Patent ID: 6977745

Claim:
A method for securely controlling the printing of a plaintext document generated by a first source, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a printer via a first communication channel a first key sent by the first source; obtaining at the printer a second key based on communication between the printer and a second source; receiving at the printer from the second source via a second communication channel an encrypted version of the plaintext document that cannot be decrypted at the second source to obtain the plaintext document; decrypting at the printer using the first and second keys the encrypted version of the plaintext document to obtain the plaintext document at the printer; and printing with the printer the plaintext document obtained at the printer via the decrypting at the printer of the encrypted version of the plaintext document; and ensuring that the printer can only print a predetermined number of copies of the plaintext document obtained at the printer via the decrypting at the printer of the encrypted version of the plaintext document; wherein the second communication channel is an electronic communication channel.