CA2199986A1 - Method of certifying an information content of a telephonic exchange - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus is offered of certifying delivery of a facsimile transmission. The method includes the steps of detecting a facsimile transmission from an originating facsimile machine to a destination facsimile machine. The method further includes the steps of receiving acknowledgement from the destination facsimile machine that a page of the facsimile transmission was received and certifying delivery of the page by outputting a copy of the page with indicia of delivery printed thereon.

Description

~ WO96110314 -1- PCT~S95/10569 1 METHOD OF CERTIFYING AN INFOR~ATION

2 CONTENT OF A TELEPHONIC EXCHANGE

3 Field of the Invention

4 The field of the invention relates to facsimile machines and in particular to a means of certifying a facsimile 6 transmission.

7 Backqround 8 Facsimile (fax) machines and the fax transmissions 9 originating from such machines are known. Such machines are typically used to transfer printed and graphical information over ll great distances via a public switch telephone network (PSTN).
12 Within a fax machine the printed or graphical 13 information is typically converted into an electrical signal 14 using an optical scanner. A sheet of paper containing the printed or graphical information is fed into a set of transport 16 devices (e.g. rollers) within the fax machines which transports 17 the sheet of paper past the optical scanner. The scanner rapidly 18 scans the width of the sheet transverse to a direction of l9 movement as the sheet is transported past the scanner. A modem within the fax machines converts the electrical signal from the 21 optical scanner into a variable frequency, electrical signal 22 typically in the audio range, for transmission through the PSTN.
23 At a fax receiver the variable frequency signal is 24 converted into a variable direct current (DC) voltage which is then used to electostatically dispose a darkening agent (toner) 26 on a received fax sheet in such a manner as to recreate the image 27 detected by the scanner at the transmitting fax machines. The 28 toner is then fixed to the sheet by the application of heat, or 29 otherwise, to complete the process.

WO96/10314 ~ ~ 9 ~ ~ 8 ~ PCT~S9S/10569 1 To initiate a fax transmission an operator enters a 2 destination telephone number of the fax transmission and loads 3 the material to be faxed into a paper tray on the transmitting 4 fax machine. The transmitting faxthen scans the faxed material into a memory in anticipation of transmission. Once the material 6 to ~e faxed is loaded into memory, the transmitting fax machine 7 seizes an interconnected telephone line and transmits the 8 destination telephone number to a controller within the PSTN.
9 The PSTN controller through a number of local and remote telephone switches, interconnects the calling fax to a target 11 fax. A local PSTN controller notifies the target fax of the 12 incoming call by causing a telephone associated with the target 13 fax machine to ring. The target fax detects the electrical 14 pulses of the ringing, seizes the telephone line and establishes a connection with the transmitting fax machine. The faxed 16 information is then transferred from the transmitting to target 17 fax machine. Upon completion of a transmission, a fax report is 18 printed by the transmitting fax machine listing, inter alia, a 19 target telephone number and number of pages transmitted.
While existing fax machines work well, the prior art 21 has taught that a fax machine can not be relied upon where proof 22 of delivery is required such as for notification of consumer 23 product safety hazards or certain types of court documents.
24 Where proof of delivery is required the prior art has taught that the only al~ernative is certified U.S. Mail or hand delivery.
26 Because of the importance of certifying delivery of such 27 documents a need exists for a method of certifying fax 28 transmissions.

29 Obiects and Summarv of the Invention Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention 31 is to provide a method for using existing telephone apparatus and 32 equipment, but in an arrangement to enable the exchange of 33 electronic certified or registered telephonic transmissions 34 instead of the use of mailing systems for such purposes.
A further and more particular object of this present 36 invention is to provide the steps of a telephone "certified" or Wo96tlO314 ~ 8 ~ PCT~S95/lOS69 1 "registered" transmission system which enables the telephone 2 number of the recipient of the fax to be recorded along with the 3 time and date of the call and the contents of the fax 4 transmission itself.
A further and more specific ob~ect of the present 6 invention is to enable the transmission of a record of the fax 7 transmission to the initiator of the call.
8 These and other objects of the present invention are 9 provided in a method and apparatus of the present invention of certifying delivery of a facsimile transmission. The method 11 includes the steps of detecting a facsimile transmission from an 12 originating fax machine to a destination facsimile machine, 13 receiving acknowledgement from the destination facsimile machine 14 that a page of the facsimile transmission was received, and certifying delivery of the page by outputting a copy of the page 16 of the facsimile transmission with indicia of delivery printed 17 thereon.

18 Brief Descri~tion of the Drawinqs 19 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing transmitting and receiving facsimile machines interconnected through a telephone 21 network having facsimile certification apparatus in accordance 22 with an embodiment of this invention;
23 FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a local telephone switch 24 and interconnected facsimile certification apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of this invention;
26 FIG. 3 iS a block diagram of an alternate embodiment 27 under the invention;
2 8 FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the local switch and 29 certified hard copy printer of FIG. 3; and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the controller and 31 controller and certified hard copy printer of FIG. 4.

W096/10314 ~ 6 PCT~S95/lOS69 1 Brief Descri~tion of a Preferred Bmbodiment 2 The solution to the problem of certifying fax 3 deliveries lies conceptually in interconnecting a fax printer for 4 certification of fax transmissions (certification fax receiver) with a local telephone switch of the PSTN and printing a copy of 6 each page of the fax transmission along with an indicia of 7 delivery. The indicia of delivery may include a telephone number 8 of a destination fax machine, an indication that the faxed sheet 9 was properly delivered, and a time of document delivery.
An originating fax machine may request fax delivery 11 certification by a particular sequence of dialed digits. For 12 example, a controller of a local switch of the PSTN could be 13 programmed to recognize that where a character on a touch tone 14 phone such as a "#" were pressed twice followed by a telephone number of a destination fax machine, that such sequence is to be 16 interpreted as a request for fax delivery certification.
17 The controller of the local switch upon receiving the 18 request for fax delivery certification would strip off the first 19 two characters (##) and thereafter handle call routing between the originating and destination fax machine as under the prior 21 art. One difference, however, is that the certification fax 22 receiver would be added to the call connection under a technique 23 similar to three-party calling.
24 The indicia of delivery of a fax transmission is information readily available to the controller of the local 26 switch. The telephone number of the destination fax machine is 27 received by the local switch controller during call set-up and 28 is retained in memory of the local switch controller. Time and 29 date are also available within the local switch controller as part of call billing facilities. The acknowledgement of receipt 31 of a page of a fax transmission, on the other hand, is something 32 that the local switch controller obtains by monitoring the fax 33 transmission.
34 During a fax transmission, the originating fax transmits information one line at a time until an end of page is 36 encountered at which time the receiving fax machine acknowledges 37 receipt of the page, or the originating fax re-transmits the ~ WO96110314 2 ~ ~ 9 ~ ~ ~ PCT/US9S/10569 1 page. Under an embodiment of the invention, the local switch 2 controller monitors the fax transmission for page receipt 3 acknowledgements. Upon receipt of a page acknowledgement the 4 certification fax receiver prints the indicia of delivery on a locally printed reproduction of the fax page thereby certifying 6 delivery of the fax page.
7 FIG. l is a block diagram of a PSTN system showing the 8 fax certification feature in accordance with an embodiment of the 9 invention. As shown, an originating fax 10 is provided with a telephone interconnect 20 between the originating fax 10 and a 11 local ~witch 12 of the PSTN. A destination fax 16 may be 12 interconnected directly to the same local switch 12 as the 13 originating fax 10 or be interconnected through a second local 14 switch 14 as shown in FIG. 1.
It is to be understood that local switches 12, 14 of 16 a PSTN each have a number of telephone interconnects 20, 24 17 depending on the size of the local switch 12, 14 and the number 18 of local subscribers 10, 16 in the geographic area of each local 19 switch 12, 14. It is also to be understood that local switches 12, 14 of a PSTN are interconnected through a number of trunk 21 groups were the trunk groups provide a means of exchanging 22 communicated information between a first local switch and other 23 local switches in other geographic areas. FIG. 1, in specific, 24 shows a first local switch 12 in a first geographic area interconnected with a second local switch 14 in a second 26 geographic area through a particular trunk group 22.
27 Each trunk group 22 is made up of -a number of 28 communication channels that, within an integrated services 29 digital network (ISDN), may range from a basic rate interface (BRI) (with very few channels and fairly low capacity) to the 31 larger Tl lines with capacities in excess of one Megabits per ~32 second. If local switches 12, 14 were of a fairly low capacity, 33 then the interconnecting trunk group 22 may be made up of one or '34 more BRIs where each BRI consists of 2-B channels (typically used for the exchange of subscriber traffic information at a rate of 36 64 kilo bits per second per channel) and l-D channel (used for W096/10314 2 ~ 6 PCT~S9S/lOS69 1 the exchange of control information between switches at a rate 2 of 15 kilo bits).
3 FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the local switch 12 and 4 fax certification printer 18 of FIG. 1. As shown, the local switch 12 has a matrix switch 26 and local switch controller 28.
6 During normal operation of the PSTN the local switch controller 7 28 periodically monitors local telephone interconnect 20 for call 8 requests. Upon receipt of a call request, the controller 28 by 9 reference to a called number received from the originating fax machine 10 on a telephone interconnect 20 determines by reference 11 to a memory 30 that the target of the call request (destination 12 fax 16) may be accessed through a particular trunk group 22 and 13 local switch 14. To establish a connection between the 14 originating fax machine 10 and destination fax machine 16 the local switch 12 of the originating fax machine 10 (requesting 16 switch 12) seizes a D channel of the trunk group 22 and transmits 17 an access request to the local switch 14 of the destination fax 18 machine 16 (destination switch 14). If the destination fax 16 19 is not occupied by a prior call (telephone interconnect 24 busy) and a subscriber traffic channel (B channel) between the 21 requesting switch 12 and destination switch 14 is available, then 22 the destination switch 14 responds by transmitting an access 23 grant back to the requesting switch 12 identifying an allocated 24 traffic channel to be used during the fax transmission. The destination switch 14 also signals the destination fax 16 of the 26 incoming call. When the destination fax 16 answers the call, 27 switch 14 connects telephone interconnect 24 wit.h the identified 28 traffic channel of the trunk group 22.
29 The controller 28 of the requesting switch 12, in response to the access grant and to the destination fax answering 31 the call, directs the matrix switch 26 to provide an connection 32 between the allocated traffic channel of the trunk group 22 and 33 the telephone interconnect 20 of the originating fax 10.
34 Immediately after answering the call, the destination fax 16 begins transmitting a connect tone. When the end-to-end 36 connection of the duplex channel between the originating fax 10 37 and destination fax 16 is completed, the originating fax 10 WO96/10314 ~ PCT~S9~/10569 1 answers the connect tone and a negotiation of fax transmission 2 protocol and transmission baud rate follows. Following 3 completion of set-up of originating fax 10 and destination fax 4 16, the transmission of the fax message may begin.
Where the call request received ~rom the originating 6 fax 10 contains a request for fax certification, the controller 7 28 of the requesting switch 12 also instructs the matrix switch 8 26 to provide a three-party connection among the telephone 9 interconnect 20 of the originating fax 10, the allocated traffic channel of the trunk group 22 and the interconnect 30 of the 11 certification fax 18. During fax set-up the certification fax 12 18 by monitoring the exchange between the originating fax 10 and 13 destination fax 16 is set up substantially the same as the 14 destination fax 16.
Interconnect 30, under the invention, is in the nature 16 of a simplex connection allowing one-way transmission of fax data 17 to the certification fax. The certification fax is not allowed 18 to request a re-transmission of lost data from the originating 19 fax 10.
Since the certification fax does not participate in the 21 negotiation of fax protocol or speed and since the certification 22 fax must accommodate the capabilities of originating and 23 destination fax machines, the certification fax may be of a 24 somewhat greater level of sophistication than the originating or destination fax machines. In all other regards, the 26 certification fax may be selected from any of a range of 27 commercially available fax machines.
28 Under an embodiment of the invention, provisions are 29 made to avoid printing the indicia of delivery on top of the contents of each page o~ the fax transmission. Under such an 31 embodiment an oversize paper tray (e.g., for 17 inch by 23 inch 32 paper) is used to supply the certification fa~. The oversize 33 supply sheet is queued in a normal manner with the information ~34 of each page of the fax transmission printed at the top of the oversized sheet within the certification fax machine. At the 36 output end of the certification fax machine an appropriate 37 printer (e.g. a laser printer) is provided for printing the WO96/10314 ~ PCT~S9S/10569 1 indicia of delivery on the bottom of each oversized sheet.
2 Together, the certification fax machine and certification printer 3 comprise a certification fax printer 18 providing a degree of 4 reliability of delivery of fax transmissions not available from other sources.
6 The certification printer is programmed in a known 7 manner to print the indicia of delivery in a non-interfering 8 location of the printed document certifying fax delivery. The 9 indicia of delivery are transferred to the certification printer from the local switch controller 28 via an appropriate data 11 interface (e.g., RS232 or a LAN). The controller 28 may provlde 12 the indicia of delivery such as the telephone number of the 13 destination fax 16 based upon the destination telephone number 14 included in the original access request, or may query the destination switch 14 over an appropriate D channel of the trunk 16 group 22 after each page of the fax transmission to determine 17 where that page of the fax transmission was sent for purposes of 18 providing additional certainty in the verification process.
19 Following completion of the documents certifying the delivery of a fax transmission, copies of the document may be 21 sent via regular mail to the originating fax operator, with the 22 original documents held in secure storage. Holding the original 23 documents in an area of secure storage allows for a greater 24 reliability against alteration. Such a method also allows for a fax certification system operator to later offer testimony in 26 a court of law, or otherwise, as to the methods used in 27 certification and to the reliability of such services.
28 In another embodiment of the invention, the 29 certification fax machine and certification printer are combined into one device. Under such an embodiment a page of fax material 31 is compressed in size to occupy 3/4 of a standard size fax page 32 with indicia of delivery occupying the remaining 1/4 of the fax.
33 Data delivery to the certification fax under the embodiment is 34 accomplished through use of a data buf~er in series with the interconnect 30 and with a data switch interposed between the 36 buffer and certification fax under the control of the controller 37 28. During transmission of a page of ~ax information the ~ W0 96/10314 ~ 8 ~ PCT/US9S/lOS69 _ g _ 1 controller 28 instructs the data switch to pass fax information 2 from the buffer to the certification fax. When the controller 3 28 detects an end-of-page message from the originating fax 10 and 4 a page acknowledge message from the destination fax 16, the controller 28 instructs the data switch to interrupt the transfer 6 of data from the buffer to the certification fax and, instead, 7 pass indicia of delivery from an output of the controller 26 8 while the buffer accumulates any new data from succeeding fax 9 pages. Once the data switch transfers the indicia of delivery from the controller 28 to the certi~ication fax followed by a 11 locally generated end-of-page, which indicia is printed on the 12 bottom quarter of the fax page, the controller 28 again instructs 13 the data switch to pass data from the buffer.
14 In another embodiment of the invention, the fax transmission is not printed immediately with indicia of delivery 16 associated with each page but, rather, the entire fax 17 transmission is stored as a common file with indicia associated 18 with the entire file stored in conjunction with the file as a 19 composite file. As with above embodiments, the composite file is stored in a secure facility with a single summary page printed 21 after creation of the composite file and sent to the operator of 22 the originating fax machine for record keeping purposes. Should 23 a need arise for proof of delivery, the entire composite file is 24 printed upon demand.
In another embodiment, the invention is extended to 26 electronic mail (E-mail) systems operating upon PSTN. Under the 27 embodiment the controller 28 of the switch 12 detect-s the request 28 for such transmission through identifying digits using in 29 con~unction with a target address. An E-mail printer associated with the switch 12 monitors the transmission through a three-31 party connection. As above, indicia of delivery are printed on 32 a copy of the E-mail message (preferably in a different color).
33 Under another embodiment of the invention, a composite '34 file is generated and stored within the originating fax machine as a read-only file using well-known programming techniques. The 36 read-only file is generated using a randomly generated access 37 code known only to the originating fax machine and which machine WO96/10314 ~ 8 ~ PCT~S9S/10569 ~

l allows for printing of the composite file with indicia on each 2 page or in summary form or, alternatively, allows for deletion 3 of the entire file under operator control.
4 In another embodiment of the invention, certification of delivery is extended to information exchanged between two 6 parties communicating between an originating telephone and a 7 destination telephone (calling and called party) under a 8 multitude of formats (e.g., spoken words, dual tone multi-9 frequency (DTMF), amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), etc.). Since a telephone voice channel is typically ll constructed to exchange signals in the audio range (i.e., 0-20 12 kHz) an audio recorder may be used to record exchanged 13 information along with indicia of delivery. The recorded 14 information may later be converted and transcribed to a visually readable form along with the indicia of delivery.
16 Alternatively, the exchange information may be decoded 17 on-line using decoding devices that are well known in the art.
18 Where the information is exchanged verbally, a voice recognition l9 unit may be used to drive a printer to provide a certi~ied hard copy along with time and date of the information exchange. Where 21 the information is exchanged under a frequency modulated format, 22 a modem may be used. In general, a controller of a certified 23 hard copy delivery system recognizes the format of the 24 information exchange and allocates the resources to convert the exchanged information into a ~orm (e.g., RS232) recognizable by 26 a printer.
27 FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the certified information 28 exchange system 50 in accordance with the invention. As with 29 previously described systems (i.e., FIG. l) an originating telephone 52 requests information exchange certification by use 31 of a particular sequence of dialed digits. A controller 64 (FIG.
32 4) by reference to memory 68 recognizes the sequence as a request 33 for certification, strips off the certification request digits, 34 and forwards the re-formatted call request to a local switch 56 of the destination phone 58 for call set-up. The controller 64 36 also instructs the matrix switch 62 to establish a connection ~ WO96/10314 , ~ 6 PCT~S9S/10569 1 30a,30b between the certified hard copy delivery system 60 and 2 the duplex voice channel 20,22.
3 To eliminate confusion as to the source of certified 4 information, the duplex voice connection on voice paths 20 and 22 is divided into a first unidirectional (simplex) voice path 6 30a (i.e., from originating phone (calling party)) 52 to 7 destination phone (called party) 58 and a second unidirectional 8 (simplex) voice path 30b (i.e., from destination phone 58 to 9 originating phone 52). Dividing the duplex voice connection 20,22 as to source allows the source of the information presented 11 on the certified hard copy printout to be precisely identified.
12 Where an optional recorder 66 is used, the information 13 on the first and second unidirectional voice paths are stored on 14 a first and second recording channels with indicia of delivery (e.g., time, originating and destination telephone numbers) 16 stored on a third recording channel. The indicia of delivery can 17 be stored on the third recording channel under a voice format 18 with the voice signal originating from a voice synthesizer (not 19 shown), within the controller 64. Alternatively, the certification hard copy printing system 60 certifying an 21 information content of a telephonic exchange could be a secretary 22 listening to the channels and reducing the recorded information 23 to a certified hard copy.
24 Where the optional recorder 66 is not used (or is simply used as a device for delaying, some inputs to the 26 certification hard copy delivery during periods of heavy use), 27 the delivery of the certified hard copy may be provided through 28 automated processes. Under the embodiment, decoding units such 29 as a voice recognition unit (VRU) 74 and modem 72 continuously sample the first and second voice paths 30a,30b of the duplex 31 voice path 20,22 for communicated information. The controller 32 64, in turn, analyzes output buffers (not shown) of the VRU 74 33 and modem 72 for intelligible information (i.e., information that 34 the VRU 74 or modem 72 are able to decode). Where the controller 64 detects intelligible information, the controller transfers 36 such information either directly to the printer along with W096/10314 ~ ~ PCT~S95/lOS69 l indicia of source (i.e., source phone or destination phone) or 2 to memory 76 for printout at a later time.
3 Under the invention, a certified printout of a 4 communicated exchange begins wi-th a page header listing originating and destination telephone numbers and date and time 6 of_day. Transmissions (whether covering a portion of a page or 7 many pages) are always prefaced with a source identifier (i.e., 8 originating or destination telephone) and the time the 9 transmission began. Pages are numbered with a non-repeatable sequence number.
ll Specific embodiments of a novel system for 12 certification of an information context of a telephonic exchange 13 have been described for the purposes of illustrating the manner 14 in which the invention may be used and made. It should be understood that the implementation of other variations and 16 modifications of the invention in its various aspects will be 17 apparent to those skilled in the art, and that the invention is 18 not limited to the specific embodiments described. It is l9 therefore contemplated to cover by the present invention any and all modifications, variations, or equivalents that fall within 21 the true spirit and scope of the basic underlying principles 22 disclosed and claimed herein.

Claims (38)

What is claimed is

1. A method of certifying delivery of a facsimile transmission comprising the steps of:
detecting a facsimile transmission from an originating facsimile machine to a destination facsimile machine;
receiving acknowledgement from the destination facsimile machine that a page of the facsimile transmission was received;
and certifying delivery of the page by outputting a copy of the page with indicia of delivery printed thereon.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of including a telephone number of the destination facsimile machine among the indicia of delivery.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of including a time and date among the indicia of delivery.

4. The method as in claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting a certification request from the originating facsimile machine to a controller with a local switch of a public switch telephone network.

5. The method as in claim 4 further comprising the step of monitoring a telephone interconnect between the originating facsimile machine and the local switch by the controller of the local switch for a telephone number of the destination facsimile machine.

6. The method as in claim 5 further comprising the step of providing a signal path between the originating facsimile machine and destination facsimile machine by the controller of the local switch.

7. The method as in claim 6 further comprising the step of providing an interconnect between the signal path and a certification facsimile printer.

8. The method as in claim 1 further comprising the step of printing the certification copy at the originating facsimile machine.

9. An apparatus for certifying delivery of a facsimile transmission comprising:

means for detecting a facsimile transmission from an originating facsimile machine to a destination facsimile machine;
means for receiving acknowledgement from the destination facsimile machine that a page of the facsimile transmission was received;
and means for certifying delivery of the page by outputting a copy of the page with indicia of delivery printed thereon.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising means for including a telephone number of the destination facsimile machine among the indicia of delivery.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising means for including a time and date among the indicia of delivery.

12. The apparatus as in claim 9 further comprising means for transmitting a certification request from the originating facsimile machine to a controller with a local switch of a public switch telephone network.

13. The apparatus as in claim 12 further means for monitoring a telephone interconnect between the originating facsimile machine and the local switch by the controller of the local switch for a telephone number of the destination facsimile machine.

14. The apparatus as in claim 13 further comprising means for providing a signal path between the originating facsimile machine and destination facsimile machine by the controller of the local switch.

15. The apparatus as in claim 14 further comprising means for providing an interconnect between the signal path and a certification facsimile printer.

16. The apparatus as in claim 9 further comprising means for printing the certification copy at the originating facsimile machine.

17. An apparatus for certifying delivery of a facsimile transmission comprising:
a facsimile receiver located in a secure facility for receiving and reproducing a page of the fax transmission; and a printer operably interconnected with the facsimile receiver for imprinting indicia of delivery on the reproduced page.

18. An apparatus for certifying delivery of a facsimile transmission comprising:
a memory means for storing the facsimile transmission; and a controller for associating indicia of delivery with the facsimile transmission and storing both in the memory means.

19. A method of certifying an information content of a telephonic exchange between a calling party and a called party, such method comprising of: establishing a unidirectional signal path between the calling party and a transcriber and the called party and the transcriber; and transcribing the communicated information of calling and called party along with indicia of source and time of transmission.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of creating a three-party connection among the calling and called party and the transcriber on each signal path.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transcribing further comprising the step of decoding the communicated information.

22. The method as in claim 3 further comprising the step of printing the decoded information.

23. The method as in claim 1 further comprising the step of detecting a request for certifying a communicated information content of a telephonic exchange.

24. The method as in claim 1 further comprising the step of setting up a call connection between calling and called party.

25. Apparatus for certifying an information content of a telephonic exchange between a calling party and a called party comprising: a transcriber for transcribing the information content of an at least first transmission of the telephonic exchange along with indicia of origin and time of day; and means operatively coupled to the transcriber for providing the indicia of origin and time of day of the at least first transmission.

26. The apparatus as in claim 7 wherein the means for providing indicia of origin further comprises a controller monitoring an output of a first unidirectional signal path from the calling party and an output of a second unidirectional signal path from the called party.

27. The apparatus as in claim 7 wherein the means for providing the time of day further comprises a clock within the controller.

28. The apparatus as in claim 7 further comprising means for establishing a unidirectional signal path between the calling party and transcriber.

29. The apparatus as in claim 10 further comprising means for establishing a unidirectional signal path between the called party and the transcriber.

30. The apparatus as in claim 11 wherein the means for establishing the unidirectional signal paths further comprises a matrix switch.

31. The apparatus as in claim 12 wherein the means for establishing the unidirectional signal paths further comprises the controller.

32. The apparatus as in claim 7 wherein the transcriber further comprises a printer.

33. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the controller further comprises a means of receiving call requests.

34. The apparatus as in claim 15 wherein the controller and matrix switch further comprises means for completing a call connection between calling and called party.

35. The apparatus as in claim 15 further comprising a voice recognition unit interconnected between the unidirectional signal paths and the printer.

36. The apparatus as in claim 15 further comprising a modem interconnected between the unidirectional signal paths and the printer.

37. Apparatus for certifying an information content of a telephonic exchange between a calling party and a called party comprising: means for providing indicia of identity of the originator of each transmission of the telephonic exchange; and means for printing the information content of each transmission of the telephonic exchange along with the indicia of identity of the origination of the transmission.

38. The apparatus as in claim 19 further comprising means for printing a time and date of each transmission of the telephonic exchange.