Patent ID: 7831041

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image reader for reading image data from a document; an inherent information storage for storing inherent information inherent to the image forming apparatus in advance; an encryption key generator for generating an encryption key based on the inherent information stored in the inherent information storage without communicating to the outside of the image forming apparatus; an encryptor for encrypting the image data read by the image reader based on the encryption key generated by the encryption key generator to generate encryption data; an acceptor for accepting an image formation designation to form an image on a recording sheet; a decryption key generator for generating a decryption key based on the inherent information stored in the inherent information storage if the image formation designation is accepted by the acceptor; a decryptor for decrypting the encryption data based on the decryption key generated by the decryption key generator to acquire the image data; and an image forming section for forming the image on the recording sheet based on the image data acquired by the decryptor.