Pro-active message delivery system and method

• US 6,032,192 A
• Filed: 01/26/1998
• Issued: 02/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Net2Phone, Inc. (IDT Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Open Scan Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Storch, Randy, Dutra, Antonio, Wegner, Martin T., Nandyal, Omprasad S.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US09/013,787
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/206, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/220, 709/223, 709/224, 709/238, 709/239, 709/240, 709/241, 709/242, 709/250, 709/300, 379/89, 379/93.08, 379/100.01, 379/100.08, 379/100.09
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

A pro-active message delivery system which routes digitally-encoded messages via public-switched telephone networks and wide area networks to most cost-effectively deliver the messages, subject to security, privacy, and availability considerations. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, digitally encoded messages entered into a wide area network, either directly or via a public-switched telephone network, are sent to their destination using the most cost-effective route, by calculating the cost of sending the message via the available routes, and selecting the lowest cost route. Generally, the lowest cost route might use the node on the wide area network closest to the recipient of the message, or might use or node located in an area which charges off-peak rates at the time of transmission.

Claims

1. A system for transmitting a facsimile message using a computer network, comprising:

a sender facsimile machine to create the facsimile message;

a network node on the computer network which receives the facsimile message;

a memory on said network node which stores the facsimile message;

a least-cost routing process to determine a destination node to which to send the facsimile message in accordance with a least cost;

a delivery process to deliver the facsimile message to the destination node; and

a receiver facsimile machine which receives the facsimile message from the destination node;

wherein said network node comprises an encryption process to encrypt the facsimile message, and wherein said least-cost routing process comprises a process to determine the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

2. A method for transmitting a facsimile message over a computer network, comprising the steps of:

(a) creating the facsimile message;

(b) sending the facsimile message to a network node;

(c) storing the facsimile message in the network node;

(d) least-cost routing the facsimile message to a destination node;

(e) receiving the facsimile message from the destination node;

(f) encrypting the facsimile message; and

(g) determining the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

3. A system for transmitting a document, comprising:

a computer on which a network user creates the document;

a network node which receives the document from the computer;

a memory on said network node for storing the document;

a least-cost routing process to determine a destination node to receive the document according to a least cost;

a network delivery process to deliver the document to the destination node; and

a receiver facsimile machine to receive the document from the destination node; and

wherein said network node comprises an encryption process to encrypt the facsimile message, and wherein said least-cost routing process comprises a process to determine the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

4. A method for transmitting a document, comprising the steps of:

(a) creating the document on a computer network;

(b) receiving the document;

(c) least-cost routine the document to a destination node;

(d) receiving the facsimile representation from the destination node;

(e) encrypting the facsimile message; and

(f) determining the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

5. A system for transmitting a facsimile message, comprising:

a sender facsimile machine to create the facsimile message;

a network node on a computer network to receive the facsimile message and a recipient address;

a memory on said network node for storing the facsimile message;

a mapping process to map the recipient address to a corresponding network address on the computer network; and

a network delivery process to deliver the facsimile message to the network address according to a least-cost route,

wherein said network node comprises an encryption process to encrypt the facsimile message, and wherein said least-cost routing process comprises a process to determine the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

6. A method for transmitting a facsimile message, comprising:

(a) creating the facsimile message;

(b) sending the facsimile message and a recipient network address to a network node on a computer network;

(c) storing the facsimile message;

(d) mapping the recipient address to a corresponding network address on the computer network;

(e) delivering the facsimile message to the network address according to a least-cost route;

(f) encrypting the facsimile message; and

(g) determining the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

7. A system for transmitting a document representing facsimile data from a computer to a network user, comprising:

a computer on which the document to be sent to a facsimile machine phone number is created;

a network node on a computer network for receiving the document and the facsimile machine phone number from said computer;

a memory on said network for storing said document;

a mapping process to map said facsimile machine phone number to a network address on the computer network;

a process to convert the document to a facsimile representation; and

a network delivery process to deliver the facsimile message to the network address according to a least-cost route,

wherein said network node comprises an encryption process to encrypt the facsimile message, further comprising a process to determine the destination node in accordance with the encryption.

8. A method for transmitting a document representing facsimile data from a computer to a network user, comprising:

creating a document to be sent to a facsimile machine phone number on a computer;

sending the document and the facsimile machine phone number to a network node on a computer network;

storing said document;

mapping said facsimile machine phone number to a network address on the computer network;

delivering the facsimile message to the network address according to a least-cost route;

encrypting the facsimile message; and

determining the destination node in accordance with said encryption.

9. A system for transmitting a facsimile message in a cost-effective manner using a computer network, comprising:

(a) a facsimile machine to create the facsimile message;

(b) a network node on the computer network to receive the facsimile message;

(c) a least-cost routing process to determine a destination node on the computer network to which to send the facsimile message so that it reaches an intended recipient according to a least cost; and

(d) a network delivery process to send the facsimile message to the destination node,

wherein the least-cost routing process comprises;

a first route selection process to select a plurality of routes for transmitting the facsimile message from the first facsimile machine to the second facsimile machine;

a rating process to rate each route of said plurality of routes to determine a cost value for each route;

a rating table creation process to create a table of said plurality of routes, wherein each route is ranked according to its cost value; and

a second route selection process to select the highest ranking route from the table; and

wherein said destination node comprises;

a transmission process to transmit the facsimile message to a destination node associated with the highest ranking route.