Methods and apparatus to perform outdial facsimile services

• US 7,630,360 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2006
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schneider, Marco, Cunetto, Philip Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Ni, Suhan
• Application Number:
  US11/363,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20070086438A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,380 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.02, 379/207.02, 379/243, 370352-356
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00214 details of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00217 only involving computer data transmission protocols, e.g. SMTP, WAP or HTTP communication protocol aspects and techniques in packet data networks H04L69/00; network-specific arrangements or communication protocols supporting networked applications H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00312 with a digital transmission apparatus, e.g. a switched network of teleprinters for the distribution of text-based information, SMS or ISDN device transmitting or receiving via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network or the internet H04N1/00214; transmission of digital information H04L

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to perform outdial facsimile services are disclosed. A disclosed method comprises sending an admittance request message containing a destination from a communication device to a gatekeeper, receiving an admittance response message containing an address of a gateway at the communication device, establishing a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP) session with the gateway, and transmitting a copy of a stored facsimile from the communication device via the gateway to the destination.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending an admittance request message containing a destination from a communication device to a gatekeeper;

receiving an admittance response message containing an address of a gateway at the communication device;

receiving a unified super-group identifier;

establishing a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP) session with the gateway;

sending the destination and the unified super-group identifier to the gateway; and

transmitting a copy of a stored facsimile from the communication device via the gateway to the destination, the copy of the stored facsimile to be transmitted to the destination via the identified unified super-group.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the communication device is at least one of a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) application server or a messaging center.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the admittance request message or the admittance response message is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) H.323 standard.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein transmitting the copy of the stored facsimile via the gateway to the destination comprises:

forwarding the copy of the stored facsimile to the gateway via the SMTP session;

sending the unified super-group identifier to the gateway via the SMTP session; and

transmitting the copy of the stored facsimile to the destination from the gateway via the identified unified super-group.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein at least one of the admittance request message or the admittance response message is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) H.323 standard.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the SMTP session with the gateway is via a message transfer agent.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the SMTP session is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 1.37 standard.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising sending at least one of an authorization request or a combined authorization and routing request containing a time duration to a policy server, wherein the time duration represents a period of time over which the facsimile will be transmitted.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, further comprising releasing a shared communication resource located between the gateway and an endpoint for the destination when the period of time has passed.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising releasing a shared communication resource located between the gateway and an endpoint for the destination when a release request message is received from an application server.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

combining the unified super-group identifier with the destination; and

sending the combined unified super-group identifier and destination to the gateway.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the destination is at least one of a destination phone number, a destination address, a destination email address or a destination internet protocol (IP) address.

13. A system comprising:

a gateway;

an application server to send an admittance request message containing a destination;

a policy server, wherein the application server is to send a routing request to the policy server and to receive a unified super-group identifier from the policy server; and

a gatekeeper to receive the admittance request and to provide an admittance response message containing an address of the gateway, wherein the application server is to establish a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP) session with the gateway at the address and to forward a copy of a stored facsimile to the gateway via the SMTP session, wherein the application server is to send the destination and the unified super-group identifier to the gateway, and wherein the gateway is to transmit the copy of the facsimile to the destination via the identified unified super-group.

14. A system as defined in claim 13, wherein at least one of the admittance request message or the admittance response message is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) H.323 standard.

15. A system as defined in claim 13, wherein the unified super-group identifier and the destination are concatenated with a delimiter prior to sending them to the gateway.

16. A system as defined in claim 13, wherein the routing request contains a time duration, wherein the time duration represents a period of time over which the facsimile will be transmitted.

17. A system as defined in claim 13, wherein the SMTP session is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) T.37 standard.

18. A system as defined in claim 13, further comprising a message transfer agent, wherein the SMTP session to the gateway is via the message transfer agent.

19. A system as defined in claim 13, wherein the destination is at least one of a destination phone number, a destination address, a destination email address or a destination internet protocol (IP) address.

20. A tangible computer readable medium storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to implement a method comprising:

sending an admittance request message containing a destination to a gatekeeper;

receiving an admittance response message containing an address of a gateway;

receiving a unified super-group identifier;

establishing a simple message transfer protocol (SMTP) session with the gateway;

sending the destination and the unified super-group identifier to the gateway; and

transmitting a copy of a stored facsimile from the communication device via the gateway to the destination, the copy of the stored facsimile to be transmitted to the destination via the identified super-group.

21. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein at least one of the admittance request message or the admittance response message is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) H.323 standard.

22. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to implement the method, the method further comprising:

forwarding the copy of the stored facsimile to the gateway via the SMTP session; and

sending the unified super-group identifier to the gateway via the SMTP session, wherein the gateway transmits the copy of the stored facsimile to the destination via the identified unified super-group.

23. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to implement the method, the method further comprising sending at least one of an authorization request or a combined authorization and routing request containing a time duration to a policy server, wherein the time duration represents a period of time over which the facsimile will be transmitted.

24. A tangible computer readable medium as defined in claim 20, wherein the destination is at least one of a destination phone number, a destination address, a destination email address or a destination internet protocol (IP) address.