Secured electronic document and method of validating the same

摘要

The present invention relates to a secured electronic document and method of validating the same. A security key is generated when the electronic document is generated and a printer driver is invoked to print out the encrypted document, and the security key is saved to a key manager over the network. When the secured electronic document or encrypted document is circulated to other persons or downstream processing units, the document recipients can request the security key from the key manager through the network link to check whether the encrypted document is the original copy. The security key may contain the document identification number, the serial number of the printer, the printer profile or printing status.