Methods and apparatus for delivering documents

• US 9,491,316 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2008
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Stimson, Ronald A. Jr., Smith, Philip J., Curiel, Michael F., Woods, Jason R., Gallagher, Robert S.
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, JAMARES
• Application Number:
  US12/207,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20100060926A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,982 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.15, 358/402, 358/403, 358/405, 709/203, 709/238
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1203 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1269 by broadcasting server
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1287 via internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1293 Printer information exchange with computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32704 Establishing a communication with one of a facsimile and another telecommunication apparatus sharing a single line
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0093 Facsimile machine H04N2201/0094 takes precedence

Abstract

The present disclosure provides methods and apparatus for delivering documents. A web based application server transmits a document to a distribution management system. The distribution management system then translates the document if necessary (e.g., from a spreadsheet to a PDF and a fax) and sends the translated document to one or more destinations such as email inboxes, printers, and fax machines. For fax deliveries, the distribution management system sends the document to a particular client device that is associated with the fax destination. For example, the client device that actually transmits the fax may reside at a company, and the fax machine may be at a customer of that company. In this manner, fax transmissions appear to come from the correct source (not the distribution management system), and transmission charges associated with the fax are incurred by the appropriate company (not the company associated with the distribution management system).

Claims

1. A method of delivering a document, the method comprising:

associating data indicative of a first fax machine with a first network address of a first computing device that resides at a first company;

associating data indicative of a second different fax machine with a second different network address of a second different computing device that resides at a second company, which is different from the first company;

responsive to receiving a client inquiry, providing data to populate a list of options configured to be selected by a user;

determining that the document is to be faxed to a destination based on a user selection of at least one of the options by the user, the destination being one of the first fax machine and the second fax machine;

performing a look-up of previously stored user preferences to determine a delivery mode to deliver the document to the destination, which is different from the first company and different from the second company;

determining a selected computing device residing at a selected company by selecting one of the first computing device residing at the first company and the second computing device residing at the second company based on the destination and the delivery mode;

transmitting first data indicative of the document from a server to the selected computing device residing at the selected company via a computer network; and

faxing the document from the selected computing device residing at the selected company to the destination via a telephone network such that the selected company is the source of the faxed document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating a file storing the document from a first file format to a second different file format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first file format includes a proprietary file format and the second file format includes a portable document file (PDF) format.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first file format includes a proprietary file format and the second file format includes a facsimile file format.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first file format includes a proprietary file format and the second file format includes a word processing file format.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the first file format includes a proprietary file format and the second file format includes a spreadsheet file format.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the first file format includes a proprietary file format and the second file format includes a comma separated vales (CSV) file format.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the first file format includes a first proprietary file format and the second file format includes a second different proprietary file format.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting first data indicative of the document includes transmitting first data to a framework application on a client device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer network includes the Internet.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the first fax machine includes a fax number.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the document is to be faxed to the destination includes determining that a period of time has expired.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting third data indicative of the document to a printer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the third data is in a proprietary format.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein transmitting the third data indicative of the document to the printer includes transmitting the third data to a framework application on a client device.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting third data indicative of the document to an email inbox using a source email address selected based on the destination.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address uniquely identifies a computing device.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address uniquely identifies a network device.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the network address identifies at least one of a computing device and a network device.

35. The method of claim 17, wherein the user chooses an email address and a password, and the email address uniquely identifies the user.

36. The method of claim 17, wherein the user can access the document in the email inbox from computing devices that have different network addresses.

18. An apparatus for transmitting a document, the apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a network connection operatively coupled to the processor; and

a storage device operatively coupled to the processor, the storage device storing a software program structured to cause the processor to;

associate data indicative of a first fax machine with a first network address of a first computing device that resides at a first company;

associate data indicative of a second different fax machine with a second different network address of a second different computing device that resides at a second company, which is different from the first company;

responsive to receiving a client inquiry, provide data to populate a list of options configured to be selected by a user;

determine that the document is to be faxed to a destination based on a user selection of at least one of the options by the user, the destination being one of the first fax machine and the second fax machine;

perform a look-up of previously stored user preferences to determine a delivery mode to deliver the document to the destination, which is different from the first company and different from the second company;

determine a selected computing device residing at a selected company by selecting one of the first computing device residing at the first company and the second computing device residing at the second company based on the destination and the delivery mode; and

transmit first data indicative of the document from a server to the selected computing device residing at the selected company via a computer network in order to cause the selected computing device to fax the document from the selected computing device residing at the selected company to the destination via a telephone network such that the selected company is the source of the faxed document.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the software program is structured to cause the processor to translate a file storing the document from a first file format to a second different file format.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein (i) the first file format includes at least one of a spreadsheet file format and a word processing file format, and (ii) the second file format includes at least one of a portable document file (PDF) format and a facsimile file format.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the data indicative of the first fax machine includes a fax number.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein determining that the document is to be faxed to the destination includes determining that a period of time has expired.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the software program is structured to cause the processor to transmit third data indicative of the document to a printer via a framework application installed on a client device from the apparatus.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the software program is structured to cause the processor to transmit third data indicative of the document to an email inbox using a source email address selected based on the destination.

25. A non-transitory machine readable memory storing instructions structured to cause an apparatus to:

associate data indicative of a first fax machine with a first network address of a first computing device that resides at a first company;

associate data indicative of a second different fax machine with a second different network address of a second different computing device that resides at a second company, which is different from the first company;

responsive to receiving a client inquiry, provide data to populate a list of options configured to be selected by a user;

determine that the document is to be faxed to a destination based on a user selection of at least one of the options by the user, the destination being one of the first fax machine and the second fax machine;

perform a look-up of previously stored user preferences to determine a delivery mode to deliver the document to the destination, which is different from the first company and different from the second company;

determine a selected computing device residing at a selected company by selecting one of the first computing device residing at the first company and the second computing device residing at the second company based on the destination and the delivery mode; and

transmit first data indicative of the document from a server to the selected computing device residing at the selected company via a computer network in order to cause the selected computing device residing at the selected company to fax the document from the selected computing device to the destination via a telephone network such that the selected company is the source of the faxed document.

26. The non-transitory machine readable memory of claim 25, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the apparatus to translate a file storing the document from a first file format to a second different file format.

27. The non-transitory machine readable memory of claim 26, wherein (i) the first file format includes at least one of a spreadsheet file format and a word processing file format, and (ii) the second file format includes at least one of a portable document file (PDF) format and a facsimile file format.

28. The non-transitory machine readable memory of claim 25, wherein the data indicative of the first fax machine includes a fax number.

29. The non-transitory machine readable memory of claim 25, wherein determining that the document is to be faxed to the destination includes determining that a period of time has expired.

30. The non-transitory machine readable memory of claim 25, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the apparatus to transmit third data indicative of the document to a printer via a framework application installed on a client device from the apparatus.

31. The non-transitory machine readable memory of claim 25, wherein the instructions are structured to cause the apparatus to transmit third data indicative of the document to an email inbox using a source email address selected based on the destination.