Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Gregory Alton Vaughn

Johnny MacArthur Lewis

Harold C Ockerse

Mark E Hodges

Thomas Stanley Gale

Randall Don Briggs

Richard H Benear

Imaging devices can have mass storage devices associated with them. In a networked environment that allows mounting of a shared resource, these mass storage devices can be viewed or even altered by anyone who can connect to the imaging device. However, unrestricted access may be undesirable. The various embodiments provide methods and apparatus for securing these mass storage devices. Security is variable among different sets of users or external devices attempting access of the mass storage device.

Security for mass storage devices in imaging devices

System, including method and apparatus, for controlling printing device outputs by selectively fulfilling or denying corresponding output requests based on the class of each output request. The class may be determined by the type of each request and/or the specific input port through which each request is received.

Control of outputs from a printing device

A system and method dynamically allocate memory to a RAM disk. Upon a file transfer to the RAM disk, a device driver determines an amount of memory required by the RAM disk then requests the required amount of memory from a memory manager. As files are deleted from the RAM disk, the memory is released from the RAM disk by informing the memory manager of the addresses of the memory to be released. Sector freelists tracks each cluster of memory allocated to the RAM disk. When a sector becomes inactive, a corresponding bit in a sector freelist indicates the inactive status of the sector. When all of the sectors in a cluster are inactive, the cluster is released for the RAM disk.

Dynamic RAM disk

Apparatus for writing compressed data to a storage device having multiple storage areas. The apparatus identifies one or more storage areas to receive the compressed data based upon the compression ratio of the compressed data and the characteristic transfer rates of the storage areas. The apparatus then writes the compressed data to the Identified storage areas. This is accomplished so that when the compressed data is later read, the storage device has at least a minimum output rate. The storage device may, for example, be a disk storage unit for a laser printer. The compressed data may be compressed video data describing a document to be printed.

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Meridian, ID, United States of America

Gregory Alton Vaughn