Facsimile and static presentation processing – Facsimile – Auxiliary signal
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-21
2004-08-31
Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Facsimile
Auxiliary signal
C358S405000, C358S407000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06785021
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of this invention is telecommunications systems used in connection with facsimile transmissions. More specifically, this invention relates to a system and method for enhancing ease of facsimile transmissions and providing features relative to facsimile transmissions not heretofore available.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The electronic transmission of documents by way of facsimile (fax) systems employing public and private switched telephone networks has become both commonplace and, often, an essential component in many business activities. In such a setting, it is very common for the fax terminals (fax machines) to be kept quite busy during a major fraction of the business day. Moreover, where sender and recipient are in different time zones, the “business day” can approach 24 hours, particularly in international activities. It is common for fax users to “broadcast” documents to a number of different recipients, that is, send the same message to several different fax machines. It is also true that the contents of some faxed documents are of such a sensitive nature that the originator or addressee would like to have a measure of control over who might see those documents as they move from the receiving machine to the hands of the actual addressee.
These circumstances present a number of practical problems for a fax user. In order to make a successful fax transmission it is necessary that the receiving machine be available at the time that the transmitting machine attempts to contact it. If the receiving machine is already in use handling another message, the transmitter will receive a “busy” signal. The originator's only recourse is to continue initiating telephone calls until contact can be established. This is a “hit or miss” process at best and can be very wasteful of the originating operator's time.
Some, rather expensive, fax machines have digital memories which will allow them to memorize the document to be transmitted and to be programmed to make multiple redials in an effort to establish contact in an automatic way. However, this is limited to only one or two documents and, more importantly, it ties up the transmitting machine until the effort is successful or abandoned. This is hardly an acceptable solution if that machine has other documents to send or receive.
There are other conditions which can result in a failure to transmit even though a telephone connection has been established. Perhaps the most common of these is the absence of paper in the receiving machine. In such situations, repeated attempts to “redial” will lead to repeated toll charges with each attempt, with no actual success until the receiving machine is serviced (which may be some time if the machine is operating unattended because it is nighttime half-way around the world).
Busy machines which-are destined to receive messages are affected by the converse problem. Since they and the prospective transmitting machines must engage in (perhaps, automated) “telephone tag”, they are used very inefficiently. When a transmitting machine gets a busy signal, even if it automatically redials, it can only guess at when the receiving machine will be available. Thus, the receiving machine will likely remain idle for some fraction of the time until such an attempt is made.
The practice of broadcasting documents to a number of addressees obviously compounds these problems and adds still others of its own. Even if one does not encounter busy signals or impaired machines, convenient broadcasting demands an expensive memory-type fax machine on the transmitting end. Such machines read in the document once and then proceed to automatically dial the various recipient machines. This process ties up the sending machine and its telephone line and makes them unavailable for incoming calls. This, of course, exacerbates the busy signal problem for those units trying to contact the sending machine.
The security of sensitive documents is still another problem. Once contact is established between two fax machines, the transmission of the document proceeds automatically, irrespective of who may be standing by the receiving machine at the time. In a busy office, the contents of these documents are accessible to the fax operator and anyone else who happens to be in the vicinity.
It is also common for individuals to wish to deliver fax documents to a recipient who is not currently available through a known machine (e.g. a person on a business trip). This is a very inconvenient situation in that it requires that the paper documents be held until the traveler phones in from a remote machine. It further requires that there be someone available at that time who has knowledge of and access to the documents intended for the recipient.
Another concern is related to so-called paperless fax terminals. In recent years, paperless fax techniques allow a computer or a micro-processor equipped with specific software and modem to directly transmit and receive facsimile messages. However, it is also very common that the recipient is not in his or her office (the paperless fax terminal may also be located at home) at the time when fax message is coming. For example, the recipient is out to lunch or otherwise absent from his or her office or home. This requires the sender to retry the communication message delivery again and again if there is no other fax machine available in the office.
Still another concern is adequate accounting control over the billing of calls. Typically, many businesses wish to be able to track the costs of both fax machine use and the associated telephone charges. While telephone charges can be ascertained from telephone company records, in the present environment these must be related to records of the number of pages transmitted per call and so forth, separately maintained by the fax machine or its attendants.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The objects of this invention are to address these many shortcomings of present fax systems and to provide an integrated system for their solution. Furthermore, the intention is to achieve this in a way which is fundamentally compatible with existing fax terminal machines. The basic approach is to provide special computer-based fax Store And Forward Facilities (SAFF's ) as an integral part of a switched telephone network system. All fax transmissions entered into the network are routed to such a facility, typically geographically near the originating machine, where they are temporarily stored or “spooled” by the computer in a mass storage buffer, such as a magnetic disk.
The fax message from the originating machine is intended for a destination machine, which may or may not be in a position to immediately answer the call. If the destination machine is within the service region of that SAFF, the system then proceeds to attempt to call the destination fax machine. If the destination machine is within the service area of a different SAFF, the system forwards the fax document data to that facility by long-distance lines, in which case this second facility attempts to call the destination machine. In either case, if contact is established and the message is delivered immediately, the system directs a printed report back to the originating fax machine confirming delivery to the destination machine, and other pertinent data.
If, on the other hand, the delivery cannot be completed immediately due to a busy signal, a machine fault (eg, receiving machine out of paper) or any other reason, the spooled document is saved and the system makes periodic attempts to contact the destination machine and complete the transmission.
In the meantime, the system sends a printed report back to the originating machine acknowledging that the message has been entered into the system, indicating the reason the delivery is being delayed, stating the protocol the system will take to deliver the message, and providing a reference number or “Message Code” which identifies the message and may be used at a later time to trace the status of the document.
Placing the delivering spoolin
Gordon Richard J.
Kennedy James R.
Audiofax IP, LLC
Grant II Jerome
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC
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