CA2263637A1

CA2263637A1 - Method for receiving fax messages instead of a subscriber's fax equipment as well as a fax receiving facility, server and exchange hereto

Info

Publication number: CA2263637A1
Application number: CA 2263637
Authority: CA
Inventors: Roland Uebele
Original assignee: Alcatel SA
Current assignee: Alcatel Lucent SAS
Priority date: 1998-03-16
Filing date: 1999-03-15
Publication date: 1999-09-16
Also published as: JPH11331476A; CN1237849A; DE19811407A1; EP0944236A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for receiving fax messages instead of a subscriber's fax equipment as well as a fax receiving facility (FRCV), a server and an exchange therefor. The fax receiving facility (FRCV), instead of the fax equipment, detects that it is to receive an incoming fax message. The fax receiving facility (FRCV) then receives and stores the fax message. A data terminal (DT) of the subscriber then sets up a connection to the fax receiving facility (FRCV) via an on-line data network (ODN). The fax receiving facility (FRCV) sends the fax message to the data terminal (DT) via the online data network (ODN). The data terminal (DT) or the fax receiving facility (FRCV) subsequently terminate the connection via the online data network (ODN) to the fax receiving facility (FRCV).

Description

METHOD FOR RECEIVING FAX MESSAGES INSTEAD OF A SUBSCRIBER'S
FAX EQUIPMENT AS WELL AS A FAX RECEIVING FACILITY, SERVER AND EXCHANGE HERETO
The present invention relates to a method for receiving fax messages instead of a subscriber's fax equipment as well as to a fax receiving facility therefor in accordance with the preamble of Claim 7, a server therefor in accordance with the preamble of Claim 9, and an exchange therefor in accordance with the preamble of Claim 10.
Fax messages are generally received by special fax equipment suitable for sending and receiving fax messages.
Such fax equipment essentially comprises a scanner to read the documents to be sent, a printer to print out received fax messages and a modem to receive and send fax messages via a telephone line. As a result of large-scale production, the price for such fax equipment has become quite affordable. But someone who receives or sends fax messages very rarely may still decide that fax equipment is too expensive to buy. Since the power supply of the telephone network is not sufficient for operating fax equipment, the fax equipment requires an additional power supply. If the fax equipment is to be ready to receive at any time, this power supply must be connected to the power supply system and thus constantly consumes energy in standby mode even if no fax messages are sent or received.
In contrast to fax equipment, personal computers are increasingly available in private households. Through built-in fax modems, these personal computers can have the capacity to receive and send fax messages. Although adding a fax modem to a home computer eliminates the need to purchase fax equipment, the personal computer, or at least the fax modem, must again be operated in standby mode, which consumes energy, in order to be ready to receive.
To avoid standby operation, an incoming fax message for a subscriber connection can be received by a so-called fax box service. Such a service is offered by many telecommunications networks and is comparable to so-called voice box service, which functions as a side network answering machine. Incoming fax messages for the fax box service are received and stored by a telecommunications network facility, generally a server. A fax unit or a personal computer with a built-in fax can then be used to retrieve the stored fax messages. This eliminates standby operation of fax equipment, but it still requires a suitable device for receiving the fax message.
A personal computer with a fax modem can also be configured to function as a fax server which accepts fax messages for other personal computers. The article entitled "Getting your fax straight: getting ahead of the game with fax server technology" on page 46 of the February 1997 issue of "Network Computing," Volume 6, Number 2, ISSN 0966-7873, published by "Business and Technical Communications,"
describes a fax server acting as a mailbox which accepts fax messages for other personal computers that are connected to this fax server. These fax messages can be retrieved from the fax server via the Internet. With this "fax over Internet," the Internet merely serves as the transmission medium between a sending and a receiving fax server. The sending fax server packages a fax message received from a fax unit into a common Internet data format for dispatch to the receiving fax server, i.e., it creates an Internet fax message and sends this Internet fax message to the receiving fax server via the Internet. This fax server opens the fax message from the Internet fax message and sends this opened fax message to a fax unit. In other words, if the fax server acting as the mailbox has received a fax message and this fax message is to be retrieved by a personal computer via the Internet, the fax server packages the fax message into a common Internet data format and sends the packaged fax message to a receiving server via the Internet. This receiving server converts the fax message back into its original fax format and then sends the fax message to the requesting personal computer over a telephone line of a telecommunications network. Here, too, a device suitable for receiving a fax message, i.e., a personal computer with a fax modem or fax equipment, is required.
It is the object of the invention to define convenient means for receiving fax messages even if no fax equipment is available for this purpose.
This object is attained by a method according to the technical teaching of Claim 1, a fax receiving facility according to the technical teaching of Claim 7, a server according to the technical teaching of Claim 9 and an exchange according to the technical teaching of Claim 10.
Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims and the description.

Below, the invention and its advantages are presented with the help of exemplary embodiments and by means of the drawing.
The figure shows an arrangement for implementing the inventive method with a fax sending unit FSND, an inventive fax receiving facility FRCV, an exchange EX1, and a data terminal DT.
The figure shows an arrangement in which the inventive method can be used. A fax sending unit FSND is connected with exchange EX1 via a connection CON. This fax sending unit FSND can send fax messages to exchange EX1. Connection CON can lead through additional units (not depicted) of a telecommunications network, e.g., through front-end equipment and through additional exchanges. Exchange EX1 is connected to a fax receiving facility FRCV via connection FC. The fax receiving facility FRCV receives fax messages instead of the subscriber fax equipment. Connection FC, just like connection CON, can lead through additional units (not depicted) of a telecommunications network. When exchange EX1 receives a fax message for the subscriber from the fax sending unit FSND, it can forward this fax message to the fax receiving facility FRCV which receives and stores the fax message instead of the subscriber's fax equipment.
The fax receiving facility FRCV can operate as a stand-alone unit or be incorporated into a server that can be addressed from exchange EX1. Or, instead of the fax receiving facility FRCV, an inventive server may provide the functions of the fax receiving facility FRCV and be connected with exchange EX1 via connection FC. On the other hand, the fax receiving facility FRCV can also be integrated into exchange EX1, so that connection FC is an internal connection within exchange EX1. Furthermore, instead of exchange EX1 and the separate fax receiving facility FRCV, an inventive exchange may be used which can combine the functions of exchange EX1 and the fax receiving facility FRCV.
Thus, instead of a subscriber's fax equipment, the fax receiving facility FRCV can receive, for example, an incoming fax message if a subscriber's fax equipment (not depicted) fails to receive a fax message because the equipment, although connected to the subscriber's fax equipment subscriber-connection intended for receiving fax messages (not depicted), is not switched on and thus not ready to receive. The term "fax equipment subscriber-connection" is used for simplicity's sake and may mean, for example, a subscriber connection line to which a subscriber's fax equipment is typically connected or the dial number of an ISDN subscriber connection assigned to a fax unit. The fax equipment subscriber-connection can be switched and operated, for example, by exchange EX1. When a fax message is coming in, the fax receiving facility FRCV
determines whether the subscriber's fax equipment connected to the fax equipment subscriber-connection is ready to receive, for example, by monitoring or by having the exchange EX1 monitor, whether the fax equipment connected to the subscriber-connection accepts the call with the incoming fax message after three or five rings.

The invention is particularly advantageous if the subscriber has a data terminal DT but not a fax unit. In this case, the subscriber does not need a subscriber connection for fax equipment. It is advantageous, however, if the subscriber is then assigned a fax-subscriber number specifically for receiving fax messages. If exchange EXl receives a fax message addressed to the subscriber's fax-subscriber-number from the fax sending unit FSND, exchange EX1 can forward this fax message directly to the fax receiving facility FRCV. Exchange EX1 then indicates, for example, together with the fax message to be stored, the subscriber's fax-subscriber-number to the fax receiving facility FRCV so that the fax message can be allocated to the subscriber.
The subscriber can determine whether the fax receiving facility FRCV has received a fax message for him by regularly interrogating the fax receiving facility FRCV by means of the data terminal DT depicted in the figure and using, for example, a query which will be further explained below. It is advantageous, however, if the fax receiving facility FRCV sends a message to the subscriber to inform him that a fax was received for him. Such notification of the subscriber by the fax receiving facility FRCV will be explained in further detail below.
The figure furthermore shows a data terminal DT that is connected with an online data network ODN via a connection DC1. The online data network ODN, in turn, is connected to the fax receiving facility FRCV via connection DC2. A
typical example for the online data network ODN is the Internet. However, modifications and further developments of the Internet, or other forms of data networks, may also be used, e.g., an Intranet. Since data networks generally are not circuit-switched but packet-switched, a noticeable time delay may occur during data transmission between two users of the data network. However, since the two users are interconnected through an imaginary connection, a virtual connection of the data network, the data network nevertheless creates an online connection between the two users even if an occasional time delay occurs. The employed data terminal DT may be a personal computer equipped with an interface that permits access to the online data network ODN. Connection DC1 to the online data network ODN may be set up, for example, as a telephone connection via a telephone network to an access computer (not depicted) which serves as interface between the telephone network and the online data network ODN. Data terminal DT can then exchange data with online data network ODN, e.g., via a modem or an ISDN interface module, over connection DC1. A
modem is used if connection DC1 permits only analog transmission; an ISDN interface module if connection DC1 permits transmission of digital ISDN data packets. If the online data network ODN is the Internet, the setup of connection DC1 by means of a personal computer and suitable interface software is generally known.
The data terminal DT can also be a combination unit that can set up connection DC1 with the online data network ODN
and furthermore perform the functions of a telephone set.
In its capacity as telephone set, the data terminal can then be connected to exchange EX1 via a subscriber connection line (not depicted) .

To set up a complete connection starting from connection DC1 all the way to the fax receiving facility FRCV, the data terminal DT gives the online data network an address of the fax receiving facility FRCV. If the online data network ODN is the Internet, this address may be a so-called URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address, which makes it possible with common Internet means to set up a connection from the data terminal DT via the online data network ODN to an input interface, a so-called homepage, of the fax receiving facility FRCV. The online data network ODN then sets up the complete connection up to the fax receiving facility FRCV and including connection DC2. The data terminal DT then sends the fax receiving facility FRCV
a request to access the fax messages received and stored by the fax receiving facility FRCV. This access request, for example, can be a special subscriber identification or the aforementioned fax subscriber number, which can be used to send fax messages to the subscriber.
The fax receiving facility FRCV advantageously checks the access request and determines whether it can grant access to the fax messages it received for the subscriber. For example, the data terminal DT may send a so-called Personal Identification Number (PIN) to the fax receiving facility FRCV in conjunction with the access request. Only if the PIN entered by the data terminal DT coincides with a PIN
expected by the fax receiving facility FRCV in conjunction with the access request does the fax receiving facility FRCV permit access to the fax messages. This ensures that only an authorized subscriber or his representative can access the fax messages. It may also be predetermined, however, that indicating the fax subscriber number alone is sufficient to access the fax messages. This latter variant may be used, for example, if the fax messages do not require any special protection because they contain generally known information or information that is easily accessible by other means. In this latter embodiment, the fax receiving facility FRCV can even offer a so-called "fax-on-demand" service where any subscriber can call up the fax messages.
If access to the telecommunications service data cannot be granted, the fax receiving facility FRCV notifies the data terminal DT accordingly. In this case, renewed access can be attempted with the data terminal DT using a different access identification, e.g., a different PIN, or the link between the fax receiving facility FRCV and the data terminal DT is disconnected.
Once the subscriber has received access to his fax messages in the fax receiving facility FRCV using the data terminal DT, the fax receiving facility FRCV can send the fax messages ready for the subscriber to the data terminal DT
without any further action by the data terminal DT. Greater convenience is offered, however, if the data terminal DT
can request the fax receiving facility FRCV to send the fax messages individually, in groups or all at once. The fax receiving facility FRCV then sends the stored fax messages in the requested form to the data terminal DT. The data terminal DT receives the fax messages, stores them in a memory or outputs them using an output medium, e.g., a screen or a printer.

After the fax messages have been requested, the data terminal DT terminates the connection with the fax receiving facility FRCV. However, the connection may also be terminated by the fax receiving facility FRCV, e.g., if the data terminal DT does not request any further fax messages over a prolonged period so that the connection capacity of the fax receiving facility FRCV is unnecessarily blocked by the unused connection to the data terminal DT. In this case, a timer in the fax receiving 10 facility FRCV causes the link to be disconnected. The fax receiving facility FRCV can disconnect the link with the data terminal DT even if the data terminal DT has not yet requested all the fax messages stored for the subscriber in the fax receiving facility FRCV.
The fax receiving facility FRCV can receive fax messages from exchange EX1 unmodified, in the same form in which they were sent by the fax sending unit FSND. In other words, the fax sending unit FSND and the fax receiving facility FRCV act like a sending and receiving fax unit with a modem for sending and receiving fax data in modulated form as it is sent and received, for example, by conventional, so-called Group 2 fax units. But the fax sending unit FSND can also be an Internet fax server which is typically found in a "fax over Internet" sending procedure. An Internet fax server sends fax messages in an unmodulated binary data form in a common Internet protocol, i.e., it creates an Internet fax message. Such an Internet fax message can be sent by the fax sending unit FSND in data packets, e.g. over an ISDN data line, and be received and stored by the fax receiving facility FRCV.

However, fax messages sent by the fax sending unit FSND can also be converted by exchange EX1 into a data format specially defined for the data exchange between exchange EXl and fax receiving facility FRCV via connection FC. This variant may be selected, for example, if the fax receiving facility FRCV is integrated into exchange EX1 and connection FC is an internal connection with a specially defined interface within exchange EXl.
Particularly if the fax-receiving facility FRCV is integrated into exchange EX1, all calls to the subscriber connection can be checked to determine whether they contain an incoming fax message. If the fax sending unit FSND is a fax unit that sends, for example, ISDN fax messages based on the so-called Group 4 standard, exchange EX1 will detect an incoming call containing a fax message already from the signaling information. Exchange EX1 can then forward such a call directly to the fax receiving facility FRCV instead of to the subscriber connection. If exchange EX1 and the fax receiving facility FRCV are separate units, said filtering of fax messages may also be achieved in that exchange EX1 first routes all calls destined for the subscriber connection to the fax receiving facility FRCV via connection FC. The fax receiving facility FRCV then selects any fax messages from these calls and returns calls without fax messages to exchange EX1 for transfer to the subscriber connection.
When the fax messages are requested, the fax receiving facility FRCV may send only the fax messages as such to the data terminal DT which interprets and outputs them. The data terminal DT in turn sends only the aforementioned access identification and PIN and the request for fax messages to the fax receiving facility FRCV. In this case, the data terminal DT provides a user interface with screen menus for requesting fax messages from the fax receiving facility FRCV, possibly for checking request commands entered on the data terminal DT and for outputting fax messages requested from the fax receiving facility FRCV.
For this purpose, data terminal DT uses software that is permanently installed and retrievable from a storage medium of data terminal DT.
It is also possible, however, that the fax receiving facility FRCV and the data terminal DT exchange data enriched with additional interpretation references. The fax receiving facility FRCV then sends additional instructions for setting up a menu prompt for the user on the screen of data terminal DT or additional instructions for the acoustic output of user instructions to data terminal DT.
Thus, the form of the output on the data terminal DT is directly controlled by the fax receiving facility FRCV.
Modifications or expansions of this output form can therefore originate centrally from the fax receiving facility FRCV and are no longer a function of software permanently installed on a storage medium of data terminal DT. In this case, data terminal DT is simply provided with evaluation means to interpret the instructions forwarded by the fax receiving facility FRCV.
If the online data network ODN is the Internet, the description language HyperText Markup Language (HTML) can be used for the last-mentioned exchange of expanded data between exchange EX1 and data terminal DT. In this case, exchange EX1 sends data terminal DT so-called HTML
documents which consist of a sequence of ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters and are read and interpreted by data terminal DT using a special evaluation program, a so-called browser. The syntax of the HTML documents is precisely defined and permits, for example, by means of the HTML description language, the description of the written presentation of screen records or even of entire acoustic sequences. The data terminal DT
can display user fields in input windows of a screen record such that the user of data terminal DT can select, for example, which of the fax messages stored in the fax receiving facility FRCV he wants to receive. The data terminal DT then sends the user's selection to the fax receiving facility FRCV, which in turn forwards the selected fax messages back to the data terminal DT. In this way, the user of data terminal DT can also specify, for example, the data format in which the received fax messages are to be sent to data terminal DT. Particularly if data terminal DT can process only a specific data format, it is very advantageous if data terminal DT can give instructions to the fax receiving facility FRCV regarding the desired data format. The fax receiving facility FRCV will then convert received fax messages into the desired data format and send fax messages to data terminal DT only in this data format. Thus, it is possible, for example, that a fax message received in modulated form by the fax receiving facility FRCV and subsequently demodulated can be forwarded to the data terminal DT in a binary data format. One possible binary data format is the so-called "Tagged Image Format," which may be used to display picture files. In this case, data terminal DT does not require its own modem for demodulating fax messages.
From data terminal DT, fax receiving facility FRCV may also be instructed to interpret fax messages before sending them to data terminal DT. Fax receiving facility FRCV may, for example, be instructed to determine the text contained in a fax message using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software and to send it to data terminal DT as an ASCII
character string. The text is then no longer only available as picture information, as was the case for the original fax message. Instead it is picture information whose content has been evaluated, i.e., it is in the form of an ASCII character string which can be directly processed, for example, by a word processor in data terminal DT. In this evaluated form, however, the fax message is no longer a reproduction or facsimile of the original document sent as a fax. But the content of the fax message remains unchanged. The fax receiving facility FRCV can integrate a fax message in its evaluated form or in picture format into a description in the HTML description language. In this case, data terminal DT requires no further auxiliary means for receiving fax messages except the aforementioned browser for interpreting HTML descriptions, which is useful in any case for communicating with the fax receiving facility FRCV via the Internet.
As a further development of the description possibilities of information with HTML documents, the language JAVA
offers expanded options for the output of data and particularly for their interactive modification. When using JAVA, the fax receiving facility FRCV sends an intermediate code generated from a compiled source text, a so-called JAVA applet, to the data terminal DT. Data terminal DT uses a JAVA interpreter to translate this JAVA applet into machine code and subsequently executes the machine code program thus generated, i.e., generates picture sequences, acoustics sequences or query masks for selecting fax messages to be called up from the fax receiving facility FRCV. Since the communication means of the Internet protocol family TCP/IP (Transmission Control 10 Protocol/Internet Protocol) can also be integrated into JAVA applets, the return of control commands, e.g., to select fax messages from data terminal DT to the fax receiving facility FRCV, is substantially facilitated.
If the subscriber is to be notified by the fax receiving facility FRCV upon receipt of a fax message, the fax receiving facility FRCV can call the subscriber on his telephone, e.g., via exchange EX1, and play the message to the subscriber in spoken form. The spoken message can be generated by a speech synthesizer. The fax receiving facility FRCV can also send the message to the subscriber by means of so-called Short Message Services (SMS) if the subscriber has a terminal of a mobile telecommunications network. If the subscriber is able to use the services of an ISDN telecommunications network with an ISDN terminal, the fax receiving facility FRCV can send the message to the ISDN terminal in the context of user to user signaling as offered by the DSS1 protocol for ISDN telecommunications networks as the feature "user to user signaling during connection" or "UUS3." The ISDN terminal can display this user to user signaling message for the subscriber on a display device. The fax receiving facility FRCV can also instruct exchange EX1 to give the subscriber a special signal tone indicating ready fax messages or to play an announcement informing him of ready fax messages, when the subscriber lifts the receiver of his telephone (not depicted) which is connected to a subscriber connection of exchange EX1. Exchange EXl can also forward the instruction for a special signal tone or for playing the announcement to another exchange (not depicted) if the telephone falls within the connection range of this latter exchange.
If data terminal DT is frequently used for the Internet, the fax receiving facility FRCV can inform data terminal DT
that fax messages have been received for the subscriber in a particularly simple manner. After the fax receiving facility FRCV has received a fax message for the subscriber, it can check, for example, whether the subscriber is connected with the Internet through his data terminal DT by sending a message to data terminal DT. The address to be used by the fax receiving facility FRCV can be an Internet address, e.g., a URL address (Uniform Resource Locator) which is assigned to data terminal DT. If data terminal DT answers this message of the fax receiving facility FRCV, the fax receiving facility FRCV can send the fax message directly to data terminal DT. The fax receiving facility FRCV can also automatically send a received fax message to data terminal DT without prior notification if the data terminal already has an active connection to the online data network ODN, i.e., is engaged in a so-called online session with the Internet. If data terminal DT is not ready to receive, the fax receiving facility FRCV can inform the subscriber of the receipt of a fax message by other means as described above. The fax receiving facility FRCV can also send an e-mail message to the subscriber if the subscriber has access to an e-mail service.
In addition to the particularly advantageous option of requesting received fax messages from the fax receiving facility FRCV via data terminal DT and online data network ODN, which requires neither fax equipment nor a fax device for data terminal DT, the fax receiving facility FRCV also offers an alternative way to request a received fax message by means of a fax unit (not depicted). This fax unit can set up a connection to the fax receiving facility FRCV via a telecommunications network which is comparable to the connection between the fax sending unit FSND and the fax receiving facility FRCV via connection CON, exchange EX1 and connection FC. After the fax unit has given an access identification, e.g., a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) signal to show that it is authorized to access the fax message ready for the subscriber, the fax receiving facility FRCV sends the fax message to the fax unit.
Similar. to the fax unit, the subscriber may use a telephone (not depicted) to set up a connection with the fax receiving facility FRCV. The fax receiving facility FRCV
can then interpret a ready fax message, or perhaps only its title, e.g., by means of the aforementioned OCR software, and read it to the subscriber with the help of a speech synthesizer.

Claims

1. Method for receiving fax messages through a fax receiving facility (FRCV) in a telecommunications network instead of through a subscriber's fax equipment, wherein the fax receiving facility (FRCV) detects that it is to receive an incoming fax message instead of the fax equipment, and wherein the fax receiving facility (FRCV) receives and stores the fax message, characterized in that a data terminal (DT) of the subscriber sets up a connection to the fax receiving facility (FRCV) via an online data network (ODN), that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) sends the fax message to the data terminal (DT) via the online data network (ODN), and that the data terminal (DT) or the fax receiving facility (FRCV) terminates the connection to the fax receiving facility (FRCV) via the online data network (ODN).

2. Method according to Claim 1 characterized in that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) converts the fax message from a first data format typically used for communication between two fax units into a second data format intelligible to the data terminal (DT), and that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) sends the fax message to the data terminal (DT) in this second data format.

3. Method according to Claim 1 characterized in that after receiving the fax message the fax receiving facility (FRCV) sends a message to a terminal of the subscriber to inform him that a fax message has been stored.

4. Method according to Claim 1 characterized in that after setup of the connection to the fax receiving facility (FRCV) via an online data network (ODN), the data terminal (DT) sends an access request from the subscriber to the fax message, and the fax receiving facility (FRCV) checks the access request and determines whether the subscriber is authorized to access the fax message.

5. Method according to Claim 1 characterized in that the subscriber is assigned a fax subscriber number for receiving fax messages and that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) receives a fax message instead of the subscriber's fax equipment if the fax message is addressed to the fax subscriber number.

6. Method according to Claim 1 characterized in that the Internet is used as the online data network (ODN).

7. Fax receiving facility (FRCV) for a telecommunications network for receiving fax messages instead of a subscriber's fax equipment, whereby the fax receiving facility (FRCV) has means for receiving the fax message and whereby the fax receiving facility (FRCV) has means for storing the fax message, characterized in that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) is provided with an interface through which a subscriber data terminal (DT) can set up a connection to the fax receiving facility (FRCV) via an online data network (ODN), and that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) has means for sending the fax message to the data terminal (DT) via the online data network (ODN).

8. Fax receiving facility (FRCV) according to Claim 7 characterized in that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) has an interface through which a data terminal can set up a connection to the fax receiving facility (FRCV) via the telecommunications network and that the fax receiving facility (FRCV) has means for sending the fax message to the terminal via the telecommunications network.

9. Server for a telecommunications network for receiving fax messages instead of a subscriber's fax equipment, whereby the server has means for receiving the fax message and whereby the server has means for storing the fax message, characterized in that the server is provided with an interface through which a subscriber data terminal (DT) can set up a connection to the server via an online data network (ODN) and that the server has means for sending the fax message to the data terminal (DT) via the online data network (ODN).

10. Exchange for a telecommunications network for receiving fax messages instead of a subscriber's fax equipment, whereby the exchange has means for detecting that it is to receive an incoming fax message instead of the fax equipment, whereby the exchange has means for receiving the fax message and whereby the exchange has means for storing the fax message, characterized in that the exchange is provided with an interface through which a subscriber data terminal (DT) can set up a connection to the exchange via an online data network (ODN) and that the exchange has means for sending the fax message to the data terminal (DT) via the online data network (ODN).