On net faxing

• US 8,719,083 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Text Holdings, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Xpedite Systems LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Toscano, Francis, Kamens, Samuel N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US13/311,167
• Publication Number:
  US 20120143658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.1, 705/34, 705/41, 705/42, 705/39, 700/223, 235/381, 709/206, 358/1.15, 358/402
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/23 Reproducing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• 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 1/34 for coin-freed systems ; Pay systems

Abstract

Distribution of electronic documents is described, including receiving an electronic document to be distributed, identifying whether a destination identifier is associated with a destination account among a known group of customer accounts, routing the electronic document, and calculating a fee associated with delivery of the electronic document based on whether the destination account is among the known group of customers and a set of billing rules. The set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee for routing an electronic document to each of a known group of customer accounts. In other aspects, the set of billing rules may specify a discounted fee for routing an electronic document to a first group of the known group of customer accounts and specify a standard fee for a second group of the known group of customer accounts.

Claims

1. A method for distributing documents, comprising:

receiving, by a computer, via a first network, an electronic document to be distributed and a destination identifier;

determining, by the computer, whether a destination identified by the destination identifier is associated with a destination account among a known group of customer accounts;

routing, by the computer, the electronic document according to whether the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts; and

calculating, by the computer, a fee associated with delivery of the electronic document based on whether the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customers and a set of billing rules;

wherein routing the electronic document comprises, when the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts, routing the electronic document by a gateway connected to the computer and to the first network, the gateway routing the electronic document using a logical crossover connection that bypasses a second network while permitting appearance of transmission using the second network, the gateway appending information to the electronic document regardless of whether the electronic document is transmitted over the first network or the second network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the computer, searching a database of known customers that subscribe to a network-based fax service provided by the computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic document is received via one of an attachment to an e-mail, a web portal, and an application programming interface, and the method further comprises formatting, by the computer, the electronic document into a format suitable for facsimile transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein when the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts, the gateway routing the electronic document via a port of the gateway configured as the logical crossover connection between inbound and outbound interfaces of the gateway.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein routing the electronic document includes, when the destination is not associated with the destination account among the known group of customers, routing the electronic document for an off-net delivery without using the logical crossover connection provided by the gateway.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of billing rules specifies a discounted fee for routing the electronic document to each of the known group of customer accounts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of billing rules specifies a discounted fee for routing the electronic document to a first group of the known group of customer accounts and specifies a standard fee for routing the electronic document to a second group of the known group of customer accounts.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the computer, an originating account associated with the electronic document;

and determining whether the originating and destination accounts are each associated with a same customer, wherein when the originating and destination accounts are each associated with the same customer, the calculating further comprises calculating a discounted or standard fee for routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billing rules associated with the customer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the computer, an originating account associated with the electronic document;

and determining whether the originating and destination accounts are associated with different customers, wherein when the originating and destination accounts are associated with different customers, the calculating further comprises calculating a discounted or standard fee for routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billing rules associated with different customers.

10. An apparatus for distributing documents, comprising:

a customer database that stores a known group of customer accounts;

a billing database that stores a set of billing rules;

a network interface configured to receive an electronic document to be distributed and a destination identifier;

a job monitor configured to determine whether a destination identified by the destination identifier is associated with a destination account among the known group of customer accounts, and route the electronic document according to whether the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts, wherein when the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts, the electronic document is routed to a gateway connected to the apparatus and to a first network, the gateway routing the electronic document using a logical crossover connection that bypasses a second network while permitting appearance of transmission using the second network, the gateway appending information to the electronic document regardless of whether the electronic document is transmitted over the first network or the second network; and

a billing controller configured to calculate a fee associated with delivery of the electronic document based on whether the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts and the set of billing rules.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the electronic document is received by the network interface via one of an attachment to an e-mail, a web portal, and an application programming interface, and the apparatus further comprises a document translator that formats the electronic document into a format suitable for facsimile transmission.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the job monitor is further configured to route the electronic document via a port of the gateway configured as the logical crossover connection between inbound and outbound interfaces of the gateway, when the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the job monitor is further configured to route the electronic document for an off-net delivery without using the logical crossover connection provided by the gateway, when the destination is not associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the set of billing rules specifies a discounted fee for routing the electronic document to each of the known group of customer accounts.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the set of billing rules specifies a discounted fee for routing the electronic document to a first group of the known group of customer accounts and specifies a standard fee for routing the electronic document to a second group of the known group of customer accounts.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the job monitor is further configured to identify an originating account associated with the electronic document, and determine whether the originating and destination accounts are each associated with a same customer, and the billing controller is further configured to calculate a discounted or standard fee for routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billing rules associated with the customer, when the originating and destination accounts are each associated with the same customer.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the job monitor is further configured to identify an originating account associated with the electronic document, and determine whether the originating and destination accounts are associated with different customers, and the billing controller is further configured to calculate a discounted or standard fee for routing the electronic document based on a subset of the billing rules associated with different customers, when the originating and destination accounts are associated different customers.

18. A system for distributing documents, comprising:

a gateway embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, communicatively coupled to a server computer and a first network, and comprising;

an inbound interface;

an on-net outbound interface;

an off-net outbound interface; and

a logical crossover connection between the inbound interface and the on-net outbound interface; and

the server computer configured to provide a network-based fax service, communicatively connected to the first network and a second network, and comprising;

a job monitor embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium and configured to;

receive an electronic document to be distributed and a destination identifier;

identify whether a destination identified by the destination identifier is associated with a destination account among the known group of customer accounts; and

route the electronic document according to whether the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts, wherein when the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts, the electronic document is routed to the gateway, the gateway routing the electronic document using the logical crossover connection that bypasses the second network while permitting appearance of transmission using the second network, the gateway appending information to the electronic document regardless of whether the electronic document is transmitted over the first network or the second network; and

a billing controller configured to calculate a fee associated with delivery of the electronic document based on whether the destination is associated with the destination account among the known group of customer accounts and a set of billing rules.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the set of billing rules specifies a discounted fee for routing the electronic document to each of the known group of customer accounts.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the set of billing rules specifies a discounted fee for routing the electronic document to a first group of the known group of customer accounts and specifies a standard fee for routing the electronic document to a second group of the known group of customer accounts.