WO1999065225A1 - Systeme ameliorant la qualite d'un document envoye par telecopie - Google Patents

Systeme ameliorant la qualite d'un document envoye par telecopie Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1999065225A1
WO1999065225A1 PCT/US1999/012268 US9912268W WO9965225A1 WO 1999065225 A1 WO1999065225 A1 WO 1999065225A1 US 9912268 W US9912268 W US 9912268W WO 9965225 A1 WO9965225 A1 WO 9965225A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
document
facsimile
network
electronic
ofthe
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1999/012268
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Randy G. Goldberg
Kenneth H. Rosen
Original Assignee
At & T Corp.
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 At & T Corp. filed Critical At & T Corp.
Publication of WO1999065225A1 publication Critical patent/WO1999065225A1/fr

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Classifications

    • 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
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
    • H04N2201/0008—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus
    • H04N2201/0065—Converting image data to a format usable by the connected apparatus or vice versa
    • H04N2201/0067—Converting to still picture data
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N2201/00—Indexing scheme relating to scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, and to details thereof
    • H04N2201/0008—Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus
    • H04N2201/0065—Converting image data to a format usable by the connected apparatus or vice versa
    • H04N2201/0068—Converting from still picture data

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for a facsimile system. More specifically, the invention provides for enhancing the quality of a faxed document before the document is output from a receiving fax machine to an intended recipient.
  • Documents can be quickly and easily transferred from one party to another party by transmitting a facsimile of the document that is to be transferred.
  • the document can be easily faxed to a recipient
  • drawbacks with current facsimile transmission systems Often faxed documents are received but the quality of the document is such that it may be difficult to read. Thus, even though the document can be quickly and easily sent to the recipient, the quality of the document may be such that it cannot be used by the recipient. Compounding the problem, if the received faxed document is then again faxed to another recipient, the quality of the faxed document will be further degraded.
  • the transmitting fax machine scans the image of the document into the fax machine.
  • the resolution of the image of the document that is scanned into the transmitting fax machine is dependent upon the scanning pixel resolution of the transmitting fax machine.
  • the transmitting fax machine has poor resolution or large scanning inaccuracies, the received fax will be difficult to read, blurry and faded regardless ofthe quality ofthe receiving fax machine.
  • the quality ofthe received fax document is dependent upon the characteristics ofthe transmitting fax machine. If the transmitting fax machine transmits a good quality facsimile ofthe document, it is likely that a good quality document will be received by the receiving fax machine.
  • a facsimile document enhancement system is provided.
  • a faxed document is received at a network.
  • the network enhances the quality ofthe faxed document and faxes the enhanced document to the intended recipient.
  • the present invention provides for a method and apparatus for enhancing the quality of a faxed document before the document is output by a receiving fax machine.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a facsimile document enhancement system in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.
  • Fig. 2 illustrates a facsimile document enhancement system in accordance with a second embodiment ofthe present invention
  • Fig. 3 illustrates a facsimile document enhancement system in accordance with a third embodiment ofthe present invention
  • Fig. 4 provides a process flow chart for the method steps in practicing one embodiment ofthe present invention.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram for one embodiment ofthe facsimile document enhancement system ofthe present invention.
  • a standard transmitting fax machine 100 and a standard receiving fax machine 150 are interconnected to network 110.
  • the sender ofthe document will transmit the faxed document from transmitting fax machine 100 through local exchange carrier (LEC) switch 108 to network 110.
  • LEC local exchange carrier
  • the sender When transmitting the document to network 110, the sender also provides the facsimile telephone number for the intended recipient ofthe faxed document at receiving fax machine 150.
  • Network 110 receives the faxed document 102, enhances the facsimile document, as will be explained, and transmits the enhanced facsimile document 104 to the intended recipient's fax machine 150 through LEC switch 109 by utilizing the fax phone number for the intended recipient as provided by the sender. In this manner, an enhanced version ofthe facsimile document is received by the recipient at the recipient's fax machine 150.
  • Network 110 may be a data network, an integrated services network such as an Internet service provider network, or may be the public switched telephone network. As such, the network is capable of providing a variety of services to a subscriber and the fax enhancement capability ofthe network is integrated into the network and is not, therefore, merely a single application program that is accessed by a network.
  • the sender of a faxed document that is intended for a party at receiving fax machine 150 transmits the faxed document to network 110.
  • the sending party utilizes standard facsimile transmission equipment to produce an electronic facsimile of an original document and transmit the electronic facsimile ofthe document to network 110.
  • the capabilities ofthe transmitting fax machine 100 may be limited, and consequently the quality ofthe electronic facsimile ofthe original document may be accordingly limited, an accurate, readable, good quality facsimile ofthe original document may not be transmitted by the transmitting fax machine 100.
  • the quality ofthe received facsimile document is limited by the capabilities ofthe transmitting fax machine.
  • processor 160 in network 110 receives the faxed document, enhances it, and transmits it to the intended recipient.
  • processor 160 in network 110 receives the faxed document, enhances it, and transmits it to the intended recipient.
  • processor 160 in network 110 receives the faxed document, enhances it, and transmits it to the intended recipient.
  • the present invention is not limited to any particular method. Regardless ofthe methodology utilized for enhancing the electronic facsimile document, an enhanced electronic facsimile document will be provided to receiving fax machine 150.
  • OCR optical character recognition
  • fax enhancement software 162 stored in processor 160.
  • OCR techniques can be used to determine which areas ofthe document contain characters and which are just images. For the areas in the document that are characters, the OCR routines would be implemented to determine the font type and what each character is. Once it is determined as to where characters are and what each of these characters are, the original fax can be changed to include an enhanced version of these characters. The pixels for each of these characters (fonts) will be stored in the memory ofthe system so that a character from the degraded fax document can be replaced by that determined by the system.
  • Two patent applications disclose OCR enhancement techniques that could be utilized with the present invention. These patent applications are Serial No. 08/909,199, filed August 11, 1997, entitled "A Confusion Matrix Based Method And System For Correcting Misrecognized Words Appearing In Documents
  • Additional simple image enhancement techniques could be used with the present system. Examples of enhancements to images that could be made include detecting all straight lines in the electronic facsimile document and enhancing them. Another technique is to perform edge detection and to perform an algorithm on the edge to make it smoother and sharper.
  • the fax enhancement software 162 is also able to recognize non-symmetrical images that it cannot enhance and will not attempt to enhance these images. For example, if someone has handwritten a note on the original document, the electronic facsimile ofthe original document will also contain an image of this handwritten note. The fax enhancement software will recognize that this handwritten image does not contain characters that can be recognized by OCR techniques and will also recognize that the non- symmetrical shapes that form the handwritten image are too complex to perform simple image enhancement techniques on, as described above, and will thus not alter these non-symmetrical images.
  • the fax enhancement techniques that are described above, including the OCR enhancement techniques do not require that the faxed document that is received at the network be converted from its digital format. The techniques are able to perform enhancements on the received digital bit stream at the network that represents the received faxed document.
  • network 110 must determine the facsimile phone number for the intended recipient's fax machine 150 so that network 110 can transmit the enhanced facsimile document to the intended recipient.
  • the present invention could be practiced by providing a single telephone number for accessing network 110.
  • a sender of a fax document would send the fax to network 110 by utilizing the telephone number for accessing network 110.
  • the sender When sending the fax document to network 110, the sender would also provide the fax telephone number for the intended recipient to network 110.
  • the fax telephone number for the intended recipient could be typed on the faxed document and the network could use OCR techniques to interpret the fax phone number.
  • Alternative methods for providing the fax phone number for the intended recipient to network 110 could also be used with the present invention. For example, bar codes could be provided on the faxed document or touch tones could be entered into network 110 to provide the fax phone number for the intended recipient to network 110.
  • identifying information for the intended recipient could be entered into the network and correlated to the fax phone number for the intended recipient.
  • This other identifying information for the intended recipient could be the name ofthe recipient or an identification code for the intended recipient.
  • Other identifying information could be provided as well.
  • the identifying information could be provided to network 110 by any ofthe methods addressed above for entering the fax phone number for the intended recipient into the network. If identifying information other than the fax phone number for the intended recipient is utilized to identify the intended recipient, the other information related to the intended recipient, which is also stored in database 164, would be used to access database 164 to determine a fax phone number for the intended recipient.
  • the identifying information for the intended recipient would be correlated to the fax phone number for the intended recipient and the fax phone number would be retrieved from database 164.
  • a separate fax phone number for each intended recipient could be provided.
  • the fax document would be transmitted to the intended recipient by routing the document through network 110 where the network would enhance the facsimile document. In this manner, for routing purposes, network 110 would function in a manner similar to a fax server for routing the fax document to the intended recipient.
  • the fax enhancement software is also able to enhance the facsimile document by adding text or graphics to the facsimile document. For example, if a sender of a document desires that a company logo comprising both text and graphics be added to every document faxed by that sender, network 110 could add the logo to each document that is faxed by that sender. In this manner, the faxed document could be enhanced by changing the content of the faxed document to meet the desires of the sender.
  • the text and graphics to be added to the faxed documents could be stored in database 164 and be associated with a particular fax sender.
  • network 110 can send the enhanced document back to the sender so that the sender can verify that any enhancements that are done to the document result in a document that accurately represents the original document. If the sender is satisfied that the enhanced facsimile document accurately represents the original document and/or includes other enhancements desired by the sender, the sender could signal the network to transmit the enhanced facsimile document to the intended recipient.
  • network 110 After a document is transmitted to the intended recipient, network 110 stores information related to the transmission ofthe document in database 164. This information can be data that indicates the time ofthe transmission, the time required for transmitting the document, the sender ofthe document, the recipient, the cumulative number of documents transmitted by a particular sender in any given time period, and electronic copies of the original facsimile document and the enhanced facsimile document. Additional information can be stored depending upon the requirements ofthe sender and the network service provider. This information can be utilized for verification purposes, accounting purposes, or for a variety of other purposes. Network 110 also transmits a status report to the sender ofthe fax document after transmitting the enhanced facsimile document to the intended recipient. The status report could contain information related to whether the document was successfully transmitted to the intended recipient and whether any enhancements to the facsimile document were required and performed.
  • Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate alternative embodiments for practicing the present invention.
  • the enhancements to the electronic facsimile document are not performed by a network; rather, the fax enhancement software 162 is contained in either the receiving fax machine, as illustrated in Fig. 2, or in the transmitting fax machine, as illustrated in Fig. 3.
  • the same fax enhancements could be made to an electronic facsimile document as was described for the embodiment of Fig. 1.
  • the fax enhancement software would be included in either the receiving fax machine or the transmitting fax machine, respectively.
  • an electronic facsimile document 102 is transmitted by transmitting fax machine 100 to receiving fax machine 150 through public switched telephone network (PSTN) 200.
  • PSTN public switched telephone network
  • the receiving fax machine which includes the fax enhancement software 162 described previously, enhances the received electronic facsimile document.
  • Receiving fax machine 150 will enhance the electronic facsimile document prior to outputting the electronic facsimile document to the intended recipient. In this manner, an enhanced version ofthe electronic facsimile document is created prior to outputting the fax document to the intended recipient.
  • Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment ofthe present invention where the fax enhancement software 162 is included in the transmitting fax machine 100.
  • transmitting fax machine 100 After scanning the original document 101 to create an electronic facsimile ofthe original document, transmitting fax machine 100 will enhance the facsimile document by utilizing any ofthe techniques previously described. Transmitting fax machine 100 will then transmit the enhanced facsimile document 104 to the receiving fax machine 150 through PSTN 200 for receipt by the intended recipient.
  • Fig. 4 provides the process steps for practicing an embodiment ofthe present invention.
  • an original document is scanned into a transmitting fax machine by utilizing standard fax transmission software.
  • the transmitting fax machine transmits an electronic facsimile ofthe original document to a network.
  • the network enhances the electronic facsimile document by utilizing one or more of a variety of techniques for enhancing the faxed document, step 410.
  • the network transmits the enhanced electronic facsimile document to a receiving fax machine.
  • the receiving fax machine receives the enhanced electronic facsimile document, step 420, and outputs the enhanced document to the intended recipient, step 425.
  • the method steps shown in Fig. 4 are not intended to be all inclusive of all ofthe features ofthe present invention, as described in this specification.
  • the specification when read as a whole, fully describes the facsimile document enhancement system ofthe present invention.
  • the network is disclosed as enhancing a fax document and transmitting the enhanced fax document to a single recipient; however, the network is capable of transmitting the enhanced document to multiple recipients, e.g., broadcasting the document.
  • the sender could designate a single group identifier to identify all intended recipients.
  • the network database would contain information that would identify each intended recipient that is included in the group identifier and information related to those individuals, e.g., the fax phone number for each recipient.
  • the network would then send the document to each individual that is included in the group identifier.
  • the transmitting and receiving fax machines could be any devices that are capable of transmitting and receiving a fax document.
  • the devices could be standard fax machines or could be personal computers with fax software. Regardless of the embodiment for the fax transmitting and receiving devices, the present invention would enhance a fax document before outputting the fax document to an intended recipient.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Facsimiles In General (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention porte sur un système améliorant la qualité d'un document envoyé par télécopie. Selon une réalisation préférée de cette invention, un document transmis électroniquement par télécopie standard est reçu au niveau d'un réseau. Le réseau améliore la qualité du document transmis par télécopie et envoie ce document au destinataire voulu, document qui est reçu sur un équipement de réception de télécopie standard.
PCT/US1999/012268 1998-06-12 1999-06-02 Systeme ameliorant la qualite d'un document envoye par telecopie WO1999065225A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US9695898A 1998-06-12 1998-06-12
US09/096,958 1998-06-12

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1999065225A1 true WO1999065225A1 (fr) 1999-12-16

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US1999/012268 WO1999065225A1 (fr) 1998-06-12 1999-06-02 Systeme ameliorant la qualite d'un document envoye par telecopie

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Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5091790A (en) * 1989-12-29 1992-02-25 Morton Silverberg Multipurpose computer accessory for facilitating facsimile communication
US5404231A (en) * 1993-05-24 1995-04-04 Audiofax, Inc. Sender-based facsimile store and forward facility
US5461488A (en) * 1994-09-12 1995-10-24 Motorola, Inc. Computerized facsimile (FAX) system and method of operation
EP0694862A2 (fr) * 1994-07-22 1996-01-31 AT&T Corp. Reconnaissance de documents à niveaux de gris dégradés avec des pseudo-modèles de Markov cachés et à deux dimensions et avec des hypothèses de N meilleurs
US5519786A (en) * 1994-08-09 1996-05-21 Trw Inc. Method and apparatus for implementing a weighted voting scheme for multiple optical character recognition systems
JPH08204966A (ja) * 1995-01-31 1996-08-09 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd ファクシミリ装置
US5625719A (en) * 1992-10-19 1997-04-29 Fast; Bruce B. OCR image preprocessing method for image enhancement of scanned documents
GB2307144A (en) * 1995-11-02 1997-05-14 Int Mobile Satellite Org Store and Forward Image Communication System

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5091790A (en) * 1989-12-29 1992-02-25 Morton Silverberg Multipurpose computer accessory for facilitating facsimile communication
US5625719A (en) * 1992-10-19 1997-04-29 Fast; Bruce B. OCR image preprocessing method for image enhancement of scanned documents
US5404231A (en) * 1993-05-24 1995-04-04 Audiofax, Inc. Sender-based facsimile store and forward facility
EP0694862A2 (fr) * 1994-07-22 1996-01-31 AT&T Corp. Reconnaissance de documents à niveaux de gris dégradés avec des pseudo-modèles de Markov cachés et à deux dimensions et avec des hypothèses de N meilleurs
US5519786A (en) * 1994-08-09 1996-05-21 Trw Inc. Method and apparatus for implementing a weighted voting scheme for multiple optical character recognition systems
US5461488A (en) * 1994-09-12 1995-10-24 Motorola, Inc. Computerized facsimile (FAX) system and method of operation
JPH08204966A (ja) * 1995-01-31 1996-08-09 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd ファクシミリ装置
GB2307144A (en) * 1995-11-02 1997-05-14 Int Mobile Satellite Org Store and Forward Image Communication System

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 096, no. 012 26 December 1996 (1996-12-26) *

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