ENCODED DATA SECURITY MECHANISM

摘要

A method and system for securing and tracing confidential data is describ ed. A request to generate a hardcopy printout is received by a computing dev ice. Document output instructions for the request then are generated and dat a to associate with the document output instructions is determined. Then the determined data is encoded with the generated document output instructions. The encoded data includes information specific to a terminal device associa ted with the request and an identifier representative of a starting position for reading the encoded data. One ore more software modules within a termin al device, an intermediate server, and/or a printer may perform the operatio n of encoding the data. A hardcopy printout includes the content requested t o be printed in addition to the encoded data. The encoded data may appear as representations of noise on one or more pages of the hardcopy printout.