GB2342531A

GB2342531A - A self dialling fax machine arranged to read the destination telephone number from the document to be transmitted

Info

Publication number: GB2342531A
Application number: GB9825005A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew Dames; Andrew Howe; Mark England
Original assignee: Sentec Ltd
Current assignee: Sentec Ltd
Priority date: 1998-10-09
Filing date: 1998-11-16
Publication date: 2000-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2018-11-16
Also published as: GB2342531B; GB9825005D0

Abstract

A fax machine is arranged to read the destination telephone number from the document to be transmitted or its header sheet 10. The number is then automatically dialled and the document transmitted. The document carries a graphical representation of the telephone number in the form of a bar-code 11 or in a human readable form. Optical character recognition is performed prior to dialling. The telephone number may be replaced by an Internet address or URL. The telephone number or address may also be carried on a magnetic strip or stored in a chip.

Description

SELF DIALLING FROM FACSIMILE DOCUMENTS This invention relates to a method of'self dialling'the telephone number by a fax machine using the information that is contained on the document being faxed.

Various attempts have been made to avoid having to key in the telephone number when sending facsimiles. For example US patents US5644633, US 4920560, US 4866760, and US 4764951. These all require pre-programmed short codes to be entered into either the fax machine or the local telephone exchange. According to the present invention, the solution described avoids any requirements to pre enter codes. It makes use of the existing word processing infrastructure often used in an office environment. The fax number is encoded in barcode format on the fax header sheet, and automatically read by the fax machine prior to dialling. The primary advantages are removing the necessity for the operator to key in the fax number when sending the fax. This results in time/labour saving and improved accuracy in dialling. Disabling the manual dial facility may also be a useful tool in ensuring company image standards are adhered to, as a fax header may need to be computer generated to facilitate the'auto-dial'function. A further advantage of the invention is that the main functional elements required by the method are already present within existing fax machines, specifically the scanner, the processing/control function and the fax modem. The feature may be added with little additional manufacturing cost.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example in which: Figure 1, is a block diagram of the hardware used to demonstrate the method, Figure 2 is an example header page used by the method.

The fax header sheet is printed using a word processor package (Word for Windows by Microsoft, Portland, Oregon). Referring to Figure 2, the document to be transmitted, 10, has the recipients address telephone number encoded as a bar-code, 11. The bar code is defined by a true-type font EANP72Tt available from Word Perfect Corporation and part of the COREL DRAW package. A'macro-programme'is used that prompts the word processor operator to enter the recipient's Fax number into the predefined field 13. The number is processed and results in a barcode representation of the telephone number, 11 printed at the top of the page.

The'Word'package can convert a decimal number to a bar-code by means of an installed font. The document is then printed and probably hand signed by the sender.

In the embodiment described a standard facsimile machine, 1, a Hewlett Packard HP590 is used in conjunction with an IBM PC Compatible computer. 6. Figure 1 illustrates the major components and functions used in the method. The facsimile machine, 1, comprises an image scanner means, 2; a printing mechanism, 4; a modem, 3 and processing means, 5. The interfaces are to a standard telephone line, 7 and a data communications port, 5. The fax header sheet, 10, is placed into the facsimile machine, 1, and the image is scanned using the image scanning means, 2, and transferred to the IBM computer, 6. The computer, 6, processes the image and decodes the barcode, 11 using an algorithm, 9. The algorithm, 9, is written using a'C++'language compiler, available from Microsoft of Portland, Oregon and makes use of standard software modules to support scanners TWAIN, available from Spike McLarty, Logitech, Vashon Island and bar-code recognition SDK (software development kit) available from Axtel Inc, Fountain Valley, California. The details of the algorithm are not discussed herein as they are obvious to those experienced in the art of programming. The algorithm then instructs the facsimile machine, 1 to dial the telephone number using the modem, 3 and electronically transfers the document, 10 using via the telephone line, 7.

A number of variants and improvements to the basic invention are now discussed.

The algorithm, 9, can be incorporated into the facsimile machine, 1, and executed on the processing means, 5. This will make the device a self contained apparatus. The auto-dial facility is an additional operational mode that is selected by the user.

The bar-code position can be placed immediately at the top of the page so that the fax machine need only scan the first part of the page before processing the image to determine the number to be dialled. Similarly the barcode fax number may be printed on both the top and bottom of the header page to facilitate the ability to place the documents either way round in the fax sheet feeder.

A small simple independent CCD array may be positioned on the fax machine so that the auto dial number can be read without taking the header sheet into the fax machine before dialling.

This simulates the behaviour of a traditional unit.

Optical Character Recognition software may be used to replace the bar-code recognition software in the fax machine. The fax number can then be in a human readable form. Similarly specialised fonts that are both machine and human readable used in automatic cheque number recognition may be used. The feature may be extended to incorporate additional machine read features and information, 12, such as the number of pages to be faxed etc.

More generally the ideas can be applied to the automatic addressing of documents or physical items that are electronically transferred. Presently most faxed document are transported using the telephone network. The increasing use of Internet technology will provide an alternative transport method for electronic data. The importance is that presently the telephone number specifies the address to send the document. This is likely to be replaced by other alternatives and currently the most popular is an internet URL. For example faxes, or electronic documents may be transferred to http: \\www. sentec. co. uk\fax.

The key steps to the invention are the electronic transfer of a document or a physical item to an address that is both machine readable and encoded within the physical document.

The preferred embodiment is where the telephone number or address is contained in an optical form so that it can be both printed and scanned using the existing hardware infrastructure used with faxing documents. There exists the possibility to incorporate the telephone number or address in alternative data formats, for instance a magnetic strip or perhaps an RFID chip.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. An apparatus, comprising an image scanning means, an electronic data transfer means, an electronic addressing means and an image processing means, such that the address to which the image is electronically transferred is contained in the image to be transmitted.
2. An apparatus for the purpose of electronically transferring a physical document according to claim 1, where the electronic addressing means is a telephone number; and the electronic data transfer means is using a telephone line and a modem.
3. An apparatus for the purpose of electronically transferring a physical document according to claim 1, where the electronic addressing means is a telephone number; and the electronic data transfer means is using a telephone line and a facsimile machine.
4. An apparatus according to claim 2, where the telephone number recognition means uses standard bar-code decoding.
5. An apparatus according to claim 2, where the telephone number recognition means uses OCR techniques.
6. An apparatus according to claim 2, where the telephone number recognition means uses specialised human and machine readable format processing.
7. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the electronic addressing means is an internet URL.
8. A method for automatically addressing an electronic transfer of a physical document comprising steps: (1) writing a machine readable address on the document, (2) scanning said document into an electronic format, (3) processing to decode the address, (4) automatically addressing the document and (5) electronically transferring the document to the addressee.
9. A method according to claim 8, where the address is a telephone number.
10. A method according to claim 8, where the address is an internet URL.
11. A fascimile machine incorporating an'auto-dial'facility whereby the telephone number to be dialled is incorporated in a machine readable format on the document being faxed.
12. A fascimile machine according to claim 11 where the machine readable format incorporated on the document is scanned optically.
13. A fascimile machine according to claim 11 where the machine readable format incorporated on the document is scanned magnetically.
14. A fascimile machine according to claim 11 where the machine readable format incorporated on the document is scanned capacitively.