Method and apparatus for searching for and retrieving documents using a facsimile machine
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for obtaining documents comprising the steps of:
- establishing communication between a facsimile machine and a gateway;
the gateway receiving a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term;
the gateway creating a search query based on the search term;
the gateway contacting servers on a computer network coupled to the gateway and requesting documents corresponding to the search query so as to perform a search based on the search term; and
the gateway sending a second document containing search results to the facsimile machine.
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Abstract
While Web servers and clients, such as Mosiac, have opened the door to on-line publishers and consumers of information, these services have only been available to those having an Internet connection. In other words, individuals that do not have a direct Internet connection, including a computer and a data channel to the Internet, cannot search for documents and other resources available through the Web. The present invention obtains documents by receiving a facsimile transmission of a document with at least one search term and performing a search based on search terms on the received document.
314 Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method for obtaining documents comprising the steps of:
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establishing communication between a facsimile machine and a gateway; the gateway receiving a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term; the gateway creating a search query based on the search term; the gateway contacting servers on a computer network coupled to the gateway and requesting documents corresponding to the search query so as to perform a search based on the search term; and the gateway sending a second document containing search results to the facsimile machine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for obtaining documents comprising the steps of:
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extracting bitmaps from search locations on a document received via facsimile transmission; passing the bitmaps to a recognition engine from which an output is generated; querying a first network search engine with a query based on the output; querying a second network search engine with the query; correlating responses from the first and second network search engines into search results; and sending the search results. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A system for searching for documents on a network comprising:
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a facsimile machine; a gateway coupled to the facsimile machine and the network, said gateway comprising a modem to receive a facsimile transmission of a first document; a recognition engine coupled to the modem to receive bitmaps as inputs, wherein an output of recognition engine comprises at least one search term from the facsimile transmission of the first document; a search engine coupled to receive said at least one search term from the recognition engine, the search engine creating a search query based on the search term, contacting servers on the network and requesting documents corresponding to the search query so as to perform a search based on the search term, wherein the search engine has an output of search results based on said at least one search term; and a rendering unit to send a second document containing the search results to the facsimile machine. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An apparatus for obtaining documents:
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means for establishing communication between a facsimile machine and a gateway; means for receiving a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term; means for creating a search query based on the search term; means for contacting servers on a computer network coupled to the gateway and requesting documents corresponding to the search query so as to perform a search based on the search term; means for sending a second document containing search results to the facsimile machine via facsimile transmission; means for receiving the second document having one or more of the set of resources highlighted; means for identifying highlighted resources on the second document; means for obtaining the highlighted resources by contacting the servers via the computer network and requesting documents corresponding to the highlighted resources; and means for sending the highlighted resources via facsimile transmission. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A method for accessing information comprising the steps of:
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receiving a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term; performing a search based on the search term; sending a second document with search results; receiving an image of the second document from a first location with a document identifier; extracting the document identifier from the image; retrieving a third document corresponding to the document identifier; dynamically generating an image of the third document, including the step of encoding links to other documents in the third document into machine readable codes; and sending the image of the third document to the first location. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
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34. A method for processing information comprising the steps of:
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receiving a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term; performing a search based on the search term; sending a second document with search results; receiving a facsimile of the second document from a location; extracting a resource identifier from the facsimile of the second document; retrieving a third document corresponding to the resource identifier; generating an image of the third document including rendering links to other documents into machine readable information near link points in the image; and sending by facsimile the image of the third document to the location. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A computer software product including a medium readable by a processor, the medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:
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receive a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term; perform a search based on the search term; send a second document with search results; receive an image of the second document from a first location with a document identifier; extract the document identifier from the image; retrieve a third document corresponding to the document identifier; dynamically generate an image of the third document, including the step of encoding links to other documents in the third document into machine readable codes; and send the image of the third document to the first location.
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47. A method for viewing a document comprising the steps of:
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performing a search from a search query created using a search term obtained from a facsimile; sending an image on a paper containing search results obtained from performing the search; highlighting encoded information in the image on the paper to select at least one document for retrieval, wherein the encoded information represents links to other documents; sending by facsimile a copy of the paper with the highlighted encoded information to a server designed to retrieve said at least one document based on a decoded version of the highlighted encoded information; and creating an image of said at least one desired document including the step of dynamically generating encoded link information and including the encoded link information in the image, wherein the link information specifies at least one other document linked to said at least one document; receiving by facsimile said at least one desired document retrieved by the server. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. An apparatus for retrieving documents from a source having a group of resources in response to a document request, said apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving a facsimile of a first document containing a search term; means for performing a document search using the search term; means for generating a second document containing search results; means for processing the second document to obtain an identifier; means for retrieving a third document corresponding to the identifier; means for rendering the third document after retrieval, including means for encoding link information associated with other documents into machine readable information so that links to other documents are encoded in the third document; and means for sending a facsimile image of the third document after retrieval and rendering.
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56. A computer software product including a machine readable by a processor, the medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:
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receive a facsimile transmission of a first document with a search term; perform a search based on the search term; obtain an electronic version of a second document containing link information; identify a link for each document accessible via the link in the electronic version of the second document; generate machine readable information for each link of said each document that may be retrieved upon selection of the link; and render a third document with the machine readable information. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59)
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Specification