Scalable and flexible internet fax architecture

• US 8,503,630 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2012
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: j2 Cloud Services, LLC (Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EC Data Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Watts, Christian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US13/533,049
• Publication Number:
  US 20130177145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 406 Days
• Field of Search: 379/100.17, 37910001-10016, 379/88.17, 379/221.01, 370/354, 370/401, 709/227, 358/1.15, 358/400, 358/401, 358/452
• US Class Current: 379/100.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00212 Attaching image data to computer messages, e.g. to e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00214 details of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0022 involving facsimile protocols or a combination of facsimile protocols and computer data transmission protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32016 according to the caller's identification, e.g. fax number H04N1/3201 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32085 Automation of other tasks, e.g. repetitive execution or sequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/3209 according to the called number
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/33376 according to characteristics or state of one of the communicating parties, e.g. available memory capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0065 Converting image data to a format usable by the connected apparatus or vice versa

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.

Claims

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;

determining, by the call mediation system, desired fax protocol technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal based on a plurality of the source address, the destination address and whether the inbound fax call was received through a circuit-switched or packet-switched connection;

identifying, by the call mediation system a subset of fax processing resources of a plurality of fax processing resources associated with the call mediation system that have the desired fax protocol 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; and

causing the digital representation to be delivered or otherwise made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said switching, by the telecommunications system, the inbound fax call to a call mediation system further comprises performing round-robin load balancing among the plurality of call mediation systems.

3. The method of claim 2, 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.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising prior to said determining, making a decision, by the PBX switch, whether to accept or reject the inbound fax call based on one or more of the source address, the destination address and a specific circuit or packet switched connection through which the inbound fax call was received.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the PBX remaining in a call path of the inbound fax call until completion of the inbound fax call and upon the completion the PBX recording billing information in a database.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a delivery method to employ in connection with delivery of the digital representation to the one or more users based on the destination address or user account specific preferences associated with the one or more users.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determined delivery method is electronic mail (email) delivery.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the determined delivery method is delivery via a web site associated with the Internet fax system.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the determined delivery method is delivery via an application programming interface (API) associated with the Internet fax system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the API supports programmatic listing of a plurality of received faxes and programmatic downloading of a received fax of the plurality of received faxes.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving by a web services interface of the Internet fax system a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a HTTP secure (HTTPS) POST generated by an application of the subscriber that conveys a request for a list of received faxes.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving by a web services interface of the Internet fax system a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a HTTP secure (HTTPS) POST generated by an application of the subscriber that conveys a request for retrieval of a particular received fax.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying a set of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a call mediation system of an Internet fax system, cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving, from a telecommunications system of the 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;

determining desired fax protocol technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal based on a plurality of the source address, the destination address and whether the inbound fax call was received through a circuit-switched or packet-switched connection;

identifying a subset of fax processing resources of a plurality of fax processing resources associated with the call mediation system that have the desired fax protocol technical call processing capabilities;

causing a digital representation of the fax signal to be delivered or otherwise made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber switching the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource of the subset of fax processing resources, which translates the fax signal into the digital representation.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the call mediation system comprises a private branch exchange (PBX) and wherein said switching comprises calling a digital access cross connect system (DACS) logically interposed between the PBX and the fax processing resource.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises remaining in a call path of the inbound fax call until completion of the inbound fax call and upon the completion recording billing information in a database.

16. An Internet fax system comprising:

a plurality of call mediation systems;

a plurality of fax processing resources associated with each of the plurality of call mediation systems;

a telecommunications system having a plurality of circuit and packet switched connections, the telecommunications system configured to receive an inbound fax call 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 fax protocol technical call processing capabilities for processing the fax signal based on a plurality of the source address, the destination address and a type of connection of the plurality of circuit and packet switched connections through 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 fax protocol technical call processing capabilities; and

switches the inbound fax call to a selected fax processing resource of the subset of fax processing resources; and

wherein the selected fax processing resource translates the fax signal into a digital representation causes the digital representation to be delivered or otherwise made available to one or more users associated with the particular subscriber.

17. The Internet fax system of claim 16, wherein the telecommunications system performs round-robin load balancing among the plurality of call mediation systems.

18. The Internet fax system of claim 17, further comprising:

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;

wherein the plurality of call mediation systems comprise a plurality of private branch exchanges (PBXs); and

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.

19. The Internet fax system of claim 18, wherein the PBX determines, based on one or more of the source address, the destination address and a specific circuit or packet switched connection of the plurality of circuit and packet switched connections through which the inbound fax call was received, whether to accept or reject the inbound fax call.

20. The Internet fax system of claim 19, wherein the PBX remains in a call path of the inbound fax call until completion of the inbound fax call and upon the completion the PBX records billing information in a database.

21. The Internet fax system of claim 16, wherein the selected fax server determines a delivery method to employ in connection with delivery of the digital representation to the one or more users based on the destination address or user account specific preferences associated with the one or more users.

22. The Internet fax system of claim 21, wherein the determined delivery method is electronic mail (email) delivery.

23. The Internet fax system of claim 21, further comprising a web site and wherein the determined delivery method is delivery via the web site.

24. The Internet fax system of claim 21, further comprising an application programming interface (API) and wherein the determined delivery method is delivery via the API.

25. The Internet fax system of claim 24, wherein the API supports programmatic listing of a plurality of received faxes and programmatic downloading of a received fax of the plurality of received faxes.

26. The Internet fax system of claim 25, wherein the API is configured to receive a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a HTTP secure (HTTPS) POST generated by an application of the subscriber that conveys a request for a list of received faxes.

27. The Internet fax system of claim 25, wherein the API is configured to receive a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or a HTTP secure (HTTPS) POST generated by an application of the subscriber and conveying a request for retrieval of a particular received fax.