Unified method of creating and processing fax forms

• US 5,943,137 A
• Filed: 07/22/1996
• Issued: 08/24/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cardiff Software, Inc. (Healthstream Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cardiff Software, Inc. (Healthstream Incorporated)
• Inventors: Faul, J. Joel, Larson, Joseph C.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, KIM Y
• Application Number:
  US08/681,088
• Time in Patent Office: 1,128 Days
• Field of Search: 358/400, 358/401, 358/403, 358/407, 358/450, 358/462, 358/402, 358/442, 358/468, 358/434, 382/209, 382/216, 382/217
• US Class Current: 358/403
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32042 with reading of job-marks on a page

Abstract

A method of operating a fax server apparatus including a computer and a FAX card which provides a unification of a FAX forms creation process and the creation of a template used for interpreting received FAX forms completed at a remote branch location. A FAX form is created using a forms creation module and subsequently both stored into memory as a template and selectively transmitted via a FAX card to FAX machines at remote branch locations. The FAX form has machine readable identification markings comprised of an unique dot pattern which are identified upon reception by the computer to retrieve from memory the corresponding form stored as the template for processing. The FAX form also includes machine readable reference marks recognized by the computer for orientating the received completed FAX form and correcting for distortions induced by electronic transmission of forms such as skewing and warping of images. This method provides an efficient and fast algorithm for interpreting received completed form with a reduced human intervention in the process.

Claims

1. An interactive method of operating a FAX server apparatus including a computer having a computer memory comprising the steps of:

(a) electronically creating a plurality of FAX forms on said computer, each said FAX form having machine readable encoded identification markings, wherein the computer automatically generates the encoded identification markings, said markings comprising a form identification, wherein the form identification uniquely identifies specific template information, and wherein the template information comprises a plurality of fields, wherein each field comprises at least one attribute, and storing at least one of said FAX forms into said computer memory, wherein the form identification and the location of the template information are persistently stored together in the computer memory;

(b) electronically transmitting a selected one of said FAX forms from said computer to a selected branch location wherein entered information is provided to said selected FAX form to produce a completed FAX form;

(c) electronically receiving said completed FAX form into said computer from said branch location;

(d) automatically and electronically identifying said completed FAX form using said computer by interpreting said machine readable encoded identification markings on said received completed FAX form to provide a form identification to access the location of the template information and to uniquely address the computer memory for retrieval of the template information of the corresponding FAX form; and

(e) electronically processing said completed FAX form using said computer by comparing against said template information of said FAX form corresponding to said identified machine readable encoded identification markings so as to selectively interpret said entered information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said steps (b) and (c) are achieved using a standard FAX card.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said machine readable encoded identification markings on said FAX form comprise a selectable dot pattern.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said method further includes creating machine readable reference marks on said FAX form wherein said apparatus orients said received completed FAX form as a function of said machine readable reference marks.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said machine readable reference marks include at least one mark in each of four corners of said FAX form.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said method corrects for distortions induced by said steps (b) and (c) in said received completed FAX form as a function of said machine readable reference marks.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine readable encoded identification markings further comprise a user identification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each field is selected to be one of the following fields:

choice field, entry field, constrained print field.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing step further comprises automatically interpreting the entered information of said FAX form.

10. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the step of electronically using the interpreted information in another computer program.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoded identification markings are uniquely generated utilizing an integer stored in the computer memory.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute comprises position information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each field comprises a plurality of attributes.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes include field name, type, location, and size.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine readable encoded identification markings include a unique user identification.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said form identification identifies one of a plurality of FAX forms for the user identification.

17. A system for creating and interpreting fax forms comprising:

a computer having a memory;

means for electronically creating a plurality of FAX forms on said computer, each said FAX form having machine readable identification markings, wherein the computer automatically generates the identification markings, said markings comprising a form identification, wherein the form identification uniquely identifies specific template information, and wherein the template information comprises a plurality of fields, wherein each field comprises at least one attribute;

means for storing each said FAX form into said memory, wherein the form identification and the location of the template information are persistently stored together in the computer memory;

means for electronically transmitting a selected one of said FAX forms from said computer to a selected branch location wherein entered information is provided to said selected FAX form to produce a completed FAX form;

means for electronically receiving said completed FAX form into said computer from said branch location;

means for automatically and electronically identifying said completed FAX form using said computer by interpreting said machine readable identification markings on said completed FAX form to provide a form identification to access the location of the template information and to uniquely address the computer memory for retrieval of the template information of the corresponding FAX form; and

means for electronically processing said completed FAX form using said computer by comparing against said template information of said FAX form corresponding to said identified machine readable identification markings so as to selectively interpret said entered information.

18. The system defined in claim 17, wherein the encoded identification markings are uniquely generated utilizing an integer stored in the computer memory.

19. The system defined in claim 17, wherein the machine readable encoded identification markings include a unique user identification.

20. The system defined in claim 17, wherein the attribute comprises position information.

21. The system defined in claim 17, wherein each field comprises a plurality of attributes.

22. The system defined in claim 17, wherein the attributes include field name, type, location, and size.