Facsimile machine having user notification capability

• US 5,127,047 A
• Filed: 02/20/1990
• Issued: 06/30/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T, Inc.
• Inventors: Weber, Gary N., Vandervoort, Michael L., O'Brien, Ellen, Katz, Carole R., Nesius, Mary, Bell, John F., Millman, Mark E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dwyer, James L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Woo, Stella L.
• Application Number:
  US07/482,366
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 379/100, 379/94, 379/93, 379/40
• US Class Current: 379/100.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3219 of a job status, e.g. successful execution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3261 of multimedia information, e.g. a sound signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 Transmission

Abstract

A facsmile machine determines the status of a received or a transmitted facsimile message and, in response thereto, dials a specified telephone number and outputs a status message to notify a user of the status of the received or transmitted facsimile message. Another feature outputs a status message to indicate a predetermined condition at the facsimile machine. The status message may include an audio message to a data message. Another feature uses information detected in the control portion of the facsimile message to identify which of a plurality of predefined facsimile machine users is to be notified of the receipt of the facsimile message. In one embodiment, the detected information includes the identity of the location that transmitted the facsimile message.

Claims

1. A facsimile apparatus for receiving a facsimile message, comprising

means for determining one of a plurality of predetermined transmission statuses of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

means for storing a group of verbal status messages, each of said statuses being associated with one of said group of verbal status messages,

means for dialing a call over said facility to a preprogrammed number in response to said determined status of said received facsimile message, and

means for outputting a verbal status message, selected using said determined status, over said facility following the operation of said dialing means.

2. The facsimile apparatus of claim 1 wherein said facsimile apparatus further comprises

means for detecting a predetermined condition at said facsimile apparatus, and

wherein said dialing means dials a preprogrammed number selected in response to said detected predetermined condition and wherein said outputted status message indicates said condition in said facsimile apparatus.

3. The facsimile apparatus of claim 1 wherein said status indicates that the facsimile message was received error-free, and wherein said status message indicates the error-free reception of said facsimile message.

4. The facsimile apparatus of claim 1 further comprising

means responsive to said status for signaling data messages over said facility following the operation of said dialing means, said data message indicating the reception status of said facsimile message.

5. The facsimile apparatus of claim 1 wherein said status message is a prerecorded voice message.

6. The facsimile apparatus if claim 5 wherein said status message is outputted a plurality of times over said facility.

7. The facsimile apparatus of claim 1 further including means for detecting an off-hook condition on said facility following the operation of said dialing means and in response thereto enabling said output means.

8. A facsimile apparatus for receiving a facsimile message, comprising

means for determining one of a plurality of predetermined transmission statuses of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

means for storing a group of verbal status messages, each of said statuses being associated with one of said group of verbal status messages.

means for dialing a call over a second facility to a preprogrammed number in response to said determined status of said received facsimile message, and

means for outputting a verbal status message, selected using said determined status, over said facility following the operation of said dialing means.

9. A facsimile apparatus comprising

means for determining one of a plurality of predetermined transmission statuses of a facsimile message transmitted over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

means for storing a group of verbal status messages, each of said statuses being associated with one of said group of verbal status messages,

means for dialing a call over said facility to a preprogrammed number in response to said status of said transmitted facsimile message, and

means for outputting a verbal status message over said facility following the operation of the dialing means.

10. A facsimile apparatus arranged to receive a facsimile message transmitted over a facility, the facsimile apparatus comprising

means for detecting transmitter location information in the control portion of a facsimile message received over said facility, said transmitter location information being other than a telephone number, and

means responsive to said detected information for identifying a user from a plurality of predefined users of said facsimile apparatus, as the intended recipient of said facsimile message and for notifying the intended recipient of the receipt of said facsimile message.

11. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein said identifying and notifying means notifies said identified user by dialing a call over a second facility connected to said facsimile apparatus.

12. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein said identifying and notifying means dials a predetermined telephone number associated with said user and thereafter outputs a message indicating the reception of said facsimile message.

13. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein the detected information is located in the transmitting subscriber identification segment of a control section of the facsimile message.

14. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein the detected information is located in the remote terminal identification segment of the control section of the facsimile message.

15. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein the detected information includes a transmitting location identifier identifying a source of the transmitted facsimile message, and wherein said identifying and notifying means includes

means for listing a plurality of user telephone numbers, each telephone number associated with a different user at said facsimile apparatus and each telephone number also having associated therewith one or more transmitting location identifiers, and

wherein said identifying and notifying means uses said transmitting location identifier to select from said listing means a telephone number identifying a user from said plurality of said predefined users.

16. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein the detected information includes the telephone number of the recipient of said facsimile message.

17. The facsimile apparatus of claim 10 wherein said identifying and notifying means uses a subset of the detected information to identify the recipient.

18. A method of operating a facsimile apparatus which receives from a sender a facsimile message comprising the steps of

determining one of a plurality of predetermined transmission statuses of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

storing a group of verbal status messages, each of said statuses being associated with one of said group of verbal status messages,

dialing a call over a second facility to a preprogrammed number in response to said determined status of said received facsimile message, and

outputting a verbal status message, selected using said determined status over said facility following the operation of said dialing.

19. A method of operating a facsimile apparatus comprising the steps of

detecting transmitter location identifier information other than a telephone number in a control section of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

in response to said detected information, identifying a user from a plurality of predefined users of said facsimile apparatus and

notifying the identified user of the receipt of said facsimile message.

20. A method of operating a facsimile apparatus comprising the steps of

determining one of a plurality of predetermined transmission statuses of a facsimile message transmitted over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

storing a group of verbal status messages, each of said statuses being associated with one of said group of verbal status messages.

dialing a call over said facility to a preprogrammed number in response to said status of said transmitted facsimile message, and

outputting a verbal status message over said facility following the dialing operation.

21. A method of operating a facsimile apparatus comprising the steps of

detecting a predetermined condition at said facsimile apparatus,

dialing, over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus, a call to a preprogrammed number in response to said condition of said facsimile apparatus, and

outputting a status message over said facility following said dialing step.

22. A facsimile apparatus comprising

means for detecting transmitter location information other than a telephone number in the control portion of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

means responsive to said detected information for dialing a call over said facility to at least one of a plurality of preprogrammed numbers as determined from information received in a control portion of said facsimile message, and

means for outputting a message which indicates the arrival of a facsimile over said facility to respectively at least one of a plurality of intended recipients following the operation of said dialing means.

23. A facsimile apparatus comprising

means for determining a status of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile appparatus,

means in response to said status of said received facsimile message for dialing a call over said facility to a certain one or more of a plurality of preprogrammed numbers depending upon the status of said received facsimile message, and

means for outputting a message over said facility following the operation of said dialing means.

24. A method of operating a facsimile apparatus comprising the steps of

detecting transmitter location information other than a telephone number in the control portion of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

dialing a call in response to said detected information over said facility to at least one of a plurality of preprogrammed numbers as determined from information received in a control portion of said facsimile message, and

outputting a message which indicates the arrival of a facsimile over said facility to respectively at least one of a plurality of intended recipients following the operation of said dialing means.

25. A method of operating a facsimile apparatus comprising the steps of

determining a status of a facsimile message received over a facility connected to said facsimile apparatus,

dialing a call in response to said status of said received facsimile message over said facility to a certain one or more of a plurality of preprogrammed numbers depending upon the status of said received facsimile message, and

means for outputting a message over said facility following the operation of said dialing means.

26. A facsimile apparatus arranged to receive a facsimile message transmitted over a facility, the facsimile apparatus comprising

means for detecting information in the control portion of a facsimile message received over said facility,

means responsive to said detected information for identifying a user from a plurality of predefined users of said facsimile apparatus, as the intended recipient of said facsimile message and for notifying the intended recipient of the receipt of said facsimile message, said detected information including a transmitting location identifier identifying a source of the transmitted facsimile message, and said identifying and notifying means including

means for listing a plurality of user telephone numbers, each telephone number associated with a different user at said facsimile apparatus and each telephone number also having associated therewith one or more transmitting location identifiers, and

wherein said identifying and notifying means uses said transmitting location identifier to select from said listing means a telephone number identifying a user from said plurality of said predefined users.

27. A facsimile apparatus arranged to receive a facsimile message transmitted over a facility, the facsimile apparatus comprising

means for detecting information other than a telephone number of the transmitter location in the control portion of a facsimile message received over said facility, and

means responsive to said detected information for identifying a user from a plurality of predefined users of said facsimile apparatus, as the recipient of said facsimile message and for notifying the recipient of the receipt of said facsimile message, wherein the detected information is located in the transmitting subscriber identification segment of a control section of the facsimile message.