Patent ID: 7969619

Claim:
A computer-executable information tracking method, comprising: a first detecting step of, whenever an input or an output of information is performed using a paper as a medium, detecting paper identification information, uniquely identifying the paper, from the paper; a storing step of associating the paper identification information with information regarding the input or the output of the information and storing the paper identification information and the information regarding the input or the output of the information in a recording device; a second detecting step of detecting the paper identification information of a designated paper to detect the information regarding the input or the output of the information from the designated paper; and an information searching step of searching for information regarding the input or the output of the information of the designated paper by comparing the paper identification information of the designated paper with the paper identification information stored in the recording device, wherein: in the first detecting step, when information is copied from an original or copied to a copy using a paper as a medium, both the paper identification information of the original and the paper identification information of the copy are detected; in the storing step, the paper identification information of the original and the paper identification information of the copy are associated with each other and then stored; and in the information searching step, based on the association of the paper identification information of the original and the paper identification information of the copy, information regarding the input or the output of the information of the original and the copy of the designated paper is further searched for.