Patent ID: 8339639

Claim:
A printing system for storing, accessing, and retrieving data, the printing system comprising: a distributed file system including a number of data storage nodes in operable communication with a network; a first multifunction devices (MFD) in operable communication with the network, the first MFD including: a user interface providing first icons for enabling a user to access a “follow-me in” application and for receiving a print request, wherein after the access of the “follow-me in” application, the MFD generates a “follow-me in” user interface for prompting the user to enter a username, password, and document name and for providing a “document lifecycle tab” for the user to specify properties of the document lifecycle including: a time to live in days, whether or not the document can be stored outside a corporate firewall, a number of times the document can be accessed before being removed, users or roles that may access the document, wherein after receiving input information including the user name, password, document name and the parameters, actuation of a button on the MFD signals an entry of the input information upon actuation of a button and transfers the input information along with hostname information of the first MFD to at least one data storage node included in the distributed file system, wherein the MFD further includes a means to receive a document, the MFD initiating a scan of the document after the collection of the input information and hostname information to the “follow-me documents service, and a processor configured to transfer the scanned document to the at least one data storage node after the predetermined time period; a “follow-me documents service” installed on at least one of a number of data storage nodes included in the distributed file system, wherein the at least one data storage node is configured to store the image of the transferred scanned document a second MFD in operable communication with the network and being configured to be positioned in a different geographical location from the first MFD, the second MFD including: a user interface providing second icons for enabling an authorized user to access a “follow-me out” application and for enabling retrieval of the document, a display for enabling display of a list of documents being stored in the at least one storage node in response to the second application being selected by the authorized user, and a printer for providing the document as output in response to the document being selected from the list.