Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer conferencing – Demand based messaging
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-24
2001-05-29
Lim, Krisna (Department: 2153)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer conferencing
Demand based messaging
C370S389000, C370S390000, C370S432000, C379S090010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240445
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the integration of computer networks and telecommunication services and, more particularly, to the provision of facsimile services, and especially reception, within a computer network.
BACKGROUND
With the present commercialization of a computer network of networks, commonly referred to as the internet, a variety of businesses have started to offer electronic mail (e-mail) and other services for computer users. In general, e-mail provides a rapid and relatively inexpensive means of communications between computer users. In some sectors, e-mail communication is rapidly replacing traditional telephone and facsimile communication.
One problem with e-mail communications, however, is that relatively large files may not be easy to share between users. For example, large files are often included as attachments to e-mail messages. These attachments, if they exceed a certain size, may be stripped off by e-mail gateways, e.g., located at the front-end of a computer network system, before the message is passed to its ultimate destination. As a result, the ultimate recipient may not receive the intended message.
Another problem with e-mail messages transmitted via the internet is that important formatting information may be lost during transmission. For example, tabular data may be reorganized during transmission such that the recipient must reorganize the data into its proper tabular form before the message can be clearly understood. So too, graphic information may be lost and/or distorted during transmission.
Traditional facsimile messages avoid these problems. For example, facsimile messages transmitted across telephone lines retain all the formatting and graphical information of the original message. Also, there is no danger of portions of a facsimile message being stripped off by a gateway prior to reception. Despite these advantages, however, facsimile reception usually requires a dedicated telephone line for connection to the receiving facsimile machine. In a large corporation or other office, it is impractical to provide each member of the office with dedicated facsimile reception capabilities, thus, facsimile services are shared amongst a number of users. This poses a problem where confidential information is to be received by facsimile. There can be no guarantee that the intended recipient of the facsimile message will be the only one who will observe the confidential facsimile message.
Presently, some vendors do offer partial integration of facsimile services and e-mail services. However, in these systems, users must each be assigned individual telephone numbers, thus leading to difficulties where a large number of users must be accommodated. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system which combines the advantages, while avoiding the disadvantages, of facsimile message and e-mail communications within a single system.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides, in one embodiment, a method which includes notifying a user of a shared telephone number of a received message destined therefor by sending a notification message to the user. The user may be notified via e-mail, a call to a telephone, cellular telephone, voicemail box and/or pager number or address, or by way of a message to another communication device and/or address. In any event, however, the user is preferably identified by a unique identifier appended to the shared telephone number.
The notification message may comprise an independent message announcing receipt of the facsimile message (e.g., a “you have a fax” message in voice and/or data form), an attachment which includes the facsimile message, or the notification message may comprise a computer network address of a location where the received message may be accessed. For the latter case, the computer network address is preferably a universal resource locator (URL) associated with a web page at which the received message may be accessed. The received message may be accessed by allowing the user to view the message, or it may be accessed by allowing an user to down-load the message in one of a number of forms. For example, the message may be down-loaded to a hard copy output device, e.g., a receiving facsimile machine or printer, or it may be down-loaded to a storage medium for later retrieval by the user. In still further embodiments, the notification message may comprise the received message itself, e.g., where the message is relatively small.
In a further embodiment, the present invention provides a method which includes sharing a single telephone number among a plurality of facsimile users by providing unique identifiers for each of the users appended to the single telephone number. In this embodiment, each of the unique identifiers may be used to identify facsimile messages received at a facsimile reception station associated with the single telephone number as being destined for an associated one of the plurality of facsimile users. The identification of facsimile messages received at the facsimile reception station may be accomplished by mapping the unique identifiers to associated communication addresses of the facsimile users. This may be accomplished, for example, using a look-up table which associates each of the unique identifiers with a corresponding one of the communication addresses of the facsimile users (e.g., an e-mail, telephone, cellular telephone, voicemail box and/or pager number or address). The facsimile users may be notified of a received facsimile message by the transmission of a notification message to the appropriate facsimile user at the user's associated communication address. The notification message may comprise a receipt message, the received facsimile message itself, e.g., where the received facsimile message is relatively small, or it may comprise an attachment which includes the received facsimile message. Preferably, however, the notification message comprises a computer network address (e.g., a URL) specifying a location (e.g., a web page) at which the received facsimile message may be accessed. Upon receipt of the notification message, the user may access the received facsimile message, e.g., by visiting the web page identified by the URL provided in the notification message.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a computer which includes receiving circuitry for receiving a number of facsimile messages, each destined for different recipient. Coupled to the receiver circuitry is an identification unit which is configured to associate each received facsimile message with an appropriate one of the different recipients. A notification unit is configured to transmit a notification message to the appropriate one of the different recipients upon receipt of a facsimile message destined therefore. The notification message may be in the form of any voice and/or data message. In one case, for example, the notification message may be an alphanumeric message transmitted via e-mail and may comprise a receipt notification (e.g., “You have a fax.” or a similar message), the facsimile message itself, an e-mail attachment which includes the facsimile message, or a computer network address (e.g., a URL) which identifies or specifies a location (e.g., a web page) at which the received facsimile message may be accessed. The URL may identify a web page associated with the computer or a web page associated with some other storage device. In general, the identification unit of the computer comprises a mapping function configured to receive a unique identifier associated with an intended one of the different recipients and to provide therefrom a communication address of the intended recipient. The mapping function may be embodied in a look-up table stored in the computer (e.g., in volatile or non-volatile memory). Thus, the notification unit may be configured to transmit the notification message to the communication address provided by the mapping function. The computer may also include a storage archive for received facsimile messages and the notification mes
Choksi Himanshu
Kumar Siva V.
Blakely , Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Lim Krisna
Openware Systems Inc.
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