Facsimile telecommunications system and method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
- receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number;
determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network;
transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received;
transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received;
receiving an instruction from the subscriber for handling the fax, wherein a display of the fax call notification includes options for fax handling instructions, and the received instruction is selected from the options in the display;
in response to the received instruction, transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein the fax is streamed to the subscriber'"'"'s network address;
halting streaming of the fax upon interruption of the subscriber'"'"'s connection; and
then automatically resuming transmission of the fax upon reconnection by the subscriber.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fax processing system handles faxes that are originally destined for a recipient'"'"'s phone number. The fax processing system communicates with the fax recipient via a data communications network (for example, the Internet) and can provide more sophisticated fax handling capabilities than conventional fax machines.
181 Citations
50 Claims
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1. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received; transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received; receiving an instruction from the subscriber for handling the fax, wherein a display of the fax call notification includes options for fax handling instructions, and the received instruction is selected from the options in the display; in response to the received instruction, transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein the fax is streamed to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; halting streaming of the fax upon interruption of the subscriber'"'"'s connection; and then automatically resuming transmission of the fax upon reconnection by the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received; receiving an instruction from the subscriber for handling the fax, wherein a display of the fax call notification includes options for fax handling instructions, and the received instruction is selected from the options in the display; and in response to the received instruction, transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein the fax is streamed through a firewall to the subscriber'"'"'s network address.
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9. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received; receiving an instruction from the subscriber for handling the fax, wherein a display of the fax call notification includes options for fax handling instructions, and the received instruction is selected from the options in the display; and in response to the received instruction, transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein the step of transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address comprises; streaming the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address at a data rate that reduces congestion with other transmissions to or from the network address.
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10. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received; receiving an instruction from the subscriber for handling the fax, wherein a display of the fax call notification includes options for fax handling instructions, and the received instruction is selected from the options in the display; and in response to the received instruction, transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein the step of transmitting the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address comprises; transmitting the fax through a firewall to the subscriber'"'"'s network address.
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11. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission of the fax call notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received; and transmitting a second fax call notification to a second network address for the subscriber.
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12. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is not connected to a data communications network;
storing the fax;subsequently determining that the subscriber is connected to the data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; and
transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; andstreaming the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein streaming the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address comprises transmitting the fax through a firewall to the subscriber'"'"'s network address. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting the fax or a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address, wherein transmission begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received, and halting transmission of the fax upon interruption of the subscriber'"'"'s connection, and then automatically resuming transmission of the fax upon reconnection by the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is not connected to a data communications network;
storing the fax;subsequently determining that the subscriber is connected to the data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; and
transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address;streaming the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; and transmitting the fax to two or more network addresses.
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33. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax call via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is not connected to a data communications network;
storing the fax;subsequently determining that the subscriber is connected to the data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; and
transmitting a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address;streaming the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; and halting streaming of the fax upon interruption of the subscriber'"'"'s connection; and
then automatically resuming transmission of the fax upon reconnection by the subscriber.
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34. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, wherein the fax was originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; and receiving a fax handling instruction from the subscriber at the fax processing system; beginning transmission of the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address at a first data rate; and after transmission of the fax to the subscriber'"'"'s network address has begun, changing a data rate of the transmission according to the subscriber'"'"'s instruction.
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35. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, wherein the fax was originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; receiving a fax handling instruction from the subscriber at the fax processing system; and undeleting the fax, according to an instruction from the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A method for handling fax transmissions comprising:
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receiving a fax via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, wherein the fax was originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; transmitting a fax notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address; receiving a fax handling instruction from the subscriber at the fax processing system; and transmitting a query to the subscriber asking whether the subscriber'"'"'s instruction should be adopted as a rule for handling faxes.
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Specification