Approach for securely processing an electronic document

• US 8,151,363 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2006
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Smithson, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani, Taghi
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHMAN, MOHAMMAD L
• Application Number:
  US11/520,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20080016548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,029 Days
• Field of Search: 380/51, 726/26, 726/30, 713/189
• US Class Current: 726/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/608 Secure printing

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing an electronic document in a secure manner is provided. A client may verify that the configuration state of a standalone document-processing device has not changed since a prior configuration state by issuing a request to a security server. The security server may process the request to determine whether the configuration state of the standalone document-processing device has changed since the document-processing device was registered with the security server. The security server may also verify that actions performed on the document-processing device. A storage medium of a document-processing device may be protected against unauthorized removal of the storage medium by storing, separate from the storage medium, a password required to access the storage medium, and when the document-processing device is powered on, the password is provided to the storage medium.

Claims

1. A method for determining whether a security configuration state of a document-processing device has changed, comprising:

receiving, at a security server from the document-processing device over a communications network, first security state data that describes a first security configuration state of the document-processing device, wherein the first security state data includes one or more security settings that indicate whether one or more security features are selected for a first security state of the document-processing device, wherein the security server is separate from the document processing device and one or more other document-processing devices and communicates with the document-processing device and the one or more other document-processing devices over the communications network;

receiving, at the security server from the document-processing device over the communications network, second security state data that describes a second security configuration state of the document-processing device, wherein the second security state data is received subsequent to the receipt of the first security state data and wherein the second security state data includes one or more security settings that indicate whether the one or more security features are selected for a second security state of the document-processing device;

the security server comparing the first security state data with the second security state data to determine whether the first security state and the second security state correspond to the same security state of the document-processing device; and

communicating, to a requestor, a message indicating whether the security configuration state of the document-processing device has changed from the first configuration state based on the comparison of the first security state data with the second security state data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first security state data and the second security state data are encrypted when received, and wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting, to the document-processing device, information used in encrypting the first security state data and the second security state data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the document-processing device is a standalone document-processing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the document-processing device is a standalone document-processing device, and wherein the step of receiving the second security state data is performed in response to user input submitted to the document-processing device through a physical interface provided by the document-processing device.

5. A method for verifying activity on a document-processing device, comprising:

receiving, at the document-processing device, a request to process a document and user identification data, wherein the request to process the document specifies one or more actions to be performed on the document and the user identification data specifies one or more users associated with the request to process the document;

the document-processing device transmitting the request to process the document, the user identification data and an electronic copy of the document to a security server over a communications network, wherein the security server is separate from the document-processing device;

the security server generating and storing, based upon the request to process the document and the user identification data, activity data that identifies the one or more users associated with the request and the one or more actions specified in the request to process the document; and

in response to the security server receiving a request to verify activity on the document-processing device, the security server generating, based upon the activity data, a response that indicates at least the one or more users associated with the request and the one or more actions specified in the request to process the document; and

the security server transmitting the response to a sender of the request to verify whether or not the activity occurred at the document-processing device.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for determining whether a security configuration state of a document-processing device has changed, wherein processing of the instructions by one or more processors causes:

receiving, at a security server from the document-processing device over a communications network, first security state data that describes a first security configuration state of the document-processing device, wherein the first security state data includes one or more security settings that indicate whether one or more security features are selected for a first security state of the document-processing device, wherein the security server is separate from the document processing device and one or more other document-processing devices and communicates with the document-processing device and the one or more other document-processing devices over the communications network;

receiving, at the security server from the document-processing device over the communications network, second security state data that describes a second security configuration state of the document-processing device, wherein the second security state data is received subsequent to the receipt of the first security state data and wherein the second security state data includes one or more security settings that indicate whether the one or more security features are selected for a second security state of the document-processing device;

the security server comparing the first security state data with the second security state data to determine whether the first security state and the second security state correspond to the same security state of the document-processing device; and

communicating, to a requestor, a message indicating whether the security configuration state of the document-processing device has changed from the first configuration state based on the comparison of the first security state data with the second security state data.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the first security state data and the second security state data are encrypted when received, and wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the one or more processors further causes:

transmitting, to the document-processing device, information used in encrypting the first security state data and the second security state data.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the document-processing device is a standalone document-processing device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the document-processing device is a standalone document-processing device, and wherein the step of receiving the second security state data is performed in response to user input submitted to the document-processing device through a physical interface provided by the document-processing device.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for verifying activity on a document-processing device, wherein processing of the instructions by one or more processors causes:

receiving, at the document-processing device, a request to process a document and user identification data, wherein the request to process the document specifies one or more actions to be performed on the document and the user identification data specifies one or more users associated with the request to process the document;

the document-processing device transmitting the request to process the document, the user identification data and an electronic copy of the document to a security server over a communications network, wherein the security server is separate from the document-processing device;

the security server generating and storing, based upon the request to process the document and the user identification data, activity data that identifies the one or more users associated with the request and the one or more actions specified in the request to process the document; and

in response to the security server receiving a request to verify activity on the document-processing device, the security server generating, based upon the activity data, a response that indicates at least the one or more users associated with the request and the one or more actions specified in the request to process the document; and

the security server transmitting the response to a sender of the request to verify whether or not the activity occurred at the document-processing device.

11. An apparatus for determining whether a security configuration state of a document-processing device has changed, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes;

receiving, at a security server from the document-processing device over a communications network, first security state data that describes a first security configuration state of the document-processing device, wherein the first security state data includes one or more security settings that indicate whether one or more security features are selected for a first security state of the document-processing device, wherein the security server is separate from the document processing device and one or more other document-processing devices and communicates with the document-processing device and the one or more other document-processing devices over the communications network;

receiving, at the security server from the document-processing device over the communications network, second security state data that describes a second security configuration state of the document-processing device, wherein the second security state data is received subsequent to the receipt of the first security state data and wherein the second security state data includes one or more security settings that indicate whether the one or more security features are selected for a second security state of the document-processing device;

the security server comparing the first security state data with the second security state data to determine whether the first security state and the second security state correspond to the same security state of the document-processing device; and

communicating, to a requestor, a message indicating whether the security configuration state of the document-processing device has changed from the first configuration state based on the comparison of the first security state data with the second security state data.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first security state data and the second security state data are encrypted when received, and wherein processing of the instructions by the one or more processors further causes:

transmitting, to the document-processing device, information used in encrypting the first security state data and the second security state data.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the document-processing device is a standalone document-processing device.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the document-processing device is a standalone document-processing device, and wherein the step of receiving the second security state data is performed in response to user input submitted to the document-processing device through a physical interface provided by the document-processing device.

15. An apparatus for verifying activity on a document-processing device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when processed by the one or more processors, causes;

receiving, at the document-processing device, a request to process a document and user identification data, wherein the request to process the document specifies one or more actions to be performed on the document and the user identification data specifies one or more users associated with the request to process the document;

the document-processing device transmitting the request to process the document, the user identification data and an electronic copy of the document to a security server over a communications network, wherein the security server is separate from the document-processing device;

the security server generating and storing, based upon the request to process the document and the user identification data, activity data that identifies the one or more users associated with the request and the one or more actions specified in the request to process the document; and

in response to the security server receiving a request to verify activity on the document-processing device, the security server generating, based upon the activity data, a response that indicates at least the one or more users associated with the request and the one or more actions specified in the request to process the document; and

the security server transmitting the response to a sender of the request to verify whether or not the activity occurred at the document-processing device.