High-definition facsimile routing

• US 10,666,835 B2
• Filed: 07/03/2019
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biscom Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Biscom Incorporated
• Inventors: Ho, S.K., Mainemer, Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): Worku, Negussie
• Application Number:
  US16/502,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20190327388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 328 Days
• Field of Search: 358 115, 358 116
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00095 Systems or arrangements for the transmission of the picture signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0022 involving facsimile protocols or a combination of facsimile protocols and computer data transmission protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32 Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device H04N1/38, H04N1/387 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32406 in connection with routing or relaying, e.g. using a fax-server or a store-and-forward facility stored and forward data switching systems H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3935 with modification of image resolution, i.e. determining the values of picture elements at new relative positions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6058 Reduction of colour to a range of reproducible colours, e.g. to ink- reproducible colour gamut
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0093 Facsimile machine H04N2201/0094 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/33357 Compression mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/33378 Type or format of data, e.g. colour or B/W, halftone or binary, computer image file or facsimile data

Abstract

A high-definition (HD) fax system routes outbound fax job requests including a high-resolution component to appropriate destinations, including among HD-enabled receiving devices and conventional fax devices. If it is determined that a fax destination is not HD-enabled, such as a conventional fax device, the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request may be rendered as a low-resolution fax. The low resolution fax may be transmitted via a public switched telephone network (PSTN). On the other hand, if it is determined that a fax destination is HD-enabled, a determination may be made whether the HD-enabled fax destination is color enabled, and the high-resolution component may be rendered as either a high-resolution monochrome fax or a high-resolution color fax.

Claims

1. A method performed by at least one computer processor of a high-definition (HD) fax system, the method comprising:

(A) receiving an outbound fax job request, the outbound fax job request including a fax destination identifier and a high-resolution component;

(B) determining whether the fax destination identifier corresponds with an HD-enabled receiving device;

(C) if it is determined that the fax destination identifier does not correspond with the HD-enabled receiving device, rendering at least the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request as a low-resolution fax, and transmitting the low-resolution fax via a public switched telephone network (PSTN);

(D) if it is determined that the fax destination identifier does correspond with the HD-enabled receiving device, determining whether the HD-enabled receiving device is HD color-enabled based on the fax destination identifier; and

(E) if it is determined that the HD-enabled receiving device is HD color-enabled, rendering at least the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request as a high-resolution color fax, and transmitting the high-resolution color fax via a packet-switched network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein (A) further comprises receiving the outbound fax job request from a HD-enabled transmitting device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-resolution fax is of a resolution of 200 dots-per-inch (DPI) or lower, and wherein the high-resolution monochrome fax or the high-resolution color fax is of a resolution of 300 DPI or higher.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request is received as an electronic file attachment associated with an electronic message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the electronic file attachment is a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein (A) further comprises determining that the electronic file attachment is of a high-resolution format.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the electronic file attachment is a Tagged Image File (TIF) format file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein (A) further comprises determining that the electronic file attachment is of a high-resolution format.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the electronic attachment is a Portable Document Format (PDF) file.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein (A) further comprises determining that the electronic file attachment is of a high-resolution format.

11. A high-definition (HD) fax system comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium containing computer program instructions, wherein the computer program instructions are executable by at least one computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

(A) receiving an outbound fax job request, the outbound fax job request including a fax destination identifier and a high-resolution component;

(B) determining whether the fax destination identifier corresponds with an HD-enabled receiving device;

(C) if it is determined that the fax destination identifier does not correspond with the HD-enabled receiving device, rendering at least the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request as a low-resolution fax, and transmitting the low-resolution fax via a public switched telephone network (PSTN);

(D) if it is determined that the fax destination identifier does correspond with the HD-enabled receiving device, determining whether the HD-enabled receiving device is HD color-enabled based on the fax destination identifier; and

(E) if it is determined that the HD-enabled receiving device is HD color-enabled, rendering at least the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request as a high-resolution color fax, and transmitting the high-resolution color fax via a packet-switched network.

12. The HD fax system of claim 11, wherein (A) further comprises receiving the outbound fax job request from a HD-enabled transmitting device.

13. The HD fax system of claim 11, wherein the low-resolution fax is of a resolution of 200 dots-per-inch (DPI) or lower, and wherein the high-resolution monochrome fax or the high-resolution color fax is of a resolution of 300 DPI or higher.

14. The HD fax system of claim 11, wherein the high-resolution component of the outbound fax job request is received as an electronic file attachment associated with an electronic message.

15. The HD fax system of claim 14, wherein the electronic file attachment is a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format file.

16. The HD fax system of claim 15, wherein (A) further comprises determining that the electronic file attachment is of a high-resolution format.

17. The HD fax system of claim 14, wherein the electronic file attachment is a Tagged Image File (TIF) format file.

18. The HD fax system of claim 17, wherein (A) further comprises determining that the electronic file attachment is of a high-resolution format.

19. The HD fax system of claim 14, wherein the electronic attachment is a Portable Document Format (PDF) file.

20. The HD fax system of claim 19, wherein (A) further comprises determining that the electronic file attachment is of a high-resolution format.