EP1856601A2 - Procede et systeme pour le transfert de representations numerisees de documents par l'intermediaire de protocoles de transfert de reseau informatique - Google Patents

Procede et systeme pour le transfert de representations numerisees de documents par l'intermediaire de protocoles de transfert de reseau informatique

Info

Publication number
EP1856601A2
EP1856601A2 EP06720881A EP06720881A EP1856601A2 EP 1856601 A2 EP1856601 A2 EP 1856601A2 EP 06720881 A EP06720881 A EP 06720881A EP 06720881 A EP06720881 A EP 06720881A EP 1856601 A2 EP1856601 A2 EP 1856601A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
document
digitized representation
transmission
processor
format
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
EP06720881A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1856601A4 (fr
Inventor
Matthew K. Henry
Christopher L. Fortescue
John E. Warnock
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
MONGONET, INC.
Original Assignee
MongoNet Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by MongoNet Inc filed Critical MongoNet Inc
Publication of EP1856601A2 publication Critical patent/EP1856601A2/fr
Publication of EP1856601A4 publication Critical patent/EP1856601A4/fr
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
    • G06Q10/107—Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00127—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
    • H04N1/00204—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server
    • H04N1/00209—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
    • H04N1/00212—Attaching image data to computer messages, e.g. to e-mails
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00127—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
    • H04N1/00204—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server
    • H04N1/00209—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
    • H04N1/00214—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax details of transmission
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00127—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
    • H04N1/00204—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server
    • H04N1/00209—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
    • H04N1/00214—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax details of transmission
    • H04N1/0022—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax details of transmission involving facsimile protocols or a combination of facsimile protocols and computer data transmission protocols
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00127—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
    • H04N1/00204—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server
    • H04N1/00209—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
    • H04N1/00222—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax details of image data generation or reproduction, e.g. scan-to-email or network printing
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00127—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
    • H04N1/00204—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server
    • H04N1/00209—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
    • H04N1/00222—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax details of image data generation or reproduction, e.g. scan-to-email or network printing
    • H04N1/00225—Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax details of image data generation or reproduction, e.g. scan-to-email or network printing details of image data generation, e.g. scan-to-email or network scanners
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/00962—Input arrangements for operating instructions or parameters, e.g. updating internal software
    • H04N1/00968—Input arrangements for operating instructions or parameters, e.g. updating internal software by scanning marks on a sheet
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N1/00—Scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission; Details thereof
    • H04N1/32—Circuits or arrangements for control or supervision between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device, e.g. between a still-image camera and its memory or between a still-image camera and a printer device
    • H04N1/32101—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
    • H04N1/32106—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title separate from the image data, e.g. in a different computer file
    • H04N1/32112—Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title separate from the image data, e.g. in a different computer file in a separate computer file, document page or paper sheet, e.g. a fax cover sheet

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for transferring digitized representations of documents via selected computer network transfer protocols. More particularly, some embodiments of the present invention provides for, receiving a digitized image representing a document (including text, images, or the like), converting the digitized representation from a first file format into a second file format, and outputting the second file to an appropriate destination based upon data derived from the digitized representation of the document, via a desired computer network transfer protocol.
  • fax images can be moved over the Internet by converting fax signals having a fax format to an email format (e.g. RFC-822).
  • the email is then transferred over the Internet to the intended destination according to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) or similar protocol.
  • SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
  • the Internet is the worldwide network of networks based on the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Protocol).
  • TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/ Protocol
  • a subscriber is provided with a unique telephone number. Any documents faxed to that number are converted to email format and transferred to the subscriber's email inbox.
  • One drawback of this type of service is that it requires the subscriber to have a specific telephone number associated with their email address.
  • UUNET now WorldCom
  • UUNET converts a fax to the equivalent of an email and then routes the email over UUNET' s network to the nearest UUFAX server.
  • the UUFAX server converts the email back to fax format and transmits the fax using a local call to the fax machine at the destination.
  • a drawback of this type of service is that it takes time and up- front hardware additions and expenditures to have access to the service.
  • Other types of client hardware solutions include products from RightFAX and
  • the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for automatically transferring digitized representations of documents via specified computer network protocols to electronic data destinations. More particularly, some embodiments of the present invention provide for receiving optically digitized representations of documents (e.g. text, images, etc.)
  • Various methods are contemplated, including receiving a facsimile transmission via a facsimile machine (e.g. a stand alone machine, a computer); receiving digitized data from a scanner or multifunction copier/scanner; receiving digitized data from a digital camera (e.g. camera phone, PDA, digital camera, digital video camera); receiving a "print-to-file" file; or the like.
  • the digitized data may be automatically converted from one data storage format to another storage format prior to transmission to the electronic data destinations.
  • facsimile transmissions may be converted into a widely-used file format, such as .pdf, .tiff, .doc, .txt, or the like; a scanned .tiff image may be converted into another graphics file format, such as .jpg, .bmp, .pdf, .gif; or the like.
  • the electronic data destination for the digitized data may be a web server, an e- mail server (e-mail box), a storage directory, a database, a storage network, an FTP location, a web server, a directory location, or the like.
  • the data format may be a format appropriate for subsequent retrieval by a receiver via a number of different ways, such as via an e-mail client, via a web browser, via a web client, via a database management system, via a specified directory, or the like.
  • various computer network protocols may be used to transfer the data to the intended destinations, such as HTTPS, FTP, HTTP, SMTP, WAP, or the like.
  • HTTPS HyperText Transfer Protocol
  • FTP HTTP
  • HTTP Secure Socket Transfer Protocol
  • SMTP Secure Socket Transfer Protocol
  • WAP Wireless FTP
  • some embodiments refer to a fax template or cover page, a fax machine, and a fax transmission. It should be understood that the fax template page is merely one embodiment of a cover page for a digitized representation of a document.
  • Embodiments of the Secure Document Transformation Architecture are engineered for scalability, security, privacy, reliability and compatibility.
  • Various embodiments include an scalable architecture including:
  • Alternate-Path Telco Circuits are used to provide call failover in case of fiber outages.
  • MongoNet super-trunks pairs of Tl circuits, guaranteeing both carrier and physical loop diversity thereby reducing the probability of an external service outage (i.e. a backhoe cutting fiber).
  • Clusters are used to bring high-availability to embodiments of the present invention (MongoNet Services).
  • Various embodiments are deployed on RedHat AS 2.1 (Advanced Server) with a SAN backend.
  • various embodiments can be delivered to a customer's SMTP server or posted to a customer URL for further handling (for compliance, indexing, and/or archiving).
  • secure email appliance servers are also available as a bolt-on option for further customization within the customer's firewall.
  • Various embodiments provide a high level of privacy, as operation may be fully automated.
  • all documents are converted and routed via character recognition systems, such as described in the parent applications.
  • Various embodiments of the present invention will not store any intermediate files unless instructed to do so by the customer as a custom account option. Under normal configurations, all content files are deleted instantly following the transmission of a transmission sent from various embodiments.
  • Various embodiments are directed to including "compliance" or “gatekeeper” features that allow a customer to view and approve all faxes or transmission before they are sent.
  • Various secure embodiments sends a link to the fax recipient, or the like, (minus the PDF attachment) for secure login to receive the PDF.
  • Such solutions may be used together and are fully hosted in various embodiments, hi other embodiments, the customer may choose to install a Secure Email Appliance Server embodiment as a bolt-on within the customer's firewall.
  • Various secure and compliance embodiments provide the customer with the highest levels of security possible, eliminating content delivery through email.
  • Embodiments of the present invention may maintain multiple instances of all services. Each request message presented to a service must conform to internal standards and may be presented to any instance of a particular service. Message Router response checking ensures that a response makes sense for the message presented. Various embodiments may be stateless. Various embodiments use an Oracle database in a HA (High- Availability) configuration.
  • Various embodiments utilize a template approach to email construction, or other delivery vehicle construction, thus providing a high degree of compatibility with customers' systems. If a site has a special constraining (i.e. no HTML mail), embodiments may be configured to meet the customer's needs. In some embodiments, Adobe® ubiquitous PDF format, freely available at www.adobe.com, are used.
  • a method for a computer system includes receiving a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a document transmitted using a facsimile transmission format, processing the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination e-mail address, and reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an e-mail attachment format.
  • Other techniques include processing at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more key words, providing the one or more key words to an advertisement server, and receiving the advertisement data from the advertisement server.
  • Still other methods may include forming an e-mail message addressed to the destination e-mail address, wherein the e-mail message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes the advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion includes the portion of the digitized representation of the document in the e-mail attachment format.
  • One apparatus includes a memory configured to store a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a document transmitted using a facsimile transmission format.
  • Another device includes a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the document to determine at least one destination e-mail address, wherein the processor is configured to reformat at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an e-mail attachment format, wherein the processor is configured to determine advertisement data associated with the facsimile transmission, and wherein the processor is configure to form an e-mail message addressed to the destination e-mail address.
  • the e-mail message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes the advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion includes the portion of the digitized representation of the document in the e-mail attachment format.
  • the processor is configured to process at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more key words.
  • the processor is configured to provide the one or more key words to an advertisement server.
  • One computer program product includes computer executable code that directs the processor to receive a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a document transmitted using a facsimile transmission format, that directs the processor to process the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination e-mail address, and that directs the processor to format at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an e-mail attachment format.
  • Another computer program product includes code that directs the processor to process at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more key words, code that directs the processor to provide the one or more key words to an advertisement server, and code that directs the processor to receive the advertisement data from the advertisement server.
  • Still other computer program product includes code that directs the processor to form an e-mail message addressed to the destination e-mail address, wherein the e-mail message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes the advertisement data, wherein the attachment portion includes the portion of the digitized representation of the document in the e-mail attachment format.
  • a tangible media may store the computer executable code including magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard drives, network storage devices and removable hard disks, optical storage media such as CD-ROMS, DVDs 5 high capacity DVDs, holographic memory, and bar codes, semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only-memories (ROMS), and battery-backed volatile memories, and the like.
  • a method for a computer system includes receiving a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document transmitted using a facsimile transmission format, processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination e-mail address, wherein the first destination e-mail address need not be known to the computer system a priori, and receiving a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a second document transmitted using the facsimile transmission format.
  • a process may include processing the digitized representation of the second document with the optical character recognition process to determine the first destination e-mail address, combining at least a portion of the digitized representation of the second document and at least a portion the digitized representation of the first document together into an e-mail attachment in an e-mail attachment format, and forming an e-mail message addressed to the destination e-mail address, wherein the e-mail message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion comprises advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion comprises the e-mail attachment.
  • a computer program product includes executable code that directs the processor to receive a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document transmitted using a facsimile transmission format, code that directs the processor to perform an optical recognition process on the digitized representation of the first document to determine a first destination e-mail address, wherein the first destination e-mail address need not be known to the computer system, and code that directs the processor to receive a second facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the second facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a second document transmitted using the facsimile transmission format.
  • Other computer program product includes executable code that directs the processor to perform an optical recognition process on the digitized representation of the second document to indicate the second facsimile transmission is associated with the first facsimile transmission, code that directs the processor to combine the digitized representation of the first document and the digitized representation of the second document into a combined representation, and code that directs the processor to form an e-mail message addressed to the destination e-mail address, wherein the e-mail message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion comprises the combined representation, hi various embodiments, a tangible media may store the computer executable code including magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard drives, network storage devices and removable hard disks, optical storage media such as CD-ROMS, DVDs, high capacity DVDs, holographic memory, and bar codes, semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only-memories (ROMS), and battery- backed volatile memories, and the like.
  • a tangible media may store the computer executable code
  • One apparatus includes a memory configured to store a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document transmitted using a facsimile transmission format, wherein the memory is also configured to store at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document in an e-mail attachment format, and wherein the memory is also configured to store a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a second document transmitted using the facsimile transmission format.
  • -Another device includes a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination e-mail address, wherein the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the second document with the optical character recognition process to determine that the second facsimile transmission is related to the first facsimile transmission, wherein the processor is configured to combine at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document and at least a portion of the digitized representation of the second document into a combined digitized representation, and wherein the processor is configured to form an e-mail message addressed to the destination e-mail address, wherein the e-mail message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion comprises advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion comprises the combined digitized representation.
  • One technique includes receiving a first transmission from a user, wherein the first transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document transmitted using a first transmission format, processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first electronic destination, wherein the first electronic destination need not be known by the computer system before receiving the first transmission, and processing the digitized representation of the first document with the optical character recognition process to determine a file name for the portion of the digitized representation of the first document in the storage format.
  • One apparatus includes a memory configured to store a first transmission from a user, wherein the first transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document transmitted using a first transmission format.
  • Devices may include a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to receive the first transmission from a user, wherein the processor is configured to determine an electronic destination in response to an optical character recognition process of the digitized representation of the first document, wherein the electronic destination need not be known by the computer system prior to storage of the first transmission in the memory, wherein the processor is configured to form a first storage document by reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document from the first transmission format into a storage format, wherein the processor is configured to determine advertisement data in response to the first transmission; wherein the processor is also configured to process the digitized representation of the first document with the optical character recognition process determine a file name for the first storage document, and wherein the processor is configured to send an electronic transmission to the first electronic destination, wherein the electronic transmission includes the first storage document.
  • a computer program product for a computer system including a processor.
  • One computer program product includes executable code that directs the processor to receiving a first electronic transmission from a user, wherein the first electronic transmission comprises a digitized representation of a human- viewable document transmitted using a transmission format, code that directs the processor to process the digitized representation of the human- viewable document with an optical character recognition process to determine an electronic destination, wherein the electronic destination need not be known by the computer system before receiving the first electronic transmission, and code that directs the processor to formatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the human-readable document into a storage format.
  • Other computer program product includes executable code that directs the processor to process the digitized representation of the human- viewable document with the optical character recognition process to determine a file name associated with the portion of the digitized representation of the human- viewable document in the storage format, and code that directs the processor to send a second electronic transmission to the electronic destination, wherein the second electronic transmission comprises the portion of the digitized representation of the human- viewable document in the storage format.
  • a tangible media may store the computer executable code including magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard drives, network storage devices and removable hard disks, optical storage media such as CD- ROMS, DVDs, high capacity DVDs, holographic memory, and bar codes, semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only-memories (ROMS), and battery-backed volatile memories, and the like.
  • magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard drives, network storage devices and removable hard disks
  • optical storage media such as CD- ROMS, DVDs, high capacity DVDs, holographic memory, and bar codes
  • semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only-memories (ROMS), and battery-backed volatile memories, and the like.
  • FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a
  • Point of Presence providing a fax/email interface according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 3 A is an illustration of a process of obtaining an email cover page, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 3B is an illustration of a process of a user interacting with the system of the present invention to send an email from a fax machine, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 4 is an exemplary illustration of an email cover page received from the POP of FIG. 2;
  • FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram showing the software architecture of the
  • FIG. 6A is an exemplary illustration of a fax-to-email confirmation page received from the POP of FIG. 2;
  • FIG. 6B is another exemplary illustration of a fax-to-email confirmation page received from the POP of FIG. 2;
  • FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a network operations center (NOC);
  • NOC network operations center
  • FIG. 8 A is an illustration of a process of a user interacting with the system of the present invention to send a fax from an email, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 8B is an illustration of a reply process wherein a recipient of the fax, delivered in the process according to FIG. 8A, replies to the fax using a return fax page;
  • FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations of a security mechanism used to protect against unauthorized access of emails in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an exemplary application in accordance with the present invention.
  • FIG. 11 is an example of another embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 12 is an example of another embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram illustrating potential dataflows according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a network architecture overview according to embodiments of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
  • FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a facsimile/email communication system 5 according to one embodiment of the present invention.
  • System 5 comprises a network operations center (NOC) 8, selectively coupled to both the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) and the Internet, and a plurality of Points of Presence (POPs) 10 selectively coupled to NOC 8 via the POTs and the Internet.
  • NOC network operations center
  • POPs Points of Presence
  • TCP/IP stands for "Transmission Control Protocol/ Protocol" and is a language governing communication between all computers on the Internet.
  • system 5 permits a user to, among other things, send an e-mail from any standalone fax machine 2 and receive faxes from a fax or email sender without having to distribute a unique and predefined fax number to the fax or email sender.
  • fax machine 2 as shown in FIG. 1, is only a working example.
  • fax machine as it is used in the context of various embodiments of the present invention may also comprise any facsimile protocol compliant communication device or any other scanning device.
  • computer workstation 4, in FIG. 1 is only a working example. In other words any device that is capable of sending an email may be used instead of computer workstation 4.
  • POPs 10 are distributed over a wide geographic area, for example, the United
  • POP 10 comprises one or more fax modem banks 20; one or more fax servers 22; an advertisement and statistics (ad/stat) server 24; an email server 26; an interactive voice response (IVR) unit 28; an Ethernet switch 30; an IP router 32; and a T-I channel service unit (CSU) 34.
  • IVR interactive voice response
  • Ethernet switch 30 an IP router 32; and a T-I channel service unit (CSU) 34.
  • CSU T-I channel service unit
  • FIG. 3 A there is shown an illustration of how a user obtains an "email cover page" from a fax server 22, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • the user dials a specific toll-free (e.g. 1-800) fax-back number from any fax machine or telephone.
  • a specific toll-free e.g. 1-800
  • this fax-back number is not limited to a toll-free telephone number but may include any other type of telephone number as well.
  • This fax-back number is routed by the telephone network via the POTS to a POP 10, based on the user's geographic locale. As shown in FIG.
  • fax modem bank 20 of POP 10 receives the fax over, for example, a B-I line, which comprises 24-line telephone bundle. Then, at step 42, POP 10 sends a blank "email cover page" back to the user with further instructions on how to send an email from the user's fax machine.
  • the email cover page looks like a normal fax cover sheet, but it contains lines of blank character boxes and a local telephone number the user can use so that the fax can be sent without the user having to incur any cost.
  • the local telephone number is generated by a table driven translation process through automatic number identification, detectable from outbound 1-800 numbers, hi an alternative embodiment each POP 10 of system 5 would be accessible using a single toll-free number.
  • An exemplary email cover page is shown in FIG. 4. hi one embodiment the character boxes 61 have "tick marks" 63 on the edges of each character box 61. Tick marks 63 have the effect of coercing the user to enter characters in the character boxes 61 but away from the character box edges. Characters entered away from the character box edges is beneficial, since later in the process, when character recognition is performed, the characters can be identified more accurately.
  • the email cover page or more generally, the cover page, further includes a list of special features or options that can be selected by a user.
  • one of the special features or options may be an archive option. If a user checks off this option, an archive copy of the facsimile or transmission is automatically generated and archived at a storage location.
  • the storage location may vary depending on the design choice. For example, the storage location can be the sender's own computer system.
  • Some other special features or options may be document format options. For instance, the document to be faxed or transmitted can be sent as text only within an email or sent as a
  • the cover page can be miniaturized to the size of small adhesive note sheets, such as, Post-its. A user can still fill in the requisite information on this miniaturized email cover page. Once completed, this miniaturized email cover page can then be adhered onto the front page of a document for facsimile transmission. Subsequent character recognition can be adjusted to heighten the sensitivity needed to locate and identify the miniaturized email cover page on the front page of the document.
  • miniaturized email cover page Due to the reduced size of the miniaturized email cover page, special markings or symbols, such as a unique bar code, may be included to facilitate the character recognition that needs to be performed to allow the email addresses to be more easily located and identified within the miniaturized email cover page.
  • Miniaturized email cover pages can be sold as peel-off pads. When a document needs to be faxed to an email address, a user simply fills in the requisite information on the miniaturized email cover page, peels off the completed miniaturized email cover page and affixes it on the front page of the document.
  • an electronic version of the email cover page in the form of an electronic file is provided to a user via e-mail or download from a website.
  • the electronic file is implemented using PDF format.
  • the electronic file can be activated to generate the email cover page on a computer.
  • the email cover page is then shown to a user.
  • the user can then directly input the desired information onto the email cover page using an input device, such as, a keyboard.
  • Information entered in this manner is more reliable, thereby minimizing the number of errors that might occur when subsequent character recognition is performed.
  • the completed email cover page can then be printed out and faxed with the desired document.
  • an electronic email cover page is used to capture the requisite information, some of the captured information, for example, the email address, can be regenerated on another part of the email cover page.
  • the email address may be reprinted on another part of the email cover page, or alternatively, the email address may be encoded in bar code form, or other machine-readable format, and then be printed as part of the email cover page. This provides redundancy and further enhances the accuracy of the character recognition that needs to be performed subsequently.
  • certain information on the email cover page may be rendered unreadable to the recipient of the email.
  • the fax number used by the sender may be printed within a grey scale pattern or the like, such as, a moire pattern, in which the fax number is visible to the eye of the sender before the email cover page is faxed.
  • a moire pattern in which the fax number is visible to the eye of the sender before the email cover page is faxed.
  • the fax number and the pattern will not be distinguishable from each other due to the limitations of fax scanning technology thereby rendering the fax number unusable to the recipient.
  • FIG. 3B there is shown an illustration of how a user interacts with the system 5 of various embodiments of the present invention to send an email from a fax machine, 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
  • the user fills in the letterboxes, in normal handwriting, with the final email address(es) it wishes to send to, e.g., "john_doe@generic.com".
  • the email address can be printed in a machine-readable format
  • the email cover page includes an "advanced features page," which can be downloaded to the user's fax or email address. This advanced features page may also be generated at the user's computer.
  • the advanced features page permits the user to select one or more options or services offered by the system 5 such as, for example, creating a group distribution list.
  • One or more group distribution lists for a particular user can be maintained by the system 5.
  • one or more group distribution lists may be associated with or linked to a particular sender email address.
  • the email addresses within a group distribution list can be stored by the system 5.
  • the user When filling out the email cover page, the user only needs to provide an alias or other identification information for a particular group distribution list.
  • the system 5 is able to retrieve the sender email address and the alias for the particular group distribution list from the completed email cover page.
  • the system 5 looks up the group distribution lists associated with the sender email address and determines if the alias is associated with one of the group distribution lists linked to that sender email address. If so, the fax will be forwarded to all the email addresses in that group distribution list.
  • the user sends the fax to the telephone number associated with the selected POP 10, where it is received by a fax modem bank 20 on fax server 22.
  • Fax modem bank 20 includes an incoming fax spooler 60, which converts the fax to an image file format, which may be, for example the standard G3 TIFF format and then temporarily stores the imaged fax in a spool area on a local disk drive (not shown in the figures).
  • the software architecture 70 for each fax server 22 comprises a front page (i.e. cover page) character recognition module 62, a fax-to-email gateway 64, an email-to-fax gateway 66 and an outgoing fax spooler 68.
  • front page character recognition module 62 operates to extract the imaged email address from the imaged email cover page.
  • front page character recognition module 62 does this by optical character recognition (OCR).
  • the imaged email cover page may be cleansed or filtered as many times as is deemed appropriate to remove any undesired markings or patterns before the front page character recognition module 62 is invoked to perform its functions.
  • the imaged email cover page may include redundant information relating to the imaged email address.
  • the front page character recognition module 62 can be adjusted to cross-check the redundant information to ensure that the imaged email address is accurate.
  • MIME-compliant email message by fax-to-email gateway 64 MIME-compliant email message by fax-to-email gateway 64.
  • MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions and refers to an official Internet standard that specifies how email messages must be formatted so that they can be exchanged between different email systems.
  • the electronic image of the fax is then transmitted to email server 26 as an attachment to the email.
  • certain information is removed from the electronic image of the fax before it is transmitted to email server 26. For example, the specific fax number that is used by the sender may be scrubbed or otherwise rendered unreadable by the recipient of the email.
  • email server 26 Upon receipt of the fax image by email server 26, email server 26 transmits the delivery status of the email to advertisement and statistics server (ad/stat server) 24. As shown in FIG.
  • the software architecture 71 of ad/stat server 24 comprises a confirmation and instruction page composer 72, a title page composer 74 and a PostScript rendering engine 76.
  • Confirmation and instruction page composer 72 receives the delivery status of the email from email server 26 and subsequently generates delivery or non-delivery notifications and user instruction pages in PostScript format.
  • the real-time billing engine is used to keep track of usage by various users and generate the appropriate billing information accordingly. Usage may be tracked in a number of different ways. For example, usage may be tracked via minutes used against a specific fax number, hi that regard, a user, such as a company, may be assigned one or more specific fax numbers for use by its employees. Usage against each specific fax number may be monitored by the real-time billing engine. Billing information may be calculated on a real-time basis and made available to authorized users via a website on the Internet, hi addition, the billing information for each fax sent may also be included in a confirmation and instruction page as described below.
  • confirmation and instruction page composer 72 generates a confirmation and instruction page, and, at step 54, retrieves advertisements from ad/stat server 24 and incorporates the advertisements into the confirmation and instruction page. Additionally, at step 56, confirmation and instruction page composer 72 retrieves advertisements from ad/stat server 24, which are incorporated, e.g. in banner format into the email. In various embodiments, the advertisements incorporated in the confirmation and instruction page are specifically targeted to the user's geographic locale, to the user based upon user profile, to the user base upon relevance of the message sent, or the like.
  • the system 5 determines the user's geographic locale from the user's fax number's prefix and / or area code and advertisements are then targeted based on demographic data characteristic of the user's neighborhood, e.g., average income bracket.
  • the email address confirmation page includes an electronic commerce aspect, wherein the user is provided with a "check box" on the confirmation and instruction page, which the user can check to indicate further interest in a particular advertising offer.
  • An exemplary embodiment of a confirmation and instruction page is shown in FIG. 6A.
  • the confirmation and instruction page may further include thumbnail sketches of one or more of the faxed pages, as shown in FIG. 6B.
  • a toll-based e.g.
  • a toll-free number (e.g. 1- 800) may be provided to the user at the beginning of the process, as part of an advertising subsidized service where faxes, e-mail messages, e-mail attachments, and / or the like include advertisements.
  • advertising subsidized embodiments One such example was illustrated in Fig. 6, above. Additional examples of advertising subsidized embodiments will be given below.
  • email server 26 contacts ad/stat server 24 to retrieve preferences that may be associated with the email that is to be generated for that fax image.
  • Preferences can be specific format, marketing information, graphics etc. and can be sender-oriented or recipient- oriented.
  • Information from the email cover page such as, account number, respective sender and recipient email addresses, fax number used by the sender or other unique markings or symbols, can be used to determine the preferences that are to be incorporated into the email. For example, if a fax is received from a sender using a specific fax number, the email to be generated from that fax may include information about that sender.
  • the confirmation and instruction page may include dynamic content that is provided based on the sender's historical and/or past activities or behavior.
  • the ad/stat server 24 may keep track of a sender's historical and/or past activities or behavior. For example, the ad/stat server 24 may keep track of the number of times faxes sent by a particular sender failed to go through because of poor handwriting or incorrect recipient email address.
  • the ad/stat server 24 may even keep track of the type of problems that caused past failures, such as, a sender's handwriting of the letters "v" and "u” repeatedly caused faxes to fail to go through. Based on the sender's historical and/or past activities or behavior, the ad/stat server 24 then provides the appropriate information to the email server 26 to be included in the confirmation and instruction page. Such information may include, for example, tips or helpful hints to avoid problematic handwriting.
  • the confirmation and instruction page After the confirmation and instruction page has been composed, it is rasterized into a fax encoded bitmap image by PostScript rendering engine 76 and then sent to fax server 22 where outgoing fax spooler 68 operates to store the rasterized confirmation and instruction page on a local disk drive for subsequent delivery.
  • bitmap image rendering is a computationally intensive process
  • a custom load-sharing software for distributing the rasterization process between a number of fax servers 22 machines may be employed as an alternative embodiment.
  • the email may further include a link that allows a recipient to use the services provided by the system 5 on a trial basis. The recipient/trial user may click on the link and be directed to a website.
  • the website may show the trial user a trial offer and prompt the trial user to enter his/her email address to receive the trial offer. Assuming the trial user decides to take the trial offer and enters his/her email address, an electronic version of the email cover page is forwarded to the provided email address.
  • This email cover page includes a specific fax number that is valid only for trial purposes. For example, this specific fax number may only be used for a limited number of fax transmissions.
  • the emails sent by the trial user similarly include links that allow the recipients to try the services, as described above.
  • the email (with the advertisements) is sent over the Internet to the intended recipient using, for example, SMTP protocol, and as an attachment in a standard format, e.g. GIF file, viewable on the majority of platforms.
  • a link to the email is sent over the
  • the link is created dynamically for each email. More specifically, the address for the link is randomly generated for an email on an ad hoc basis. This is done to protect against unauthorized access of the email. The intended recipient may then click on the link to retrieve and view the email.
  • FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations of the security mechanism. As shown in FIG. 9, when a user receives a link, at 90, s/he clicks on the link to request access to the email or fax. By clicking on the link, the user in effect contacts a security manager 92 that controls access to the email.
  • the security manager 92 determines that the user is an authorized recipient, then access to the email is granted and, at 94, the security manager 92 may then send the email to the user.
  • One way to determine that the user is an authorized recipient is for the security manager 92 to first check if the user has logged in with the security manager 92. If the user has logged in with the security manager 92, then certain credentials associated with the user is available. The credentials may include, for example, a session ID which is tied to the email address of the user. The security manager 92 then checks the email address of the user retrieved based on the credentials against the email address of the intended recipient of the email. If the two email addresses match, then the user is an authorized recipient of the requested email.
  • the security manager 92 invokes an error handler routine 98.
  • the error handler routine 98 informs the user that access to the requested email is denied because the user is not an authorized recipient.
  • the error handler routine 98 logs the denied request for archival and/or security purposes.
  • the security manager 92 prompts the user to login. To login, at 106, the user presents his/her email address and password. The password is given at the time the user registers with the security manager 92.
  • the user is considered logged in and credentials such as a session ID are forwarded to the user. Once the user has the credentials, the process as described above can be repeated to determine if the user is an authorized recipient.
  • the user is then prompted to register with security manager 92.
  • the user provides his/her email address.
  • the security manager 92 Upon receiving the email address, the security manager 92 generates a password that is linked to that email address and, at 112, forwards the password to the user.
  • the security manager 92 also creates an account for the user for future reference.
  • the confirmation and instruction page is sent to the user for confirmation purposes, the confirmation and instruction page possibly incorporating an advertisement as explained above.
  • the confirmation and instruction page can be sent over the POTS to the user in the form of a confirmation fax if a fax number for the sender is available; similarly, the confirmation and instruction page can also be sent to the user in the form of a confirmation email or as a part thereof.
  • the confirmation and instruction page may also be sent to other e-mail addresses.
  • a confirmation copy of the email generated from that fax may be forwarded to the company's archive or storage facility for storage or archive purposes.
  • the user may specify the archive or storage facility via the specification of a specific account in one field.
  • one transmission may include a CC field entry of "03111995@webpost.com.”
  • "03111995" represents the account number
  • "webpost.com” represents the server the transmission may be sent to.
  • the CC and / or BCC field entry includes "moldreport.pdf.”
  • the transmission attachment is then stored under the name "moldreport.pdf for storage at
  • the user procures a "facsimile number page," as for example, similar to procuring the "email cover page” described above in relation to steps 40 and 42.
  • the user then enters a facsimile number of the intended facsimile recipient, for example, in handwritten format or printed machine readable format, and then faxes the facsimile to the local number of the selected POP 10 as in steps 44 and 46 described above (or, alternative, enters a pay-per-use toll-based number as is also described above).
  • the facsimile number is then extracted and the electronic image of the facsimile is formatted into a MIME- compliant email message by fax-to-email gateway 64, similar to steps 48 and 50 above.
  • email server 26 transmits the MIME image to an email-to-fax gateway 66, which could reside on a different POP 10, where the email-to-fax gateway 66 converts the MIME image into a text-formatted (e.g. PostScript) file.
  • PostScript rendering engine 96 operates to rasterize the text-formatted file into a fax encoded bit map image.
  • outgoing fax spooler 68 receives the fax encoded bit map image and transmits it to the intended facsimile recipient.
  • web pages can be downloaded via fax.
  • a user is provided with an "email cover page" as described above.
  • This email cover page provides letterboxes for entering the desired web address (which, for example can be entered in normal handwriting or printed in a machine readable format) and an indicator of some sort, which the user can use to request the number of pages from the web address the user wishes to download.
  • One type of indicator on the cover page for example, could be a series of bubbles positioned at predetermined positions on the cover page.
  • NOC network operations center
  • NOC 8 functions as the system headquarters and is configured to communicate with all POPs 10, as was shown and described in reference to FIG. 1.
  • NOC 8 comprises an Internet access router and firewall component (IP router) 82 coupled between the Internet via, for example, a Tl channel service unit (CSU) 84 and an Ethernet switch 86 (at a data rate of, for example, 100 Mbps); a web server 88 coupled to IP router 82; a private branch exchange (PBX) 90 coupled to the telephone network via, for example, a B-I line; an interactive voice response (FVR) unit 92 coupled to PBX 90 and a computer-telephony integrated (CTI) server 94 coupled between FVR unit 92 and Ethernet switch 86.
  • IP router Internet access router and firewall component
  • IP router Internet access router and firewall component
  • IP router Internet access router and firewall component
  • IP router IP router
  • CSU Tl channel service unit
  • Ethernet switch 86 at a data rate of, for example, 100 Mbps
  • IP router 88 coupled to IP router 82
  • tangible media may include magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard drives, network storage devices and removable hard disks, optical storage media such as CD-ROMS, DVDs, holographic memory, and bar codes, semiconductor memories such as flash memories, read-only- memories (ROMS), and battery-backed volatile memories, and the like.
  • NOC advertisement statistics server 98 stores, and makes available to advertisers, statistics relating to the advertiser's advertisement(s), for example, the number of times the advertisement was sent, the number of positive responses from viewers of the advertisement, a qualitative measure of the party the advertisement was sent to, etc.
  • NOC administrative/development workstations function as a help desk to those users who log on to web server 88 and also allow the system provider to do development, for example, improving the functionality of the web site provided by web server 88.
  • IVR unit 92 permits a user to dial into the NOC via PBX 90 using the same 1 -
  • rVR 92 provides user's with voice prompts, which the user can respond to using the telephone keypad.
  • the prompts may relate to, for example, use instructions or may permit a user to download information from the Internet, e.g. stock quotes, weather predictions, travel information, etc.
  • a user can logon to web server 88 from, for example, a computer workstation 4 (See FIG. 1), and then send a fax from an email to any standalone fax machine.
  • An exemplary process for accomplishing this is shown in FIG. 8A.
  • web server 88 captures and stores the user's email address and the fax number to which the user wishes to send the fax. This information is relayed over the Internet to email server 26 of the, preferably, nearest POP 10, to which the fax number is associated.
  • each email server 26 contains a mail transfer agent 39, which accepts the email from NOC 8.
  • Email-to-fax gateway 66 then operates to convert the email message into PostScript text.
  • title page composer 74 generates a return fax page, and, at step 114
  • the 116 retrieves advertisements from ad/stat server 24 and incorporates the advertisements into the return fax page.
  • the advertisements are specifically targeted to the fax recipient's location.
  • the system 5 determines this from the recipient's fax number's prefix and area code by comparing the numbers to area code and prefix numbers stored in ad/stat server 24. Once the neighborhood is identified, advertisements are then targeted based on demographic data characteristic of the recipient's neighborhood, e.g., average income bracket.
  • the return fax page includes an electronic commerce aspect, wherein the fax recipient is provided with a "check box" on the return fax page, which the recipient can check to indicate further interest in a particular advertising offer.
  • the return fax page After the return fax page has been composed, it and the converted fax image are rasterized into a fax encoded bitmap image by PostScript rendering engine 76 and then sent to a fax modem bank 20 of POP 10 where outgoing fax spooler 68 operates to store the rasterized fax and return fax page on a local disk drive for subsequent delivery.
  • the fax and return fax page are sent over the POTS to the fax recipient.
  • the fax recipient upon receipt of the fax and return fax page, uses the return fax page to reply to the fax and sends the reply fax at step 122.
  • step 124 title page composer 74 of ad/stat server 24 operates to generate a confirmation page incorporating a second advertisement, which is then, at step 126, sent back to the return fax page user.
  • Steps 124 and 126 substantially follow the steps 54 and 59 as described in reference to the fax-to-email process of FIG. 3B.
  • the advertising subsidized aspect of the system and method of various embodiments of the present invention also allows a user to send a fax from any standalone fax machine to any other standalone fax machine for free, thereby avoiding long distance telephone charges, which are typically billed for any long-distance fax transmission.
  • a user simply dials the toll free (1-800) access number, as explained above, to obtain a local number to a POP 10.
  • Local POP 10 then responds by faxing back a cover page to the user.
  • Steps 44 through 48 are then performed, as was described in relation to FIG. 3B, followed by steps 110 through 118 as was described previously in relation to FIG. 8A.
  • the only difference from the process as described above would be to provide letterboxes for fax addresses on the cover page and provide for OCR capability for extracting fax addresses.
  • NOC 8 includes a local database (not shown in FIG. 7), which is configured to store a frequent user's email address book.
  • the user can logon to web server 88, upload the address book and associate nicknames or real names with each email address (e.g. "John Doe” for john_doe@generic.com).
  • nicknames or real names e.g. "John Doe” for john_doe@generic.com.
  • the user can then send emails from any standalone fax machine simply by filling in the letterboxes of the email cover page (as described previously with respect to FIG. 3B) with the nickname or real name of the intended recipient.
  • FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an exemplary application in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, a user 200 faxes a document using the system 5 as described above. The faxed document is received by a server 202 and put in a processing queue to await processing.
  • an email generated based on the faxed document is forwarded to a compliance/authorization officer 204.
  • the email may be delivered to the compliance/authorization officer 204 using a number of different methods; but preferably, the email is delivered through a secure website or a virtual private network.
  • the compliance/authorization officer 204 reviews the email to determine if it is allowed to be sent to its intended recipient. After the email has been reviewed, the compliance/authorization officer 204 relays its approval/rejection back to the server 202 for further actions. If an approval is given, then the server 202 forwards the email to the intended recipient. Optionally, a confirmation for delivery may be forwarded to the user 200.
  • the server 202 prevents the email from being sent to the intended recipient and informs the user 200 of the actions taken.
  • the system 5 is capable of handling inputs having different types of electronic formats. For example, instead of a user sending a document via a fax machine, the user may choose to first use a scanner to scan the document into a scanned image. The scanned image of the document is then forwarded to the fax server 22.
  • the fax server 22 accordingly converts the scanned image for processing as described above. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will be able to implement various embodiments of the present invention to handle inputs with different types of electronic formats.
  • various embodiments allow a user to, among other things, send a fax or other electronic communication from stand-alone fax machine, scanner, or the like. Based upon the data graphically included on the fax or other electronic communication, the fax or other electronic communication is routed to the appropriate destination. For example, the communication may be routed to an e-mail inbox, [0102] Novel Template Cover Page
  • Fig. 11 illustrates an example of a novel template page (cover page), which may be optically digitized via a facsimile machine.
  • the fax template page is derived from an Adobe .pdf document type that is opened via Adobe ReaderTM software.
  • the fax template page includes "fill-in" capability, that allows the user to type-in information onto the page.
  • the template page can be derived from other sources.
  • the template page may be derived in response to a web-based form submission where the user inputs data on a web form, as was mentioned earlier.
  • the web server provides a user with a digitized representation of a filled-in template page she can print-out, or save electronically.
  • the filled- in template page may be sent to the FROM sender's e-mail address, hi such embodiments, the web server, or the like checks whether the sender's e-mail address is authorized to receive the template page, before sending the filled-in template page.
  • the template page may be derived from an office- productivity macro plug-in, such as Word, Excel, or the like that prompts the user for information, hi such examples, after the user enters the data, the data automatically populates fields within in a document. The document can then be printed out, "printed-to-file" in the computer, or the like.
  • an office- productivity macro plug-in such as Word, Excel, or the like that prompts the user for information
  • the data automatically populates fields within in a document.
  • the document can then be printed out, "printed-to-file" in the computer, or the like.
  • a number of fields are illustrated. In other embodiments, a greater or fewer number of fields may be used for the template page. In Fig.
  • the template page 400 includes a to field 410, a carbon copy field 420, a blind carbon copy field 430, a from field 440, a subject field 450, a filename specification field 460, custom fields 470 and 480, and a notes field 490.
  • fields 410-480 typically include human and machine readable data upon which optical character recognition (OCR) techniques operate, so as to determine the transmission destinations, e.g. e-mail addresses of the sender, cc recipients, the receiver, fax numbers, or other destinations. If OCR techniques provide ambiguous results, a human operator may review data entered in these fields in order to attempt to determine the intended e-mail addresses, or the like. In various embodiments, a human operator may also provide feedback to the sender regarding the quality of the transmission, e.g. the scanner or fax machine has a dirty scanning surface, or the like.
  • OCR optical character recognition
  • the data may be discarded, may be used for logging purposes, etc. Any other data present in the original transmission besides specified portions of template page 400 are not viewable, and the transmission is kept secure and confidential. Additionally, after the original transmission has be transformed and sent to the appropriate destinations, the original transmission and the sent transmission are deleted and cannot be recovered. Some embodiments may allow a compliance officer, or the like, to review the transmission before it is sent, as was described above, and will be discussed further below.
  • a variety of functional options are provided in template page 400 including an option 500 to make the filled-in data searchable, an option 510 to electronically archive the transmission, an option 520 to initiate a certification process for time-stamped delivery or access of a transmission, an option 530 to provide an electronic post mark receipt, an option 540 to imprint a digital watermark to the transmission, options 550 and 560 for two-sided document transmissions, option 570 to indicate whether the handprinted data should have precedence over any machine-recognized data on fields such as To field 410, Carbon copy field 420, blind carbon copy field 430, from field 450, and the like.
  • the filled-in data are selected to be searchable
  • optical character recognition techniques may be used to convert the digitized representation of the document into searchable text (e.g. ASCII characters) and graphics.
  • searchable text e.g. ASCII characters
  • Other types of OCR engines may be used to recognize characters of other written languages such as Chinese characters, Japanese Kana characters, Korean phonetic characters, Hebrew characters, Arabic characters, and the like, hi one embodiment, a text file based upon the recognized text may be provided to the recipient, as mentioned above.
  • the recognized text is stored as part of the .pdf file, however is not typically visible to the user. Instead, the user typically views the digitized representation of the document.
  • the searchable text may be searched for archiving purposes, advertisement purposes, or the like, as will be discussed below.
  • the searchable text may be used for document indexing of the digitized representation in the data archiving system.
  • the document may subsequently be identified within the data archive based upon the indexed terms. For example, words from the document that are repeatedly recognized by the OCR may be used as key words.
  • a transmission including a digitized representation of a home loan application may be associated with the key words "home loan” and / or "application for home loan.”
  • the received transmission may be converted from the facsimile format, for example, into another form, such as a .PDF format, and the .PDF format document may be stored in a file management system under the key words "home loan” and / or "application for home loan.”
  • the key words used may be manually specified by the sender of the transmission.
  • the user may specify the key words for OCRing in subject field 450, custom fields 470 and 480, notes field 490, or the like.
  • the filename and location of the archive may be provided in subject field 450, filename field 460, custom fields 470 and 480, notes field 490, TO field 410, CC field 120, BCC field 130, FROM field 140, or the like.
  • the user may specify the archive server or storage facility via the specification of a specific account in one field.
  • one transmission may include a TO field 410 entry of "09101960@webpost.com.”
  • "09101960” represents the account number of the user, or the like
  • “webpost.com” represents the server the transmission may be sent to.
  • filename field 460, CC field 120, or the like includes "Lawrence Wells Fargo Statements.pdf.”
  • the transmission attachment is then stored under the name “Lawrence Wells Fargo Satements.pdf for storage at "webpost.com” in account number "09101960.”
  • any number of transmission protocols may be used by NOC 8, POP server 10, or the like, to post the document at the desired location, such as FTP, a secure protocol, or the like, hi light of this disclosure, one of ordinary skill in the art can imagine many other embodiments of the present invention.
  • a transmission tracking number 580 Also shown in Fig. 11 is a transmission tracking number 580. Additionally bar codes 590 and 600 are illustrated at different orientations and different positions on template page 400.
  • transmission tracking number 580, and barcodes 590 and 600 are generated within Adobe ReaderTM and implemented as a plug-in application. Further details will be given below.
  • transmission tracking number 580, and barcodes 590 and 600 are generated within Adobe ReaderTM and implemented as a plug-in application. Further details will be given below.
  • less than all of the above fields and options may be provided on the template page. For example, in one embodiment, simply to field 410, and from field 440 are supported, in another embodiment, To field 410, from field 440, and subject field 450, are included on the template page, etc.
  • a dial-in fax number listed on template page 400 is associated with a particular organization. Accordingly, billing to the organization may be tracked based upon the traffic sent to the dial-in fax number. In other embodiments, the billing may be based upon the senders' sending fax number. In such cases, a number of sending fax numbers may be associated with a particular organization, and as faxes are received from one of these sending fax numbers, the usage may be billed back to the particular organization by transmission server 5.
  • Some embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a public kiosk fax machine or the like. Such kiosks may be found in airports, libraries, hotels, convention centers, and the like, hi such embodiments, a magnetic stripe reader, smart card reader, keypad or keyboard, coin and bill slots, a biometric input device and the like may be provided allowing the user to provide payment for services. For example, for payment, a user may swipe a credit card and enter a billing zip code; a user may swipe a bank card or debit card and enter a password; a user may use a smart card reader and enter a password, or other secure stored value or credit card or token; a user may input paper or coin currency or the like.
  • the kiosk machine sends the scanned document to system 5 in Fig. 1 for processing, as described above.
  • the sender agrees (via contract, subscription, or the like) to be billed for the transmission service.
  • language to this effect is explicitly stated on the template cover page.
  • a sender may be required to sign at a pre-determined location of the template cover page, or the transmission will not be provided. Appropriate optical detection techniques may be included in transmission server 5 to detect and to log a sender's signature.
  • an e-mail may be sent to the FROM: e-mail address indicating the problem. It is contemplated that the digitized representation of the document not be provided in such examples, to prevent fraud. In embodiments where signatures are required, appropriate contractual language may be explicitly stated on the template cover page next to the signature line.
  • any number of methods may be used to settle the bill such as via direct billing, via third-party payment mechanism, or the like.
  • tracking and / or billing for the services is based upon the transmission telephone number of the sender.
  • the sender may call-into a general fax number coupled to transmission server 5, a toll-free (e.g. 800, 888), or the like.
  • the sender's transmission telephone number is known and provided to transmission server 5, via Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service, or the like.
  • ANI Automatic Number Identification
  • the sender's telephone number may be associated with a specific organization that has a direct billing relationship with transmission server 5. Accordingly, the specific organization may be directly billed for the service.
  • the sender's telephone number is not associated with a specific organization and further, the template cover page includes language that the sender agrees to pay for the transmission. In various embodiments, the language on the template cover page may specify how the transmission is billed. In one embodiment, the user agrees to pay for the bill via their local telephone bill from which the sender is calling from. Such mechanisms are known as "casual billing" in the telephone industry. In another embodiment, the user agrees to pay for the bill via the ISP with whom they have an account. This data may be derived from the FROM: data field, illustrated in Fig. 10, or the like. For example, if FROM: field 440 specified: "CarolineCL@Earthlink.net," the ISP "Earthlink" may bill the sender through her monthly account.
  • an e-mail may be sent to the FROM: sender verifying that a transmission was sent, and that the ISP will be billed for the transmission.
  • Embodiments may also require that the FROM: sender confirm a transmission via an e-mail message, before the transmission is provided to the TO: recipient, hi still another embodiment, the sender may pay for a transmission via an on-line payment system, such as PayPal, Visa, or other payment system. Then, once PayPal, Visa, or the like notifies transmission server 5 that payment was received, the transmission may be provided.
  • additional filled-in data fields or options may be provided on the template page to enable the user to enter billing information data, or third- party billing information mechanism.
  • a user may enter a Federal Express, a UPS, a US Postal Service, a DHL, or the like account number, a PayPal or other electronic payment data, a Visa / MasterCard / Discover number or other credit card-related data, a prepaid telephone calling card account information, a stored value card, a checking, savings, or debit account number, a billing telephone number, and the like.
  • COD COD
  • a sender may send an e- mail to a recipient, and the recipient is sent an e-mail notice from transmission server 5 that a transmission is waiting for them.
  • the recipient may use any appropriate payment mechanisms, for example discussed above, such as direct billing, third- party billing, or the like.
  • Such embodiments are envisioned useful for business travelers, or the like.
  • a person may fax a copy of a document from on the road to her home office. Later, when she arrives back home, she opens the e-mail notice from transmission server 5, takes appropriate actions (e.g. provides account number and password), and then retrieves a copy of the transmission.
  • Fig. 13 illustrates a flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, Fig. 13 includes additional detail of steps 54 and 56 in Fig. 3B, and / or steps 116 and 124 in Figs. 8A and / or 8B.
  • the digitized representation of data (e.g. a document) is processed through an optical character recognition (OCR) engine, step 300.
  • OCR optical character recognition
  • the data (e.g. text) obtained in this step may also be used for archiving purposes, document indexing purposes, text searching purposes, compliance purposes, or other purpose previously described above. Accordingly, this step may or may not actually be part of steps 54, 56, or the like.
  • the OCR engine may include an automatic spell checker / spell correction functionality. As a result, the recognized words in the document are more likely to be correctly spelled.
  • the image of the document may be modified to indicate where text captured by the OCR is not spelled correctly, where the OCR could not recognize characters, or the like.
  • the recognized words in the document are then passed through a relevance engine, step 310. It is contemplated that the relevance engine may parse and process the recognized words in the document to semantically determine what the document is about, or the "relevance" of the document, hi other words, the processing engine attempts to determine the subject matter of the document.
  • a relevance engine may conclude the document is related to an automobile loan; as a second example, if the words “loan,” “title,” and “property” appear together frequently in a document, a relevance engine may conclude the document is related to a mortgage; as a third example, if the words “loan,” “title,” and “property” do not appear together, but appear frequently in a document, and the terms “farmer” and "fertilizer” appear frequently, the relevance / advertisement engine / server may conclude the document is related to farming; and the like.
  • recognized (key) words from a document may be passed from the OCR process to a relevance / advertisement server .
  • the key words that are passed to the relevance / advertisement server such as Google, Yahoo, e-Bay, MSN, A9, Lycos, Ask Jeeves, AOL, or the like, are simply a set of key words, or the like.
  • what is returned from Google, or the like are one or more links, advertisements, messages, good / service listing, auction listing, search results, media, or the like, based upon the key words.
  • these and other types of search results, in response to the key words can be provided in various embodiments of the present invention.
  • a user may voluntarily identify themselves to the relevance / advertisement engine.
  • the user may include tracking information that the relevance / advertisement engine can identify, such as a user name.
  • the user name / e-mail address, or the like may be passed to the relevance engine such as A9.com, Google.com, Yahoo.com, or the like.
  • the relevance engine not only provides one or more advertisements, but maintains the search for the benefit of the user, e.g. A9, Google Desktop, and the like.
  • any number of semantic parsing, relevance / advertisement engines, or the like may be used to perform the above analysis.
  • This may include publicly available and as proprietary engines used by Yahoo!, Microsoft Search, Google and Google Search, Excite, AskJeeves, and the like.
  • Such engines are well-known to be able to determine metrics, such as one or more key search terms, to represent a document.
  • transmission server 5 determines one or more appropriate advertisements to include in the document transmission, step 320.
  • advertisements about car insurance, car accessories, car wash coupons, or the like may be identified for the first document; advertisements about moving companies, cleaning services, or the like may be identified for the second document; and advertisements about weather, farm equipment, or the like may be identified for the third document. Accordingly, the advertisements selected are typically highly relevant to the subject matter of the documents.
  • one or more advertisements that are selected are sent to the sender of the document, as already disclosed above, step 330.
  • the advertisements may be presented as a return fax, as illustrated in Fig. 6 A; the advertisements may be presented in the body of the return e-mail message; the advertisements may be incorporated into the e-mail attachment; or the like, hi various embodiments, one or more user-clickable links, or hypertext links may also be included.
  • the advertisement may a service mark, a banner-type ad, a watermark, a sponsorship logo, a frame, or the like.
  • revenue may be obtained. For example, revenue maybe based upon number of impressions, number of click-throughs, number or amount of purchases resulting from click-throughs, and the like. Such revenue may be used to subsidize the service, enhance revenues, or the like.
  • one or more advertisements that are selected are also sent to the recipients of the document, such as the FROM: and CC: recipients, step 340.
  • the advertisements may be presented in a transmitted fax; the advertisements may be presented in the e-mail message; the advertisements may be incorporated into the e-mail attachment; or the like. Similar to above, in various embodiments, one or more user-clickable links, or hypertext links may also be included.
  • data is typically updated in advertisement statistics server 98, step 350.
  • advertisement statistics server 98 Two-Sided Source Document and Large Source Document Transmissions
  • Most fax machines and scanners have the capability to digitize documents that have printing only on one side of the paper, i.e. are one-sided documents. However, transmitting two-sided documents from such fax machines or scanners has been a challenge.
  • One method to transmit two-sided documents has been to initially transmit only even or only odd pages in a first transmission, and then to transmit the remaining even or odd pages in a second transmission.
  • a first transmission may include odd pages 1, 3, 5, 9, etc. and a second transmission may include even pages 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
  • the recipient When the first and second transmissions are received, the recipient must manually assemble the two transmissions so that the pages are in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. This is extremely time consuming, especially for large transmissions. Further, because it requires two or more separate transmissions, there is a greater chance that one of the transmissions will be delayed, lost or mis-routed, especially in a busy office environment.
  • Another method for transmitting two-sided documents has been for the sender to first copy the two-sided document onto single-sided paper, and then to fax the single-sided copy to the recipient.
  • a problem with this solution is that it requires the sender to make a separate copy of the document.
  • the sender must manually make a single-sided copy of the two-sided pages on a copier, or the sender must use a copier that can copy two-sided documents onto single-sided paper with a document feeder.
  • document feeder copiers are expensive to own or to lease, they are typically found only in office settings, and not at home offices. Accordingly, most users must manually make the single- sided copies.
  • Other drawbacks include that making a separate single-sided copy of the document just for transmission (e.g. faxing) purposes is extremely wasteful of paper resources and is wasteful of copier resources.
  • a user opens a copy of the template page (a .pdf file) using Adobe ReaderTM or AcrobatTM software or other appropriate software (e.g. Word, PowerPoint).
  • the template page such as that illustrated Fig. 11 is opened and displayed to the user.
  • the user has a two-sided document that they wish to transmit. To do so, the user first fills-in the appropriate data in fields 410-490. Next, the user manually selects option 550 on fax template page 400, and when ready, prints out the fiUed-in template page. This filled-in cover page is then placed as a cover-sheet on the odd-numbered pages (e.g. the front sides of the two-sided document.) The assembled pages are then transmitted to the transmission server as previously described above. In response, the transmission server acknowledges receipt of this first transmission, as also described above, with response fax, e-mail message, and the like. [0147] In the present embodiments, while the template page is still open within
  • the user then manually selects option 560 on template page 400. By doing so, option 550 is automatically de-selected.
  • the user then prints-out a copy of the filled-in template page for the remaining even pages.
  • This filled-in cover page is then placed as a cover-sheet on the even-numbered pages (e.g. the back sides of the two-sided document.)
  • the assembled pages are then transmitted (e.g. faxed) to the transmission server as previously described above.
  • the transmission server acknowledges receipt of this second transmission, with a response fax, e-mail message, and the like.
  • the odd page transmission may be sent before or after the even page transmission.
  • the odd page transmission includes the first page of the source document.
  • the first transmission sent is assumed to include the first page of the source document.
  • two separate cover-pages are automatically generated for the user: one cover page for odd page transmissions and one cover page for even page transmissions.
  • one cover page has option 550 already checked, and the other cover page has option 560 already checked.
  • two substantially similar cover pages are printed-out, and the user manually selects option 550 or option 560.
  • the user manually prints out each cover page, whereas in other embodiments, the pair of cover pages are printed-out in response to a single user print command.
  • a single option may be provided instead of option 550 and option 560, as a fill-in option within the fax template page that indicates that the faxed document will transmitted as two separate fax transmissions.
  • two separate cover pages may be automatically generated for the user to print out and use as cover pages when the single option was selected.
  • most of the user entered data will be the same for both separate cover pages.
  • any type of visible notice or indicators may be included on the cover page that instructs the sender which cover page to use for even pages and which cover page for odd pages.
  • a "first" word may be stamped in a specific location on the first cover page
  • a "second" word may be stamped in the same location, or different location on the second cover page, or the like.
  • the first cover page and the second cover page may look very different.
  • the first cover page may appear.
  • a fax server receives a fax transmission, and determines that the transmission is a first half of a transmission, in response to data on the first cover page.
  • the fax server "reads” that option 550 is selected; the fax server "reads" text, such as "first” on the cover page; notices a mark at a pre-determined location; or the like. After receiving the fax transmission, the fax server typically will not automatically send the transmission to the recognized TO e-mail address (or destination), unless requested. In various embodiments, the fax server automatically indicates success of the first fax transmission to the FROM e-mail address. In various embodiments, the fax server stores the fax transmission and awaits the second fax transmission.
  • the fax server subsequently receives a second fax transmission, and determines that the transmission is the second half of a transmission.
  • the fax server may determine this based upon identical filled-in data, such as the TO, FROM, SUBJECT fields, tracking number, and the like.
  • the fax server may also determine this based upon data on the second cover page, such as recognizing that option 560 is selected, recognizing text, such as "second" on the cover page, or the like.
  • the fax server typically does not automatically send the transmission to the recognized TO e-mail address (or destination), unless requested, however may send acknowledgement to the FROM e-mail address.
  • Time window limitations may also be used in various embodiments so that two un-related documents from the same sender and to the same recipients are not unintentionally mixed.
  • An example time window may be 24 hours, or the like.
  • the transmission server dete ⁇ nines that a pair of transmissions (e.g. even page transmission and odd page transmission) have been received
  • the transmission server combines the transmissions into a single transmission.
  • the fax server automatically interleaves odd-pages of the document from the first transmission with even-pages of the document from the second transmission.
  • the assembled document includes a single (or both) cover ⁇ age(s), then page one of the two-sided source document, page two of the two-sided source document, page three of the two-sided source document, and the like.
  • the assembled document may then be saved in a desired file format in various embodiments.
  • the assembled document can be stored as a single multi-page Adobe .pdf document, a single multi-page tiff document, or the like.
  • the assembled document is subsequently sent to the TO e-mail address (or 6 005842
  • pages of multiple transmissions need not be fully interleaved or interleaved at all, and in another example the order for the multiple transmissions may be specified.
  • Such embodiments are useful when source documents may be very long and unpractical to send as a single transmission.
  • a first transmission may include part 1 of a 500 page article
  • a second transmission may include part 3 of the article
  • a third transmission may include part 2 of the article.
  • a user may be prompted for the number of transmissions for the source document, on the template page. In response, these number of pages may automatically be generated as cover sheets for the respective transmissions.
  • the receiving server e.g. fax
  • the receiving server can identify how the multi-part transmission should be reassembled.
  • the cover sheets indicate which transmission is to be the first, which is the second, and which is the third, in order.
  • "chapter divider" pages may also be generated.
  • Such chapter divider pages may be used to indicate places within a single transmission where there are logical divisions. These logical divisions may be used, as above, to indicate how multi-part transmissions, should be reconstructed in the fax server.
  • a first transmission may include chapters 1, 3 and 4 of a book (using the chapter divider pages), and a second transmission may include chapters 2, 5 and 6 of a book (also using the chapter divider pages.)
  • the user may indicate via markings on the cover pages or the chapter divider pages, how the "chapters" of the transmissions are to be reassembled.
  • the fax server combines the transmissions and creates a single transmission with chapters 1-6 in order.
  • many other ways to group pages between separate transmissions are contemplated of the present invention.
  • the combined transmission may then be converted into one or more data file in a data storage formats, such as Adobe .pdf-compatible, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, X-Docs, XML, .tiff, operating system-specific data storage formats, operating system-independent data storage formats, or the like.
  • the transmission server e.g.
  • the transmission information may include an e-mail address for a receiver, a socket for a server on a computer network, a hyperlink for the receiver to click upon to access the data file, a receiver account number, or the like.
  • the transmission server based upon the routing information, the transmission server also determines an appropriate network transfer protocol for the data file.
  • the network transfer protocol is SMTP when the routing information is an e-mail address. In other embodiments, other types of network transfer protocols may be used including HTTPS, FTP, HTTP, or the like.
  • the server then sends the data file out according to the routing information, using the appropriate network transfer protocol.
  • Tracking Data
  • tracking number 580 may be provided on cover pages. Tracking number 580 may be generated at the time the user prints-out the filled-in template page, or when the template page is received by the transmission receiver/server, or the like. In various embodiments, tracking number 580 may be reproduced on the filled-in template page, sent in a confirmation e-mail to the sender or receiver, or the like, hi various embodiments, tracking number 580 may include virtually any alphanumeric character, or the like.
  • the tracking number may be based upon data filled-in by the user, based upon user data, based upon the time and date, media access controller (MAC) address, and the like, hi various embodiments, based upon such data, a hash, or other method for generating unique tracking numbers are contemplated.
  • MAC media access controller
  • the transmission server e.g. fax server
  • the transmission server performs optical character recognition to recognize the tracking number
  • the tracking number may appear at a specific predetermined location on the filled-in cover page, or any other location.
  • the tracking number is also recognized using OCR techniques. The tracking number is then associated with the entire facsimile transmission.
  • a log is generated which indicates the status of the transmission within the transmission server.
  • the types of data that the transmission server stores may include: number of pages currently received by the transmission server (e.g. fax server), the status of the transmission (e.g. fax received?), the total number of pages received, the resolution of the transmission (e.g. 400dpi), the recognized TO, FROM, BCC, and CC e-mail addresses, if any, the recognized file names, the data file format (e.g. .pdf, .jpg, XML, etc.), the status of converting the transmission into the data file format, the network transfer protocol (e.g.
  • the status for sending the data file e.g. e-mail accepted by e-mail server at x time, e-mail bounced by e-mail server, e-mail reported as SPAM, etc.
  • whether a transmission was approved or denied whether a user opened the transmission in the data file format, whether a user requested the data file in a certified delivery system, and the like.
  • Many other types of status and information can be logged in other embodiments of the present invention, m some embodiments, the type and/or amount of tracking data available to a requester may be restricted.
  • the sender of a transmission may request information regarding the fax transmission via e-mail, IM, or the like, by submitting the tracking number to the transmission server. In response, the requested status information is provided back to the requester. In other embodiments, at various stages in the transmission process, status reports may automatically be provided to the sender, for example, an e-mail with the information may be provided to the sender.
  • the tracking number is generated by the transmission server as it processes the transmission to determine the transmission data. The generated tracking number is then provided back to the original sender of the fax. As above, the sender may then request status information regarding the transmission to the transmission server based upon the tracking number such as when an e- mail was sent to the recipient, or the like.
  • OCR optical character recognition
  • human-readable data e.g. hand printing
  • machine-readable data e.g. barcodes, MICR fonts
  • OCR subsystem has difficulty recognizing the sender- entered data.
  • Typical reasons why the OCR may have difficultly recognizing may include improperly printed characters, misaligned and/or rotated fax pages, noisy transmissions, and the like. Accordingly, the inventors have recognized that additional ways to strengthen the recognition of sender-entered data is desired.
  • Fig. 12 illustrates a example of another embodiment of the present invention.
  • fields 720 and 730 may include the same data, and are not aligned on the page.
  • vertical streaks 740 which are often present of fax transmissions, tend not to obscure the same portion of fields 720 and 730. Accordingly, the chance of recognizable data being transmitted for both fields 720 and 730 are higher.
  • various types of syntax checking may be performed before the filled-in cover page is printed-out.
  • an appropriate top-level domain suffix (.com, .net, .gov, .biz, .org, etc.) may be checked and flagged if there is an error.
  • a user enters "apple@aol.con” a message may be presented to the user, indicating that the top-level domain suffix does not exist.
  • syntax checking may be based upon the domain name (e.g. aol.com, mit.edu) entered, hi such embodiments, the validity of the domain name may be validated before the cover page is printed-out.
  • a domain name such as "fotmail.com”
  • the system may access the internet to perform a domain name look-up, hi this example, if "fotmail.com” does not resolve to a server, a message may be presented to the user, indicating that the domain name does not exist.
  • "fotmail.com” maybe automatically corrected to "hotmail.com.” hi other embodiments, dictionaries, or other sources of common names maybe the basis of other automatic corrections.
  • syntax checking may also be performed in other embodiments, such as checking the e-mail addresses of the filled-in fields to the sender's address book, or the like.
  • the syntax checking functionality catches potential errors before the document is transmitted to the transmission server.
  • the transmission server may perform syntax checking, described above, based upon the optical character recognition results, instead of the sending system. For example, if the OCR results read “aol.con,” or “mit.com” several options are available. In some embodiments, the transmission server may automatically determine a best guess based upon syntax. As an example, a fax server may change "aol.con” into “aol.com” and/or “mit.com” to "mit.edu.” In other examples, correction of data, such as e-mail addresses may be based on part of prior history of the sender. For example, if a sender has previously sent many transmissions to
  • the OCR system recognizes "qavidcl@mid.edu," the transmission server may automatically correct it to read "davidcl@mid.edu.”
  • the sender may be recognized by a telephone number which the sender calls-into, based upon the FROM e-mail address, a telephone number of the sender's fax machine, and the like.
  • automatic correction may be made based upon e-mail addresses or like for an organization a sender is associated with, or the like.
  • the transmission server may highlight the syntax problems to an operator at the transmission server.
  • the operator may decide whether the proposed correction should be used or not. hi various embodiments, as discussed above, only the user-entered address fields illustrated in Fig. 11 are displayed to an operator. Additionally, the remaining portions of the cover page, including notes field 490 remains unavailable for operator review. Similarly, the operator does not have access to any other part of the transmission, or any other page of the fax transmission. Using template pages with additional OCR targets is believed to increase the accuracy of the transmissions, without sacrificing the high level of security and confidentiality already provided by embodiments of the present invention.
  • an "address" book based upon prior transmissions by the sender may be maintained by the transmission server, or the like.
  • the transmission server may automatically determine if there is a best guess, and send the fax to that guess, hi other embodiments, the transmission server may alternatively output the syntax error to an operator.
  • the transmission server may automatically contact the sender via e-mail, instant messenger, or the like, and indicate me syntax error, or the like.
  • the sender may be invited to provide the corrected data by return communication.
  • the transmission server may automatically determine the corrected data from the sender and proceed based upon the corrected data, hi other embodiments, an operator may review the corrected data from the sender, and make the correction, if appropriate.
  • barcodes 590 and 600 are included into fax template page 400.
  • barcodes 590 and 600 provide OCR targets for the transmission server, in addition to fields 410-490.
  • fields 410-490 are typically human-readable and machine-readable, however barcodes 590 and 600 are typically only machine-readable.
  • the printed characters in fields 410-490 are recognized using optical character recognition of the text characters. In other embodiments, other language text characters may be supported by OCR techniques geared towards such languages. Additionally, barcodes 590 and 600 are typically independently recognized using OCR of the bar codes.
  • the recognized data from the three OCR targets must match to a high degree of confidence before the recognized data is used by the transmission server.
  • candidate data recognized by two out of three OCR targets must substantially match before the recognized data is used by the transmission server.
  • the OCR targets may be ignored, and fields 410-480 are used.
  • the data encoded in barcodes 590 and 600 include only a subset of data in fields 410-480, for example, barcodes 590 and 600 may include only field 410 data and field 440 data; only field 410 data, field 420 data, field 440 data; fields 410-450 data; or the like.
  • both barcodes 590 and 600 include data from fields 410 - 420, data from fields 410-450, or the like.
  • barcode 590 includes data from field 440, but not data from field 430
  • barcode 600 includes data from field 430 but not data from field 440.
  • two out of two OCR engines e.g. fields 410-480 OCR, and barcode OCR
  • return candidate data that must substantially agree upon, otherwise an error is identified.
  • Other types of examples can be envisioned.
  • barcodes 590 and 600 may include check-sum, or hashed data based upon data from one or more fields 410-490.
  • the filled-in data, and/or a hash of the filled-in data, or the like is encoded into a bar-code format.
  • the bar codes are then typically written into different orientations in barcode 590 and barcode 600, in Fig. 11.
  • the fonts appearing as text within fields 410-490, as well as the barcode fonts may be included in a template .pdf file.
  • copyrights to the included fonts must be obtained, and a flag must be set within the font library embedded within the .pdf file that includes the copyright status of the fonts.
  • the transmission server receives the filled-in cover page, separate OCR engines are used to recognize the filled-in data in fields 410-490, and barcode 590 and 600.
  • the transmission server processes the transmission using the recognized data
  • the sender may be notified of the error and requested to correct the error, as described above.
  • an operator may be notified of the error and requested to intervene in the transmission process.
  • Fig. 11 identified additional functionality that may be enabled by the transmission server, hi some embodiments of the present invention, when a sender selects field 500, the transmission server may use an optical character recognition engine to recognize the text in some/all of the pages of the received transmission, hi one embodiment, the recognized text is combined with the images of the sent transmission in an Adobe .pdf file, hi other embodiments, the recognized text may be provided as a .txt, .rtf, .doc file, or the like, along with the transmission to the recipient.
  • the transmission server may initiate an e-mail certification process whereby certification of when an e-mail message, or the like is delivered to the recipient, when the e-mail message is opened by the recipient, and the like, hi such embodiments the original transmission is typically stays resident upon the transmission server. Additionally, the recipient receives notification that a transmission has arrived for the recipient in the form of an e-mail, page, cell-phone call, or the like. In response, the recipient logs-into the transmission server with a password to retrieve'the transmission, hi such embodiments, when the recipient receives the transmission time is recorded.
  • the transmission server may provide an electronic post-mark receipt.
  • an official US Postal Service electronic post-mark stamp may be associated with fax transmissions. This provides several benefits, including officially certifiable electronic delivery of fax transmission data between parties, including certification of dates and delivery of data, and the like.
  • an inbound and/or outbound transmissions may be hashed, and the hash then sent to a certifying authority.
  • hash algorithms may be used that uniquely calculate a value based upon the transmission, such as MD(5) or the like, hi response to the hash, a US Postal service electronic post-mark, or any other certifying authority mark, records the hash, as well as the time and data into the certifying authority database. It is envisioned that such certifications could be used to prove the sending or delivery of the transmission.
  • the transmission server may perform an additional action of affixing a digital watermark, or the like to the transmission.
  • the digital watermark may utilize electronic watermarks onto .pdf, .tiff, .gif, .doc documents, or others.
  • the digital watermark may include determining a unique hash or identifier for a transmission, and providing the hash or identifier as part of the fax transmission, or in a follow-up transmission, or the like. Many other methods for watermarking are also contemplated.
  • buttons for a template cover page may be displayed on the display.
  • a "problem" or "trouble” button is provided. It various embodiments, if a user selects the "problem" button, the user is coupled, for example, via a launched browser, to a service page, hi some embodiments, the version number of the template page, version number of the software (e.g. Adobe Reader), and the like may be automatically sent, for remote problem diagnoses.
  • a patch may be provided to the user, an updated template page may be provided to the user, the user may be provided with a link to an upgrade page, and the like.
  • updates to the template page are checked when the user opens the template page.
  • the user may be presented with the option to update the template page and software.
  • appropriate telephone numbers and passwords may be required from the user prior to an update being provided to the user.
  • an updated template page may automatically be provided. Accordingly, users are automatically updated when they use the transmission service.
  • the transmission server may perform an additional action of sending the data to an archival system.
  • the archival system may be associated with the transmission server, with the sender, with a third-party server, or the like.
  • status information associated with the transmission to the receiving party may also be sent to the archival system.
  • various methods for generating archival indexing terms may be used, including based upon send date, sender, receiver, and the like.
  • the source document may be faxed, may be scanned, may be electronically "printed" or the like to the transmission server.
  • transmissions from users may be from fax machines, scanners, multi-function machines, print-to-file computer output, and the like.
  • fields on the transmission cover sheet such as fields 450-490, may be used for the sender to identify keywords useful for indexing the transmission in the data archive.
  • the cover page may be application, specific, and provide drop-down boxes to the sender for fields 410-490, limiting the senders' options.
  • field 470 may be used to specify certain types of SEC filings, such as 1OQ, 8K, or the like; field 410 may be used to specify between a limited number of data archives, such as "tax return form,” "trust request form,” and the like; field 480 may be used to specify a scanning resolution, such as 200 dpi, 300 dpi, 72 dpi, and the like.
  • fields such as fields 410-440 may specify the appropriate data archive.
  • the data archive may include a storage area network, or other data store.
  • the transmission server processes the transmission from the sender, and sends the transmission to the data archive.
  • a sender specifies on the transmission cover-page that a document is to be sent to a tax data archive via field 410 or option 510. Additionally, the sender also specifies the tax payer ID in field 470, and tax form on field 450. As discussed above, option 500 may also be checked to make the contents searchable.
  • the sender prints-out the cover-page. Next, the sender assembles the cover page and the document, and then transmits (e.g. faxes) it to a pre-specified telephone number.
  • the transmission server then receives the cover page, and then based upon OCR techniques determines that the attached document is to be stored in the specified tax data archive.
  • the attached document is also OCRed according to option 500.
  • the attached document may then be transformed into another format, such as .pdf, .tiff, or the like.
  • the document, or the transformed document, and the OCRed text, and keywords are then provided to the tax data archive.
  • the server associated with the data archive receives the keywords, and stores the document, or transformed document, along with the OCRed text, according to the keywords.
  • the transmission may be placed into a holding server, and only when the transmission is authorized, is the transmission input into the data archive.
  • a compliance officer or the like approves the transmission, before the transmission is stored in the data archive.
  • a sender reviews the keyword data, and other portions of the transmission, before the sender authorizes the storage of the transmission.
  • the sender enters the keywords, and then approves the transmission.
  • the sender interface may be web-based.
  • the user via a web browser, or the like, connects to a web page which prompts her for data possibly similar top fields 410-490 and options 500- 570.
  • the web page may be a web-based form.
  • the user may type data into fields, or select entries, based upon drop-down boxes, as discussed above.
  • a template cover page is prepared for the sender to print out.
  • the cover page may be a .pdf, .gif, .tiff, .doc, or any other printable format, for transmission, as discussed above.
  • multiple cover pages may be provided, for transmission purposes, as discussed above.
  • the web server providing the web form may provide a number of functions prior to providing the printable cover page.
  • the web server may automatically perform context checking of the sender entered data. For example, as described above, entries with incorrect top level domain names, would be flagged as incorrect to the sender, and the cover page would not be provided.
  • the web server may store the sender-entered data or provide this data to the transmission server. Subsequently, when the sender send the transmission to the transmission server, the transmission server uses OCR to attempt to recognize the user filled-in data. However, if there is an ambiguity in the OCR process, the transmission server cross-references the previously sender-entered data, to determine the intended data.
  • a special mark may be provided on the cover-page indicating that the transmission included data that was previously provide to the transmission server (e.g. via the web form).
  • the transmission server may perform sufficient OCRing of the cover page to uniquely identify the sender-entered data previously stored.
  • the transmission server may use the sender-entered data for transmission purposes.
  • Various embodiments may include some, but not necessarily all of the features describe above. For example, one embodiment may allow digitized documents to be converted only to .pdf, or .tiff format and sent only to e-mail addresses. Other embodiments may allow digitized documents to be converted into another file format, and be placed in a storage location.
  • an e-mail would be sent to a recipient including instructions to access the converted document at the storage location.
  • Such embodiments allow tracking of receipt by the recipient.
  • Another embodiment may redirect outbound digitized documents from specified senders to a centralized queue for compliance purposes, hi response, if a compliance officer approves the transmission, the digitized document may again be converted into another file format, and then sent via e-mail to an e-mail address.
  • Yet another embodiment may allow for distributed archiving and indexing of digitized documents. For example, outbound transmissions are placed in a queue for indexing purposes. In response, a sender manually provides indexing key words for the digitized document. Once the index words are determined, the digitized document and key words are provided to an archiving system.
  • the transmission may include a return fax coversheet.
  • This option may be specified by an option box on the coversheet, or the like.
  • This fax coversheet may be pre-filled-out with data from the "from" e-mail address and "to" e-mail address automatically switched. In this way, the receiver can easily send a return transmission to the sender.
  • a loan officer may send documents for a applicant to sign, and the digitized documents come to the applicant's e-mail box as a .pdf document.
  • a filled-in return fax coversheet is a filled-in return fax coversheet.
  • the applicant prints out and signs the documents, places the filled-in return fax coversheet on the signed documents, and faxes it to the number listed on the filled-in return fax coversheet.
  • the signed document is then converted to a .pdf document, or the like, and sent to the loan officer's e-mail box.
  • the loan officer can pay for the cost of both transmissions.
  • a generic blank coversheet may be provided to the recipient.
  • FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram illustrating potential dataflows discussed above, according to embodiments of the present invention. Many other types of dataflows are also envisioned, as discussed above.
  • FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a network architecture overview according to embodiments of the present invention. Many other types of network architecture may be used in other embodiments of the present invention.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Strategic Management (AREA)
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
  • Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
  • Computing Systems (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Economics (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
  • Operations Research (AREA)
  • Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
  • Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
  • Development Economics (AREA)
  • Finance (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
  • Facsimiles In General (AREA)
  • Facsimile Transmission Control (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention a trait à un procédé pour un système informatique comprenant la réception d'une télécopie en provenance d'un utilisateur, ladite télécopie comportant une représentation numérisée d'un document transmis à l'aide d'un format de télécopie, le traitement de la représentation numérisée du document en vue de déterminer une adresse électronique de destination, le reformatage d'au moins une portion de la représentation numérisée du document en un format d'annexe de courrier électronique, le traitement d'au moins une portion de la représentation numérisée du document avec un moteur de reconnaissance de caractères optiques en vue de déterminer un ou des mots-clés, la fourniture d'un ou de plusieurs mots-clés à un serveur publicitaire, la réception de données publicitaires en provenance du serveur publicitaire, et la formation d'un message de courrier électronique libellé à l'adresse électronique de destination comprenant une portion de corps et une portion d'annexe, ladite portion de corps comprenant les données publicitaires, et ladite portion d'annexe comprenant la portion de représentation numérisée du document dans le format d'annexe de courrier électronique.
EP06720881A 2005-02-17 2006-02-17 Procede et systeme pour le transfert de representations numerisees de documents par l'intermediaire de protocoles de transfert de reseau informatique Ceased EP1856601A4 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US65424405P 2005-02-17 2005-02-17
US75674906P 2006-01-06 2006-01-06
PCT/US2006/005842 WO2006089223A2 (fr) 2005-02-17 2006-02-17 Procede et systeme pour le transfert de representations numerisees de documents par l'intermediaire de protocoles de transfert de reseau informatique

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1856601A2 true EP1856601A2 (fr) 2007-11-21
EP1856601A4 EP1856601A4 (fr) 2010-02-24

Family

ID=36917131

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP06720881A Ceased EP1856601A4 (fr) 2005-02-17 2006-02-17 Procede et systeme pour le transfert de representations numerisees de documents par l'intermediaire de protocoles de transfert de reseau informatique

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1856601A4 (fr)
JP (1) JP2008537650A (fr)
WO (1) WO2006089223A2 (fr)

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7230745B1 (en) 2002-04-08 2007-06-12 Captaris, Inc. Document transmission and routing with recipient control, such as facsimile document transmission and routing
US7804823B2 (en) * 2007-09-09 2010-09-28 Xpedite Systems, Llc Systems and methods for communicating documents via an autonomous multiple-function peripheral device
US8395795B2 (en) 2007-09-09 2013-03-12 Xpedite Systems, Llc Systems and methods for communicating documents
US10003701B2 (en) 2008-01-30 2018-06-19 Xpedite Systems, Llc Systems and methods for generating and communicating enhanced portable document format files
US9007604B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2015-04-14 Xpedite Systems, Llc System, method, and apparatus for an interactive virtual fax machine
US8719083B2 (en) 2010-12-06 2014-05-06 Xpedite Systems, Inc. On net faxing
CN105162624B (zh) * 2015-08-13 2018-09-07 浪潮(北京)电子信息产业有限公司 一种网卡设备的错误检测方法与系统

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2003100575A2 (fr) * 2002-05-28 2003-12-04 Mongonet Procede et systeme pour faciliter la communication papier/electronique

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6424426B1 (en) * 2000-03-28 2002-07-23 Mongonet Fax-to-email and email-to-fax communication system and method
US20020143804A1 (en) * 2001-04-02 2002-10-03 Dowdy Jacklyn M. Electronic filer
US7184169B2 (en) * 2002-08-26 2007-02-27 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Interleaved document rendering
US20040125396A1 (en) * 2002-12-19 2004-07-01 James Burke System and method for routing voice/video/fax mail
JP2004222095A (ja) * 2003-01-17 2004-08-05 Konica Minolta Holdings Inc 画像形成システム
US20050033771A1 (en) * 2003-04-30 2005-02-10 Schmitter Thomas A. Contextual advertising system

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2003100575A2 (fr) * 2002-05-28 2003-12-04 Mongonet Procede et systeme pour faciliter la communication papier/electronique

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
DENGEL A ET AL: "Handbook of character recognition and document image analysis, TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING OCR RESULTS", 1 January 1997 (1997-01-01), HANDBOOK OF CHARACTER RECOGNITION AND DOCUMENT IMAGE ANALYSIS, WORLD SCIENTIFIC, SINGAPORE [U.A.], PAGE(S) 227 - 258, XP002402960, ISBN: 978-981-02-2270-3 * Sections 1., 2., 2.1.3 * *
See also references of WO2006089223A2 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2006089223A3 (fr) 2006-10-12
WO2006089223A8 (fr) 2007-09-27
JP2008537650A (ja) 2008-09-18
EP1856601A4 (fr) 2010-02-24
WO2006089223A2 (fr) 2006-08-24

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US8023132B2 (en) Method and system for transferring digitized representations of documents via computer network transfer protocols
US7755790B2 (en) Method and system for transferring sponsored digitized representations of documents via computer network transfer protocols
US8023131B2 (en) Method and system for combining separate digitized representations of documents for retransmission via computer network transfer protocols
US7746496B2 (en) Method and system for pay per use document transfer via computer network transfer protocols
US7940411B2 (en) Method and system for entry of electronic data via fax-to-email communication
US7817295B2 (en) Method and system for modified document transfer via computer network transfer protocols
US7944573B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for authenticating facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US8195540B2 (en) Sponsored facsimile to e-mail transmission methods and apparatus
US7826100B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations including embedded barcode fonts
US8184318B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for compositing facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US8045204B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations including tracking data
US8045203B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for secure facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US8275100B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for billing of facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US7804613B2 (en) Method and system for facilitating paper to electronic communications
US8035834B2 (en) Methods and apparatus for manipulating and providing facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US20090059271A1 (en) Methods and apparatus for web-based status of facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US20070236750A1 (en) Methods and apparatus for facilitating facsimile transmissions to electronic storage destinations
US7164488B2 (en) Fax-to-email and email-to-fax communication system and method
EP1856601A2 (fr) Procede et systeme pour le transfert de representations numerisees de documents par l'intermediaire de protocoles de transfert de reseau informatique
US20030086124A1 (en) Method and system for distributing facsimiles
CN101180604A (zh) 通过计算机网络传输协议传送文档的数字化表示的方法和系统
WO2001060050A1 (fr) Procede et systeme de communication bidirectionnelle telecopie-courrier electronique, et procede et systeme de souscription de nouveaux abonnes
KR100393651B1 (ko) 인터넷을 이용한 전자우편 광고장치와 그 방법
JP2003006120A (ja) メール伝達仲介システム及び方法

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

17P Request for examination filed

Effective date: 20070906

AK Designated contracting states

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC NL PL PT RO SE SI SK TR

AX Request for extension of the european patent

Extension state: AL BA HR MK YU

RAP1 Party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred)

Owner name: MONGONET

A4 Supplementary search report drawn up and despatched

Effective date: 20100122

RIC1 Information provided on ipc code assigned before grant

Ipc: G06Q 30/00 20060101ALI20100118BHEP

Ipc: G06Q 10/00 20060101ALI20100118BHEP

Ipc: G06F 7/00 20060101AFI20070927BHEP

17Q First examination report despatched

Effective date: 20100518

RAP1 Party data changed (applicant data changed or rights of an application transferred)

Owner name: MONGONET, INC.

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: R003

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN REFUSED

18R Application refused

Effective date: 20120723