The present invention relates generally to the field of communications associated with the communication of facsimile messages and associated with the uniting of traditionally distinct message delivery systems such as facsimile delivery and electronic mail delivery.
In earlier patent applications, this inventor has described a Facsimile-to-Electronic mail communication system (also referred to herein as a “fax-to-email system”) (and species embodiments thereof) whereby a facsimile transmission originating at a facsimile device is delivered to its recipient via electronic mail (such as through the “Internet”) rather than via another facsimile device. Those prior applications include U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/937,124, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,345, the specification and drawings of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference, and U.S. (PCT) application sr. no. PCT/IB97/01455, filed Oct. 7, 1997, the specification and drawings of which are incorporated herein in their entirety and, also by pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/364,342, filed Jul. 30, 1999, and pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/235,566, filed Jan. 22, 1999, the specification and drawings of each of which are also incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference The aforementioned documents are collectively referred to herein as the “Incorporated Documents.” The fax-to-email system of those earlier applications, as is generically taught by and understood by reference to the Incorporated Documents, is schematically represented in
The sender-side fax and interface functions 99 comprise a facsimile function, typically in the form of a fax device such as a standard, stand-alone, hardcopy fax machine, or a general purpose computer outfitted with faxed software and a fax modem, or other specialty computer and software-based devices which output to a network in a format and protocol typically understood in the industry to be a fax format and fax protocol. The sender-side fax and interface functions 99 also include, in accordance with the system of the Incorporated Documents, an interface which provides the sender-side 99 with at least the functionality of initiating communication between the FEM-GATEWAY 104 and the sender-side functions 99 (thereby initiating a communication between a server at the FEM-GATEWAY and the fax device (or fax function) of the senderside), and accepting and transmitting via the first communication network a destination address associated with a destination along the second communication network. The interface is primarily software driven and utilizes necessary hardware (for example, input device, display device, CPU, memory, wiring, and chassis) either separate from or shared with the hardware of the facsimile function. In conjunction with at least one of the embodiments of the Incorporated Documents, the interface is almost totally software embodied and resident on computer memory within the fax device (e.g., combined fax and interface device). Sender-side fax and interface functions 99 include, but are not limited to exemplary embodiments shown in the Incorporated Documents, which various arrangements include “in-parallel” separate interface and fax device, integrated fax and interface functions within a singlecase, sharing hardware and representing a software embodied interface function, and “in-series” separate fax device and interface. (Refer to the Incorporated Documents).
The FEM-GATEWAY 104 receives a signal from and communicates with the interface function of the sender-side 99 via the first communication network 98, in accordance with a proprietary protocol, and receives from the sender-side fax function fax image data transported along the first communication network 98, in accordance with a fax protocol. The FEM-GATEWAY 104 receives an e-mail address and the fax image data from the sender-side functions 99, creates an email message (including a “canned” text) addressed to the received e-mail address, attaches the fax as an attachment to the e-mail message and sends the fax/e-mail message along the second communication network 97 to the received e-mail address using the protocol of the second network (for example, an email protocol). The fax (as an email attachment) is received at, for example, a mailbox from which the e-mail message with the attached fax image data may be reviewed or otherwise handled by an appropriate, authorized “receiver” using receiver-side functions 96. A detailed explanation and understanding of these processes is had by reference to the Incorporated Documents.
The sender-side functions of the system of the Incorporated Documents provide for both fax-to-email delivery and fax-to-fax delivery. The fax-to-email delivery, as mentioned above, comprises automatic initiating by the sender-side interface function 99 of communication along the first communication network 98 with the FEM-GATEWAY 104, transmission of the sender-entered email address to the gateway server using proprietary protocol, faxing of a document via a fax protocol to the gateway server, and transmitting the faxed document along the second communication network to the destination of the received email address using an email protocol. The fax-to-fax delivery comprises initiating by the sender-side (fax) function 99 communication with a sender-entered destination (for example, dialing the telephone entered by the sender at the sender-side functions) and communicating using a fax protocol with a fax device (or proxy system) 106r at the sender-entered address along the first communication network.
Briefly described, the present invention comprises a bifurcated interface, including apparatus and methods/processes, for integrated use in a fax-to-email system, and the invention further comprises the enhanced communication system, including apparatus and methods, which results from the integration in the fax-to-email system of the bifurcated interface. In accordance with the present invention, the bifurcated interface provides an alternative or additional method for command entry to the interface of a fax-to-email system through a remote, commercially available, personal digital assistant or like device (all such devices currently known or developed hereafter being collectively referred to herein as “personal data assistant” or “PDA”) modified by software to perform functions of the present invention. Delivery of commands, and other data, from the PDA is made, preferably, via infrared signals, but, alternatively, by direct cable syncing and other techniques known to those in the PDA field. Thus, the interface of the enhanced communication system of the present invention is bifurcated having a portable traveler portion (also referred to herein as the “interface traveler” or “traveler”), embodied by the programmed PDA, and a host portion (also referred to herein as the “interface host” or “host”) in a more permanent connection with the fax function of the fax-to-email system. The PDA, when loaded with and operating the software in accordance with the present invention, functions as the interface traveler portion, and becomes (at least temporarily) a specially programmed data entry tool with command communicating ability and a protocol shared by (or matched to) the interface host portion.
In accordance with the present invention, a user (sender) can prearrange his tasks by entering into the traveler portion email addresses and custom text for email messages while away from the fax device/function, and can later dispatch to their respective recipients these pre arranged e-mails with, as appropriate, corresponding image data of the hardcopy documents In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, the user (sender) can enter at the interface traveler (PDA) either or both of email addresses for destinations on the second communications network and/or telephone numbers of fax destinations on the first communications network (e.g., the public switched telephone network), and upon transmission of the addresses/numbers to the interface host, the host will selectively provide for delivery of the fax from the fax device/function to an email system (through, for example, a fax-to-email system) or prepare the fax function for transmission of the fax to the telephone number received from the interface traveler (referred to herein as a fax-to-fax transmission). As previously mentioned, fax-to-fax transmission is understood to be transmission to line/link associated with a telephone number (or other destination address), with the expectation of delivery via fax protocol to a fax device or its proxy.
In accordance with the communication system aspect of the present invention, the system includes a delivery system for accomplishing fax-to-email transmission, and, alternately, also fax-to-fax transmission. In accordance with at least one embodiment of the enhanced communication system of the present invention, the communication system includes a first communications network, a FEM-GATEWAY, second communications network which function similarly to those components disclosed in the Incorporated Documents, and modified as will be apparent from this disclosure to accomplish the added features of the present invention.
The bifurcated interface and the enhanced communication system, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, provide for and accomplish, at least and without limitation:
Numerous features, objects and advantages of the present invention in addition to those mentioned or implied above, will become apparent upon reading and understanding this specification, read in conjunction with the appended drawings.
Refer now in greater detail to the drawings in which like numerals represent like components throughout the several views and in which lower letter reference numeral suffixes or prime (′) markings differentiate similar (though not necessarily identical) components referred to collectively without such suffixes or prime markings. It will be noted that much of the reference numeral selection in the present drawings conforms with the reference numeral selection in the Incorporated Documents, and like numerals represent like components in the present specification and in the Incorporated Documents, in order that reference might be easily had to similar (though not necessarily identical) components and operations.
Referring again to
Whereas this disclosure depicts certain embodiments of the host portion 402 of the interface 20, it is understood that other embodiments are acceptable, including, without limitation, any or all of the various embodiments disclosed in the Incorporated Documents, modified as would be understood by reference to the present disclosure to accomplish the present invention.
With reference to
The infrared communication between the PDA 400 and the infrared receiver/transmitter 410 follows, in accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the Serial Infrared Link Access Protocol (IrLAP), as would be understood by those skilled in the art The traveler portion 401 includes a software application that runs on a PDA 400 and interfaces with users through the PDA. The PDA, with its native PDA hardware and software, and loaded with and operating under the traveler software, becomes, in accordance with one embodiment, the traveler portion 401. In at least one exemplary embodiment, the interface host 402 acts as the secondary device, while the interface traveler 401 (e.g., programmed PDA 400) acts as the primary device, and the interface traveler 401 controls the physical channel communication between itself and the interface host 402. The traveler 401 and host 402 utilize standard protocol related commands (for example, but not limitation, to establish the connected/unconnected state of the connection between the traveler and host), as well as interface-specific protocol (for example, but not limitation, data stream order, meaning of data bytes, command/response byte interpretation). A plurality of optional or alternate access schemes are provided within exemplary embodiments, including but not limited to the following: (i) the traveler 401 and host 402 can each have an identification number, in order to promote interaction between only selected traveler-host combinations; (ii) only the host 402 has a unique ID, and any traveler 401 users who know the host ID can link; (iii) each traveler 401 (or user) has a unique ID and a plurality of travelers, each with a unique ID can gain access to the same host 402; or (iv) the host has a generic ID, to allow linking by any traveler 401.
Once connection is made between a traveler 401 and host 402, data and commands are exchanged. According to one example, without limitation, the communication between a PDA 400 (traveler 401) and an interface host 402 can be described as follows:
In accordance with one embodiment, upon completion of the transfer of data to the host 402, the traveler 401 sends a command to the host to initiate (or, alternately, the host recognizes completion and automatically initiates) execution of the task by initiating a network connection (as discussed below); and, optionally, a message is displayed for the user (at the stationary display, PDA display, or both), such as “Dialing <address>. Insert related Document in Fax”. According to another embodiment, upon completion of the transfer of data to the host 402, the interface pauses for the user to take action; and, optionally, a message is displayed for the user, such as “Ready to Dial <address>. Insert related Document in Fax and Press ‘GO’”. In exemplary embodiments, when multiple tasks are transmitted from the traveler 401 to the host 402 in a single session, the tasks will be initiated sequentially and either automatically (as first mentioned above in this paragraph) or at the user's initiative (e.g., pressing “GO” for each task). In such multiple task embodiments, displaying of the <address> or other prompting action is helpful to clue the user to insert the proper document in the fax device's tray
In accordance with at least one embodiment of the enhanced communication system of the present invention, the enhanced communication system 90, 90′ (referring again to
The present invention provides flexibility for users to prepare tasks related to transmitting facsimile documents while away from the location of a fax device. A user can enter into the traveler 401, at any time or place, destination addresses (for example, email addresses or telephone numbers) to which it is desired to deliver a fax message. Then, placing related hardcopy documents into the scanner of the fax device/function 106/366b which is associated with the host portion 402 of the fax interface 102′″/366a, the addresses (with optional text data) are communicated from the traveling portion 401 to the host portion 402 via, for example, infrared signals. Subsequently, the scanned image data of the hardcopy document is communicated to the address entered at the PDA/traveler either through fax-to-email or through fax-to-fax, as discussed herein.
Upon receiving an error free transmission from a traveler 401, the interface host 402 initiates a network connection to the first communications network 98. If the destination address entered at the traveler 401 is a destination on the second communication network 97 (that is, for example, an email address), the interface host 402 recognizes the task as a fax-to-email task and initiates a connection to the first communications network 98 by dialing (or using appropriate technique based on the network configuration) the pre-established address (e.g., telephone number) for accessing a server (for example, at the FEM-GATEWAY 104) over the first communications network. If the destination address entered at the traveler 401 is a destination on the first communication network 98 (for example, a telephone number), the interface host 402 recognizes the task as a fax-to-fax task and initiates a connection to the first communications network 98 by dialing (or other appropriate technique) the phone number and releasing the communication line for direct connection of the “call” to the fax function 106. In an alternate embodiment, if the task is to be a fax-to-fax task, the host 402 passes the entered telephone number to the fax device 106, which, in such embodiment, is specially programmed to receive and self dial the received address. In the fax-to-fax task, the intention is to deliver a facsimile to a fax device 106r (or its proxy) on the first communications network. The fax-to-fax mode also finds usefulness in broadcast situations where most addresses are for email (fax-to-email) recipients but some require fax-to-fax delivery.
In the fax-to-email task “mode”, after the host 402 initiates connection to the first communications network 98, the enhanced communication system of the present invention, in accordance with one embodiment, follows a process very similar to the process described in the Incorporated Documents to send the fax image to an e-mail address, yet modified as would be understood by reference to the present disclosure to accomplish the present invention. By way of example, but not limitation, the host 402 initiates an authentication routine with a server on the first network (using proprietary protocol), and processes the transaction with the intent of accomplishing delivery of the facsimile to a recipient's email address along the second communications network 97. One example of the process (es) utilized in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention to accomplish the fax-to-email task is shown in
One goal of bifurcating the interface is the to permit dynamic user independence and a multiple billing options service enhancement as input into the PDA on a per transaction basis, and
Although the transmission between a traveler 401 and a host 402 is described using infrared signals, persons skilled in the art will appreciate the same concept implemented using radio signals or other communication mediums. Furthermore, it is acceptable, though less preferred, that the traveler 401 be a dedicated, specially programmed portable device, rather than the general purpose PDA with the resident traveler program as one of its resident programs. Also, as mentioned previously, alternate embodiments of the present invention provide for a single traveler 401 being able to authenticate to and interact with any of a plurality of hosts 402 in order that a user can prearrange tasks and have the tasks performed at any one of a plurality of sender-side locations. Further, it will be understood that the present invention, by virtue of its feature of accepting and transmitting custom text at the message area 2006 of the traveler 401, can be used to send an email absent a fax; since, in accordance with the invention, the FEM-GATEWAY 104 will generate and send a customized email message from the text transmitted from the host (received from the traveler), even if a fax is not sent to the fax server 110.
While the embodiments of the present invention that have been disclosed herein are the preferred forms, other embodiments of the present invention will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. Therefore, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the present invention and that the scope of the present invention should only be limited by the claims below. Furthermore, the equivalents of all means-or-step-plus-function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or acts for performing the function as specifically claimed and as would be understood by persons skilled in the art of this disclosure, without suggesting that any of the structure, material, or acts are more obvious by virtue of their association with other elements.
The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/681,562, filed Oct. 8, 2003, which application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/723,349, filed on Nov. 27, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,007), which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/229,317, filed Aug. 30, 2000. The disclosures of such prior patents and applications are hereby incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.
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Child | 12369785 | US | |
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