Patent ID: 8319990

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a print engine that prints data; a data reading unit that reads data from a storage device that stores a plurality of pieces of data, the data reading unit being connectable to the storage device; an input panel that accepts an input password used to decrypt encrypted pieces of data stored in the storage device; a password storing unit that stores the input password; wherein the plurality of pieces of data stored on the storage device can include: unencrypted pieces of data, decryptable encrypted pieces of data that can be decrypted using the stored password, and undecryptable encrypted pieces of data that cannot be decrypted using the stored password; a data decrypting unit that uses the stored password to decrypt some of the encrypted pieces of data; a decrypted data storing unit that temporarily stores the decrypted data; and a re-decrypting unit that decrypts other pieces of encrypted data stored in the storage device by using the stored password, the re-decrypting unit including a data retrieving unit that retrieves a plurality of decryptable encrypted pieces of data from the plurality of pieces of data stored in the storage device; a retrieved encrypted data decrypting unit that decrypts the plurality of retrieved decryptable encrypted pieces of data using the stored password, wherein said printing apparatus is configured so that said storage device can be connected to or disconnected from the printing apparatus while the printing apparatus is operating, wherein the re-decrypting unit also includes: a determined-data printing unit that displays at least one unencrypted piece of data and the plurality of retrieved decryptable encrypted pieces of data on a display unit and controls the print engine to print out at least one of the plurality of decryptable encrypted pieces of data or the at least one unencrypted piece of data based on a selection made from the plurality of decryptable encrypted pieces of data and the at least one unencrypted piece of data without requiring reentry of the password by a user.