Scalable and flexible internet fax architecture
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, at a telecommunications system of an Internet fax system, an inbound fax call having associated therewith a source address, a destination address and a fax signal, wherein the destination address corresponds to a particular subscriber of the Internet fax system;
switching, by the telecommunications system, the inbound fax call to a call mediation system of a plurality of call mediation systems within the Internet fax system by performing round-robin load balancing among the plurality of call mediation systems;
determining, by the call mediation system, desired technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal based on a plurality of the source address, the destination address and a connection over which the inbound fax call was received;
identifying, by the call mediation system, a subset of fax processing resources of a plurality of fax processing resources associated with the call mediation that have the desired technical call processing capabilities;
switching, by the call mediation system, the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource of the subset of fax processing resources;
translating, by the selected fax processing resource, the fax signal into a digital representation;
causing the digital representation to be delivered or otherwise made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber;
wherein the plurality of call mediation systems comprise a plurality of private branch exchanges (PBXs);
wherein said switching, by the telecommunications system, the inbound fax call to a call mediation system comprises switching the inbound fax call to a PBX of the plurality of PBXs; and
wherein said switching, by the call mediation system, the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource comprises calling a digital access cross connect system (DACS) logically interposed between the PBX and the fax processing resource.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for processing inbound fax messages in an efficient and scalable manner are provided. According to one embodiment, an inbound fax call is received at a telecommunications system of an Internet fax system. The inbound fax call includes a source and destination address and a fax signal. The inbound fax call is switched to a call mediation system, which determines desired technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal. A subset of fax processing resources that have the desired technical call processing capabilities are identified from among multiple fax processing resources associated with the call mediation system. The inbound fax call is switched to a selected fax processing resource of the identified subset. The fax signal is translated by the selected fax processing resource into a digital representation. And, the digital representation is made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a telecommunications system of an Internet fax system, an inbound fax call having associated therewith a source address, a destination address and a fax signal, wherein the destination address corresponds to a particular subscriber of the Internet fax system; switching, by the telecommunications system, the inbound fax call to a call mediation system of a plurality of call mediation systems within the Internet fax system by performing round-robin load balancing among the plurality of call mediation systems; determining, by the call mediation system, desired technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal based on a plurality of the source address, the destination address and a connection over which the inbound fax call was received; identifying, by the call mediation system, a subset of fax processing resources of a plurality of fax processing resources associated with the call mediation that have the desired technical call processing capabilities; switching, by the call mediation system, the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource of the subset of fax processing resources; translating, by the selected fax processing resource, the fax signal into a digital representation; causing the digital representation to be delivered or otherwise made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber; wherein the plurality of call mediation systems comprise a plurality of private branch exchanges (PBXs); wherein said switching, by the telecommunications system, the inbound fax call to a call mediation system comprises switching the inbound fax call to a PBX of the plurality of PBXs; and wherein said switching, by the call mediation system, the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource comprises calling a digital access cross connect system (DACS) logically interposed between the PBX and the fax processing resource. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An Internet fax system comprising:
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a plurality of call mediation systems comprising a plurality of private branch exchanges (PBXs); a plurality of fax processing resources associated with each of the plurality of call mediation systems; a plurality of digital access cross connect systems (DACS) logically interposed between the plurality of call mediation systems and the plurality of fax processing resources; a telecommunications system configured to receive an inbound fax call, perform round-robin load balancing among the plurality of call mediation systems and switch the inbound fax call to a call mediation system of the plurality of call mediation systems, the inbound fax call having associated therewith a source address, a destination address and a fax signal, wherein the destination address corresponds to a particular subscriber of the Internet fax system; wherein the call mediation system; determines desired technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal based on a plurality of the source address, the destination address and a connection over which the inbound fax call was received; identifies a subset of fax processing resources of the plurality of fax processing resources that has the desired technical call processing capabilities; and switches the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource of the subset of fax processing resources; wherein a PBX of the plurality of PBXs to which the inbound call is switched further switches the inbound fax call to the selected fax processing resource by calling a DACS of the plurality of DACS; and wherein the selected fax processing resource translates the fax signal into a digital representation and causes the digital representation to be delivered or otherwise made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification