Facsimile telecommunications system and method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for handling fax transmissions, comprising:
- receiving a fax call to receive a fax via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number;
in response to receiving the fax call, determining whether a called number associated with the fax call is registered to a subscriber and determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; and
in response to determining that the subscriber is connected to the 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 wherein the notification is to display an indication to the subscriber that the fax call is in process.
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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.
176 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for handling fax transmissions, comprising:
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receiving a fax call to receive a fax via a public telephone network at a fax processing system, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; in response to receiving the fax call, determining whether a called number associated with the fax call is registered to a subscriber and determining that the subscriber is connected to a data communications network at a network address on the data communications network; and in response to determining that the subscriber is connected to the 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 wherein the notification is to display an indication to the subscriber that the fax call is in process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A fax processing system, comprising:
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a fax management subsystem coupled to a public telephone network to receive a fax call for receiving a fax, the fax call originally destined for a subscriber'"'"'s phone number; a database subsystem to store subscriber records for determining whether a called number associated with the fax call is registered to a subscriber; and an online presence detection subsystem coupled to the Internet to monitor status of a subscriber data device to determine availability for fax notification service at a network address, wherein the fax management subsystem is to transmit a fax call notification to the subscriber'"'"'s network address in response to a determination that the subscriber'"'"'s data device is available, and wherein transmission of the notification begins regardless of whether the fax has been completely received and wherein the notification is to display an indication to the subscriber that the fax call is in process. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification