a workflow within the workflow system, comprising: generating an electronic document in a workflow system for use with an external entity that does not exchange electronic documents with the workflow system, the electronic document having text content, the electronic document further having a human-readable document appearance representing the text content; attaching one or more approval codes to the electronic document, such that when the document is printed, each approval code generates a unique approval mark; converting the text content into a canonical form, wherein the text content is in an unambiguous reading order; generating control codes for the electronic document as part of a workflow in the workflow system, the control codes including one or more first control codes that each correspond to a respective approval code, wherein the one or more first control codes authenticate the approval mark associated with the respective approval code, and one or more second control codes generated from the canonical form of the text content, wherein the one or more second control codes authenticate the text content and wherein the canonical form of the text is encrypted with a private key, the private key having an associated public key certificate for retrieving a public key associated with the private key; and creating a print out of the electronic document, the print out having two or more physical pages and including: a full-sized version of the human-readable document appearance representing the text content, the unique approval mark corresponding to each of the one or more approval codes, the one or more first control codes being usable to authenticate one or more respective approval marks, and the second control codes being usable to validate the text content of the print out, each second control code corresponding to the text content on a page of the two or more physical pages of the print out, each page of the print out having a unique second control code corresponding to the text content on the page; sending the print out to the external entity; receiving a modified print out at the workflow system back from the external entity, the modified print out comprising the print out sent to the external entity with a modification; validating the modified print out within the workflow system using the one or more control codes; integrating the validated and modified print out into the workflow; and continuing the workflow for the validated print out within the workflow system.