WO2001010113A2

WO2001010113A2 - Networked internet facsimile transmission system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2001010113A2
Application number: PCT/CA2000/000881
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sasa Lukic
Original assignee: Global Leading Edge Technologies Inc.
Priority date: 1999-07-27
Filing date: 2000-07-26
Publication date: 2001-02-08
Also published as: WO2001010113A3; AU6419500A

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of sending and receiving facsimile communications, comprising: a) providing a local area network comprising a plurality of user personal computer terminals (10) and a printer (48); b) providing a router (14) adapted to connect the local area network to the Internet; c) providing a fax controller connected to the local area network and comprising: i) a fax modem (30) connected to a public telephone line; ii) a scanner (26); iii) a computer (20) programmed with fax telecommunications software provided with an account number and password for an Internet fax service, and scanning and billing software; d) downloading the fax telecommunications software to one of the user terminals; e) preparing a fax communication at the user terminal, including a billing code; f) sending the fax communication through the fax modem (30) if the fax communication is to a local, and through the Internet router (14) to the Internet facsimile service if the fax communication is to a long distance number; g) storing on the fax controller billing information respecting the fax communication, including the billing code, the recipient fax number and the number of pages sent.

Description

NETWORKED INTERNET FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM AND METHOD

Technical Field The invention relates to the field of telecommunication by facsimile transmission and more particularly to use of the Internet to facilitate facsimile communication.

Background Art The widespread use of facsimile, or "fax", machines as a method of business communication started in the late 1960's and by 1980 had become the universal and essential form of business communication. Fax machines utilize direct telephone connection, and thus are subject to long distance charges for non-local transmissions. In recent years, the use of e-mail communication over the Internet has begun to replace the use of fax machines. One reason for the preference of e-mail over fax transmission is the fact that e-mail does not incur any long-distance toll charges, which can amount to significant costs. However, to date not all business-people have e-mail capability, and of those who do, not all have the ability to scan and forward documents, or receive scanned documents. Further, a particular business' e-mail address may not be known. Fax continues to account for 41 % of all long distance phone expenses, and 60% of Fortune 500 companies report an increase in fax usage according to recent surveys. Clearly, therefore fax communication will continue to be an important communication system in business along with e-mail. So there will be an ongoing need for businesses to continue to communicate to fax machines connected to the telephone network for years to come.

A number of systems have been developed to take advantage of Internet communication of fax transmissions to avoid long distance telephone charges by locating Internet servers, connected to the local telephone system, in a number of geographical locations so that fax transmissions are received by the server and transmitted toll-free over the Internet to the server within the destination fax machine's local telephone area from whence the transmission is relayed over the local phone network to the destination fax machine.

For example, Herbst U.S. Patent No. 4,941,170 issued July 10, 1990 is an early patent disclosing the concept of using electronic mail over a wide area network to avoid the long distance telephone network for the sending of long distance faxes, although it does not specifically contemplate the use of the Internet. The sender is a standard stand-alone fax machine. Gordon U.S. Patent No. 5,608,786 issued March 4, 1997 discloses the use of the Internet and a number of local access nodes to reduce long distance fax charges. Users communicate to the local access nodes by the public telephone system. The sender accesses the local access nodes to send the message using a standard stand-alone fax machine or PC. Recipients must be subscribers to the system to be assigned a fax number associated with an e-mail address or retrieve messages from the nodes. Murphy et al. PCT Application WO 97/18665 published May 22, 1997 discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send the fax by e-mail using an "ecom" device to convert the fax to an e-mail. Users communicate to the "ecom" directly by a standard stand-alone fax machine or PC. An e-mail address for the recipient is required. Ehrlich PCT Application WO 97/23990 published July 3, 1997 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax from a standard stand-alone fax machine or PC which is then converted to Internet protocol by an "Encoding/Forwarding Unit". A "Decoding/Delivery Unit" delivers the fax to the recipient. Wilkes et al. PCT Application WO 97/26753 published July 24, 1997 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax from a standard stand-alone fax machine or PC which is then converted to Internet protocol by a "FaxEngine" and another "FaxEngine" decodes and delivers the fax to the recipient. Lee U.S. Patent No. 5,739,919 issued April 14, 1998 discloses the use of a packet switched data network to reduce long distance fax charges. A "Faxjack" re-routes a fax transmission to a packet switched digital network. Mori European Patent Application EP 0 836 315 published April 15, 1998 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax from a standard stand-alone fax machine over the public switched telephone network to an "Internet Fax Machine" which converts the fax to an Internet e-mail for forwarding to a foreign "Internet Fax Machine" which delivers the fax to the recipient over the local phone line. Megumi Japanese Patent Application JP 10145545 published May 29, 1998 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax from a stand-alone fax machine over the public switched telephone network to a server which sends the fax by FTP file transfer protocol to the overseas server closest to the destination which delivers the fax to the recipient over the local phone line. Sato Japanese Patent Application JP 10173899 published June 26, 1998 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax from a stand-alone fax machine over the public switched telephone network to a fax server which converts the fax to digital data and sends it by Internet to a foreign fax server nearest to the destination which delivers the fax to the recipient over the local phone line.

Ahooja PCT Application WO 98/34399 published August 6, 1998 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax by fax modem from a standard stand-alone PC which is then converted to Internet protocol by an "IFX server" and another "IFX server" in the remote location decodes and delivers the fax to the recipient. Vered et al. PCT Application WO 98/58492 published December 22, 1998 also discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. It permits users to send a real-time fax from a fax machine, using a "Fax Protocol Enhancer", to a local and termination gateway over the Internet, to another fax machine in the remote location. Feder U.S. Patent No. 5,872,845 issued February 16, 1999 discloses the use of a packet switched digital networks, such as the Internet, to reduce long distance fax charges. A fax machine is provided with an interface which routes the message locally or over a computer network to a remote server after converting the signal to a data file. Lin U.S. Patent No. 5,881,064 issued March 9, 1999 discloses the use of a packet switched digital network, such as the Internet, to reduce long distance fax charges. Fax machines are connected over the Internet by a node system. Anglin et al. U.S. Patent No. 5,892,591 issued April 6, 1999 discloses the use of the Internet, to reduce long distance fax charges. The originating fax machine sends the message to a computer which scans a cover sheet, extracts the destination number and converts the document to Internet protocol for transmission to a remote computer over the Internet. King PCT Application WO 99/21351 published April 29, 1999 discloses the use of the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Users send a fax from a standard stand-alone fax machine. A routing apparatus distinguishes whether to send the fax over the local telephone lines or by the Internet.

There are a number of problems with these existing systems for utilizing the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges. Typically these systems require customized hardware and/or software which is expensive to license and maintain with a very long learning curve. Also, the user is required to have more than a rudimentary knowledge of computers and operating systems in order to use such systems. Further, in such systems users send the fax from a standard stand-alone fax machine. There is therefore a need for a system for utilizing the Internet to reduce long distance fax charges which uses standard mass market software and which permits the user to send the fax from an office's local area network.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a method of sending and receiving facsimile communications, comprising: a) providing a local area network comprising a plurality of user personal computer terminals and a printer; b) providing a router adapted to connect the local area network to the Internet; c) providing a fax controller connected to the local area network and comprising: i) a fax modem connected to a public telephone line; ii) a scanner; iii) a computer programmed with fax telecommunications software provided with an account number and password for an Internet fax service, scanning and billing software; d) downloading the fax telecommunications software to one of the user terminals; e) preparing a fax communication at the user terminal, including a billing code; f) sending the fax communication through the fax modem if the fax communication is to a local, and through the Internet router to the Internet facsimile service if the fax communication is to a long distance number; g) storing on the fax controller billing information respecting the fax communication, including the billing code, the recipient fax number and the number of pages sent.

The invention further provides a method of conducting a facsimile service comprising providing fax controllers for a plurality of local area network customers, each fax controller having the same account number and password for an Internet fax service, obtaining a volume discount from said Internet fax service and passing on a portion of said discount to said customers.

Brief Description of Drawings

With reference to the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a local area network according to the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the invention connected to the Internet and global telephone system.

Best Mode(s For Carrying Out the Invention

With reference to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, a local area network 20 has a number of client terminals or stations 10, each operated by a "user", which are desktop personal computers and are connected to a network hub 12 by network connections 16. Hub 12 in turn is connected to other stations 18 of the local area network. Also connected to hub 12 is an Internet router 14 which connects local area network 20 to the Internet global computer network 22, and a novel WhiteBox (WBX) 24 according to the present invention. WBX 24, also referred to herein as the fax controller, is connected to the network through a 10/100 Mbit network card. A network printer 48 (Fig. 2) is also provided, connected to hub 12.

As outlined in further detail below, WBX 24 consists of two modules: a) A SCSI color scanner with a 25-30 page document feeder, such as a Hewlett-Packard 5000; and b) a custom built computer 28 with networking capabilities and telecommunications software, such as WinFax Pro™. WBX 24 acts as a telecommunications center that controls and routes fax transmissions incoming and outgoing either through a local telephone line or via Internet automatically without user intervention. Computer 28 has a fax modem 30 connected through wall jack 36 to the publicly switched telephone network 36, so that WBX 24 can send or receive fax messages over the local telephone line 36, as shown also in Fig. 2. The WinFax software is provided with the owner's (referred to hereafter as the "service provider '"s) account number and password for an Internet fax service such as Concord Technologies, Inc. of Seattle, Washington.

WBX 24 is programmed with Fax Sharing Host and Fax Sharing Client versions of Winfax Pro and HP Precision Scan Pro™ and Remote Scanning Client. After WBX 24 is connected to the network 20, client terminals 10 connect to the WBX 24 over network 20 and download the appropriate file/program, which will allow them to scan documents, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) documents, fax those documents, store those documents, e-mail, and/or print those documents. The appropriate program to be downloaded will be designated by the specific operating system it is meant for; "remote install for Windows 95/98" or "remote install for NT". Once the appropriate file is double clicked, the software installs itself automatically, without user intervention onto the client terminal 10. Once installed, it automatically reboots the terminal 10 to effect the changes. After reboot, the user can start using the capabilities of the WBX system immediately without having to configure or setup any software. Moreover, the user is prevented from reconfiguring the WinFax software. As illustrated in Fig. 2, WBX 24 has access through router

14 to an Internet fax routing system 38, such as that maintained by Concord Technologies, Inc. of Seattle, Washington. Fax routing system 38 receives fax transmissions sent by WinFax Pro software from customers having an account number and password, reads the destination fax telephone number, and redirects the WinFax transmission via the Internet to a local "point of presence" node 40 within the fax recipient's area code to avoid long distance toll charges. Local node 40 then retransmits the WinFax transmission over the local telephone line 42 to the recipient fax machine. In operation, to forward textual faxes from client terminal

10, the user composes the fax message in their Word Processor or any other processor, graphics program, etc. in the normal way. After the user has completed their document they select WinFax, as the printer from the printer menu in their program and a window will open up asking for the fax number and recipient's name. Once the user inputs the destination fax number and clicks on the send button the WBX software reads the phone number and routes the fax through the appropriate channel. A fax which requires a long distance routing is automatically sent over the Internet. A fax which requires only local telephone routing is automatically sent through the WBX fax modem 30 and the dedicated local fax line 32. The WBX scanner capability also allows network users to fax scanned documents. Users can scan documents, manipulate them and fax, e-mail and/or print them. Files scanned by the WBX can be manipulated through OCR capabilities, which are built into the WinFax Pro loaded onto the user station 10, or other OCR software. Documents that are OCR'd are read by the software and then allow the user to change or add words or manipulate entire paragraphs. The changes are saved and the document can be faxed immediately from the user's station using WinFax as described above for textual documents. Hard copy paper documents can either be put on the scanner's 26 flatbed (single sheet), or inserted into the automatic document feeder (25-30 pages). The user at station 10 then clicks on the "Scan and Fax" button in WinFax and the scanner 26 automatically scans all documents and inserts them into files ready to be faxed. The user then uses WinFax in the usual way to choose a cover page from a library or a custom cover page, types in the name and phone number of the recipient and presses the "send" button.

The WBX is capable of sending and receiving fax transmissions simultaneously. It is also capable of sending several fax transmissions whether over the Internet or locally at the same time. If multiple users send long distance faxes at the same time, the WBX 24 is able to send them all simultaneously over the Internet with no time lag. Multiple faxes for local distribution are queued and sent one at a time in succession through the modem 30.

Regardless of which route the fax is sent (Internet or local) the user will see a progress indicator from Concord's system in the bottom right of the screen showing the progress of the fax transmission in real time. Should the user not wish to see the indicator they can easily close it (this will not affect the fax status). Either way a fax report will be placed in the users "Send Log" with a copy of the fax they sent indicating its status (successful or not and if not, why). The recipient of the fax transmission is not required to have a WBX or a computer to receive a fax, (whether the fax was sent to the recipient by local line or through the Internet), but only requires an ordinary fax machine connected to the local telephone network. All fax transmissions sent over the Internet are preferably encrypted with a 28-bit or 38 bit algorithm key. Thus ensuring secure transmissions of all Internet faxes. The fax is then decrypted at its point of destination and sent to the recipients fax machine.

To receive fax transmissions, WBX 24, through the dedicated fax line 32 that it is connected to receives all incoming fax transmissions. Upon receiving the transmission, the WBX automatically prints the fax to any printer 48 connected to the network designated by the Administrator of the network. Preferably such network printer is a laser printer. The WBX stores all incoming faxes on its hard drive, in its "Receive Log". Even when the fax has been printed, a copy of the incoming fax is retained in the "Receive Log" until removed, deleted or moved to an alternate folder. Only the network Administrator will typically possess access rights to the WBX and it's software components, and have the ability to access the "Receive Log" or "Send Log". A particularly useful feature of the invention is that the WBX unit 24 is provided as a tamper-proof secure unit by the service provider already loaded with the service provider's account number and password with Concord, and is connected to a local area network infrastructure 20 already in place. The WBX 24 is pre-programmed with the appropriate software, billing accounts for the user/company, and the provider's unique Concord account number and password, so that all the provider's installations will utilize the same Concord account. The service provider obtains an account with Concord at a preferential volume rate which can than be passed onto the clients at a considerable savings in long distance fax rates. In this way the provider obtains a volume rate from Concord, or the equivalent fax service, and can offer a lower rate to the customer than the customer could obtain directly from Concord, while still adding a margin of profit for the service provider to the Internet fax transactions. The client of the WBX service provider, as is the case with Concord, is billed at a per page basis regardless of how long it takes the page to travel from the sender to its completion at the recipient's end. The Concord account number and password are not accessible to the user at a station 10. The WBX billing procedure, described as follows, is also novel. When a user sends a fax from station 10 (regardless of whether it is local or over the Internet) a small dialog box appears before the fax is sent. This box asks for the "billing code" and the "keyword". The billing code is a code assigned by the user's company to the recipient of the fax so as to differentiate between the user's company's multiple clients for billing purposes and tracking correspondence with its clients. The billing code usually consists of either the recipients' company name and account number or the recipients' status (i.e. CSSINC3 +) in the billing file. The keyword can be either the recipient company name, receiver's name, or time and date or the senders name or station, to assist the sender in identifying the transmission. Once the "billing code" and "keyword" fields are filled in and the "OK" button clicked, the fax is sent. Automatically the station sends a file to the WBX, where it is stored in a folder titled "XYZ

Billing". The file consists of:

Billing code: Keywords:

Date Sent:

Pages Sent:

Recipient:

Fax Number: (sent to) Type: (Internet or local)

ECM: (this is the recipient fax machine identifier)

Pages Sent:

Time: (sent)

Duration: (this will always be zero if the fax was over the Internet) Company: (sent to)

Subject:

Status Code: (complete)

Every fax sent, whether through the Internet or local line will ask for a "billing code" and "keywords" before it can be sent. The information collected in the XYZ Billing folder can only be accessed by a person/s who are supplied with a password that allows the user to open the billing folder. Using custom software provided with the WBX, a designated person will be able to print out the above billing information of any faxes sent in any of the following orders. The billing information will be printed out in an EXCEL™ spreadsheet form, for ease of printing and/or exporting to an accounting program or database. By Date

By Billing Code By Company By Keywords Or By Fax Number sent to

As an alternative to adding the WBX to an existing local area network, a small 3 port network hub can be integrated inside the WBX allowing small or home office businesses to conduct business on a scale with the big companies. This will allow them to connect existing stations into the WBX, thus creating a small network and allowing them to take full advantage of the WBX's capabilities. As a further alternative, should the client have an extremely heavy fax usage, a "smart" fax board can be inserted in the WBX that is capable of connecting up to 2 to 4 physical dedicated phone lines and 16 phone numbers, thus enabling the receiving and sending of local faxes simultaneously.

The advantages of the present invention over existing fax systems are numerous, resulting in not only savings of long distance toll charges but also other savings in money and time and increased productivity. Additional savings are achieved by no longer having to buy thermal fax paper, inkjet cartridges, rolled carbon paper, specialized fax toner cartridges or separate scanners. Productivity of office staff is increased since most documents are faxed directly from work stations without printing a hard copy, rather than from stand-alone fax machines, and it is not necessary to manually resubmit a fax if it failed to send since this is done automatically by the WBX/WinFax/Concord system.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method of sending and receiving facsimile communications, comprising: a) providing a local area network comprising a plurality of user personal computer terminals and a printer; b) providing a router adapted to connect said local area network to the Internet; c) providing a fax controller connected to said local area network and comprising: i) a fax modem connected to a public telephone line; ii) a scanner; iii) a computer programmed with fax telecommunications software provided with an account number and password for an Internet fax service, scanning and billing software; d) downloading said fax telecommunications software to one of said user terminals; e) preparing a fax communication at said user terminal, including a billing code; f) sending said fax communication through said fax modem if said fax communication is to a local number, and through said Internet router to said Internet facsimile service if said fax communication is to a long distance number; g) storing on said fax controller billing information respecting said fax communication, including said billing code, the recipient fax number and the number of pages sent.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said fax telecommunications software is WinFax.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving fax communications at said fax controller and printing same on said network printer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said billing information further comprises whether the fax communication was local or long distance.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said billing information further comprises status information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said billing information further comprises the time and date of the transmission.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said billing information further comprises the duration of the fax communication for local fax communications.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said billing information further comprises the name of the recipient.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said billing information further comprises keywords.

10. A method of conducting a facsimile service comprising providing fax controllers for a plurality of local area network customers, each fax controller having the same account number and password for an Internet fax service, obtaining a volume discount from said Internet fax service and passing on a portion of said discount to said customers.

11. A system for sending and receiving facsimile communications, comprising: a) a local area network comprising a plurality of user personal computer terminals and a printer; b) a router adapted to connect said local area network to the Internet; c) a fax controller connected to said local area network and comprising: i) a fax modem connected to a public telephone line; ii) a scanner; iii) a computer programmed with fax telecommunications software provided with an account number and password for an Internet fax service, scanning and billing software; d) means for downloading said fax telecommunications software to one of said user terminals; e) means for preparing a fax communication at said user terminal, including a billing code; f) means for sending said fax communication through said fax modem if said fax communication is to a local number, and through said Internet router to said Internet facsimile service if said fax communication is to a long distance number; g) means for storing on said fax controller billing information respecting said fax communication, including said billing code, the recipient fax number and the number of pages sent.