Universal document transport
First Claim
1. A method for handling documents of various types, the method comprising:
- receiving a document at a fax server;
associating metadata with the document;
forwarding the document and related metadata to one of multiple document transport modules;
assessing dialing or routing rules based on the metadata for the document;
routing the document by the document transport module via one of multiple communication methods, including without limitation the Public Service Telephone Network (“
PSTN”
), another document transport module, Internet, mobile device network, wireless device network, document server, another fax server, or a board server containing one or more communications hardware devices, wherein the routing is based on at least one dialing or routing rule; and
repeating the associating, forwarding, assessing and routing for any subsequent document transport module that receives the document, wherein the dialing or routing rules are applied independently at each document transport module encountered by the document during processing of the document.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A universal document transport facility is described where, in various embodiments, the facility recognizes document requests based on a received document, interacts with document routing rules and workflow requirements with respect to the received document, and manages content flows between network nodes or devices. In various embodiments, the facility includes a document transport module for transporting documents between network devices, such as printers, fax boards, and content servers and across local and wide-area networks; functionality for routing optimization with other communications networks, such as messaging services, telephony, and IP networks; and flexible document transport capabilities to workflow applications and multifunction devices (such as all-in-one print/scan/copy/fax/telephone/answering machine devices) and multifunction devices enhanced with video & video capture, messaging, email, network router & gateway capabilities.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for handling documents of various types, the method comprising:
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receiving a document at a fax server; associating metadata with the document; forwarding the document and related metadata to one of multiple document transport modules; assessing dialing or routing rules based on the metadata for the document; routing the document by the document transport module via one of multiple communication methods, including without limitation the Public Service Telephone Network (“
PSTN”
), another document transport module, Internet, mobile device network, wireless device network, document server, another fax server, or a board server containing one or more communications hardware devices, wherein the routing is based on at least one dialing or routing rule; andrepeating the associating, forwarding, assessing and routing for any subsequent document transport module that receives the document, wherein the dialing or routing rules are applied independently at each document transport module encountered by the document during processing of the document. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause at least one data processing platform to process a document under a document processing method, the method comprising:
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recognizing at least one document request based on a received document; interacting with one or more document routing rules and one or more workflow requirements with respect to the received document; and managing content flows between network nodes or devices, wherein a same document transport module processing architecture is employed for document handling or transporting at each node or device, wherein a common scheduling and a common queue support multiple transport types, and wherein the managing of content flows includes selecting document- or hardware-specific processing tasks by reference to a type of protocol associated with the document or a desired handling of the document, wherein dialing or routing rules are applied independently at each document transport module encountered by the document during processing of the document. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for handling various documents, the apparatus comprising:
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document transport means for transporting documents between network devices, wherein the network devices include printers, fax boards, multifunction devices, and content servers and across local and wide-area networks; and means for routing optimization with other communications networks, wherein the network devices include messaging services, telephony, Internet, mobile and wireless networks, IP networks, or other document transport modules wherein each document transport module is configured to apply dialing or routing rules independently the documents encounter during processing. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification