U.S. patent application number 14/514890 was filed with the patent office on 2015-04-16 for system and method for guaranteed high speed fax delivery with a fax adapter.
The applicant listed for this patent is Axacore, Inc.. Invention is credited to Nicholas J. Basil.
Application Number | 20150103379 14/514890 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52809420 |
Filed Date | 2015-04-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150103379 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Basil; Nicholas J. |
April 16, 2015 |
System and Method for Guaranteed High Speed Fax Delivery with a Fax
Adapter
Abstract
A fax processing system improving the speed and reliability of
fax transmissions by providing a new method of transmitting
facsimile images, by encoding fax images with an embedded
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data bit signal using a fax ATA adapter that is connected to a
facsimile device, where the signal bit is recognized by fax
software at a fax service such that the original image data is
transferred to the fax service via a secure link over a data
communications network with notification by the fax service
software.
Inventors: |
Basil; Nicholas J.; (San
Diego, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Axacore, Inc. |
San Diego |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
52809420 |
Appl. No.: |
14/514890 |
Filed: |
October 15, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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61891341 |
Oct 15, 2013 |
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|
61927716 |
Jan 15, 2014 |
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61891352 |
Oct 15, 2013 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
358/1.15 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 1/32789 20130101;
H04N 2201/3218 20130101; H04N 1/33392 20130101; H04N 2201/0039
20130101; H04N 1/00214 20130101; H04N 2201/0093 20130101; H04N 1/41
20130101; H04N 1/00209 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
358/1.15 |
International
Class: |
H04N 1/00 20060101
H04N001/00; H04N 1/44 20060101 H04N001/44; H04N 1/41 20060101
H04N001/41; H04N 1/327 20060101 H04N001/327; H04N 1/333 20060101
H04N001/333 |
Claims
1. A facsimile system for the real-time guaranteed delivery of
facsimile image data at data communications speeds comprising: a
facsimile ATA device further comprising the capability to encode
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data bits in image document, and to stream the facsimile image data
over a data communications network; a software decoder program on
non-transitory computer readable medium capable of: authenticating
the non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image
digital data bits in the image data sent from the software encoder
program; and wherein the facsimile ATA device is operably coupled
to the software decoder program such that the software decoder
program: reduces the facsimile transmission speed; establishes a
secure internet link to stream the facsimile image data via
internet connection; determines that the image data is completely
received, sends a T.30 confirmation signal to the software encoder
program, such that the sender is notified of the completion of the
facsimile transmission.
2. The software decoder program on non-transitory computer readable
medium as described in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
setting the transmission speed to any T.30 supported modem speed
for the purpose of slowing down the transmission speed based on the
T.30 handshaking protocol.
3. The fax ATA adapter as described in claim 1, further comprising:
encoding non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image
digital data bits in the facsimile image data that provides a
message to the software decoder program, the message selected from
a group comprising: the existence of the program, the number of
pages in the facsimile image data, the number of bytes in the
facsimile image data, a unique identifier of the facsimile image
data and a unique identifier of the fax ATA adapter.
4. The software decoder program on non-transitory computer readable
medium as described in claim 1, further comprising: the capability
to authenticate
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data bits within the facsimile image data, the facsimile image data
providing a message that is received from the software encoder
program, the message having at least one of the following: the
existence of the program, the number of pages in the facsimile
image data, the number of bytes in the facsimile image data, a
unique identifier of the facsimile image data and a unique
identifier of the fax ATA adapter.
5. The fax ATA adapter as described in claim 1, further comprising:
capable of encoding any ITU T.30 defined facsimile information
field with non-standard capabilities such as
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data bits, and encoding any ITU T.30 defined facsimile information
field with non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image
digital data bits, such that the ITU T.30 defined facsimile
information field provides a message to the software decoder
program.
6. The software decoder program on non-transitory computer readable
medium as described in claim 1, further comprising: the capability
to authenticate
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data bits in one or more of the defined non-standard capabilities
or facsimile information fields of the ITU T.30 specification.
7. The fax ATA adapter as described in claim 1, further comprising
the capability to use one or more of the following to calculate a
checksum: originating facsimile phone number,
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data information of one or more of the number of pages in the
facsimile image data, the number of bytes in the facsimile image
data, a unique identifier of the facsimile image data, and a unique
identifier of the software encoder program.
8. The software decoder program on non-transitory computer readable
medium as described in claim 1, to use one or more of the following
to calculate a checksum: originating facsimile phone number,
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data information of one or more of the number of pages in the
facsimile image data, the number of bytes in the facsimile image
data, a unique identifier of the facsimile image data and a unique
identifier of the fax ATA adapter; wherein said checksum is used
for the purpose of future validation of the facsimile image
data.
9. The software decoder program on non-transitory computer readable
medium as described in claim 1 further comprising: the capability
to send a secure internet link to the facsimile ATA adapter.
10. The fax ATA adapter as described in claim 1 further comprising
the capability: to receive a secure internet link from the software
decoder program, and to stream the facsimile image data to the
software decoder program using a secure link via the internet using
a transport layer, the transport layer further selected from a
group comprising: transport layer, application layer, and internet
layer protocols.
11. The software decoder program on non-transitory computer
readable medium as described in claim 1 further comprising:
detecting if the streamed facsimile image data via the internet is
complete; sending a T.30 confirmation signal to the sending
software encoder program, the T.30 confirmation signal confirming
the end of the facsimile communications call; terminating the fax
phone call.
12. The fax ATA adapter as described in claim 1 further comprising:
receiving a confirmation from the software decoder program;
informing a third party facsimile application or an originating
facsimile machine that the facsimile transmission is confirmed and
complete.
13. A method of guaranteed real time delivery of facsimile image
data at data communications speeds comprising the steps of: a fax
ATA adapter encoding
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data; a software decoder program: authenticating
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/not-facsimile-digital data
sent from the software encoder program; and slowing down the data
communications speed; establishing a secure internet link to stream
the facsimile image data via internet connection; determining that
the image data is completely received, and sending a T.30
confirmation signal to the fax ATA adapter to complete the
guaranteed real time delivery of facsimile image data.
14. The method as in claim 13 where the fax ATA adapter further
comprises the steps of: encoding
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data bits into the facsimile image data a message to the software
decoder program, the message comprising at least one of the
following: the existence of the program, the number of pages in the
facsimile image data, the number of bytes in the facsimile image
data, a unique identifier of the facsimile image data, and a unique
identifier of the fax ATA adapter.
15. The method as in claim 13 where the encoded
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data within the facsimile image data: provides a message received
from the fax ATA adapter that is authenticated when the facsimile
data is completely received.
16. The method as in claim 13 wherein the software decoder program
further comprises: passing the facsimile call through as directed
by the receiving facsimile system if no message is detected to have
been sent by the fax ATA adapter.
17. The method as in claim 13 wherein the software decoder program
further comprising the step of: issuing a secure internet link to
the fax ATA adapter.
18. The method as in claim 13 wherein the fax ATA adapter further
comprises the steps of: receiving a secure internet link from the
software decoder program; and streaming the facsimile image data to
the software decoder program using a secure link via the internet
using any available: internet transport layer, application layer,
or internet layer protocols.
19. The method as in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:
detecting that the streamed image data via the internet is
complete; and sending a T.30 confirmation signaling the end of the
facsimile communications call to the fax ATA adapter; and
terminating the fax phone cal
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims the benefit of the U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/891,341, filed on Oct 15,
2013 and entitled "System and Method for Guaranteed High Speed Fax
Delivery" which is herein incorporated by reference in its
entirety; the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/927,716,
filed on Jan 15, 2014 and entitled "System and Method for
Guaranteed High Speed Fax Delivery" which is herein incorporated by
reference in its entirety; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
61/927,716, filed on Oct 15, 2013 and entitled "System and Method
for Guaranteed High Speed Fax Delivery With Fax Adapter" which is
herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The electronic transmission of documents by way of fax
systems continues to be commonplace and, often, an essential
component of many business activities. With the emergence of email
and mobile computing devices in the business environment, many
predicted the demise of fax, however fax continues to thrive and
grow as it is the only means of communication to the existing base
of fax machines, can print out paper, and offers compliance to many
financial and regulatory requirements.
[0003] With the growth of VoIP (Voice over Internet), fax
transmissions designed for the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone
Network) have more difficulty completing transmissions and require
several retries to complete. Further, as the number of pages
increase, the chances of successful transmissions decrease. Also,
there is no page counting system in fax, so that a 100 page fax
that cannot complete after 90 pages will start anew at page 1 the
next attempt. And finally, that 100 page fax may take as long as an
hour or more of a phone call to complete the transmission.
[0004] Facsimile ("fax" or "faxing") has been an important part of
business communications for over 20 years. It is a secure, and
reliable way to send a document from one place to another and
provides a confirmation of receipt. There have been few changes to
the actual fax transmissions or speed since the early 1990's. With
the growth of VoIP and the growth of fax, more problems are
introduced to the fax process such as dropped calls, incomplete
faxes, and longer documents that can take long periods of time
sending.
[0005] Embodiments of the present inventive subject matter
overcomes problems in the current fax system and in prior art of
fax systems by using the fax transmission as a signal to securely
stream the fax image data via the internet and secure link to a
secure web server, thus giving a 100% delivery guarantee, and
greatly reducing the transmission time. Embodiments of the present
inventive subject matter are both novel in it's approach to
increase fax speed and reliability, and non-obvious in it's method
and approach.
[0006] Non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image
digital data may be reproduced by a non-featured facsimile machine,
but the non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image
digital data will be rendered in a manner that does not produce
intelligible human-readable information to the recipient.
[0007] Non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image
digital data is also multi-bit digital data representing
non-facsimile-communication-protocol information wherein
facsimile-communication-protocol information is signals or
instructions to create/facilitate a communication channel between a
transmitting device and a receiving device.
[0008] In summary,
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data is machine readable data that is transmitted in addition to
conventional facsimile data wherein if the
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data is reproduced by the receiving facsimile machine, the
non-facsimile-communication-protocol/non-facsimile-image digital
data does not produce intelligible human-readable information as
the receiving facsimile machine would render the concurrently
transmitted conventional facsimile data.
[0009] Definition of Terms
[0010] The following term definitions are provided to assist in
conveying an understanding of the various exemplary embodiments and
features disclosed herein. The terms "facsimile" and "fax" shall be
used interchangeably and refer to data that is transmitted on the
protocol generically known as "T.30".
[0011] Telephony: The transmission of audio signals on a PSTN
("Packet Switched Telephony Network") according to generally
accepted protocols.
[0012] T.30: The protocol for the transmission of facsimile
documents that conform to the "Group-3" protocol. The Group 3
protocol is defined by the ITU, International Telecommunications
Union
[0013] PSTN: The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the
network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone
networks.
[0014] ANI: Automatic Number Identification
[0015] CSID: Customer Subscriber ID
[0016] Non Standard Capabilities: Refers to the NSF (Non Standard
Facilities), NSC (Non Standard Facilities Command), and NSS (Non
Standard Facilities Set-up)
[0017] ATA: Analog Telephone Adapter, a device that interfaces a
telephone handset or facsimile machine with an Ethernet data
communications (internet) connection
[0018] Facsimile Information Fields (FIF): Information fields of
variable length that contain specific information for the control
and message interchange between two facsimile terminals.
[0019] Several different telephone line modulation techniques are
used by fax machines. They are negotiated during the fax-modem
handshake, and the fax devices will use the highest data rate that
both fax devices support, usually a minimum of 14.4 kbit/s for
Group 3 fax.
[0020] V.27: 2400 and 4800 bits/second
[0021] V.29: 4800, 7200, and 9600 bits/second
[0022] V.17: 7200, 9600, 12,200, and 14,400 bits/second
[0023] V.34bis: 28,800 and 33,600 bits/second
[0024] Data Communications Speeds: refers to data rate transfer
speeds found on wired or wireless data network connections. There
is a large range of available speeds which can go to 10 Mbps
(megabits/second) or much higher, versus fax connection speeds as
described above.
[0025] Transport Layer Protocols refer to the OSI model level 4 of
protocols including but not limited to TCP and UDP.
[0026] Application Layer Protocols refer to the OSI model level 7
protocols including but not limited to HTTP, RTP, TFSP, FTP.
[0027] Internet Layer Protocols refer to the internet internetwork
protocols including but not limited to IP, IPv4, IPv6, IPsec.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0028] The present inventive subject matter is intended to provide
a system and method of ultra high speed fax with guaranteed and
secure confirmation and delivery.
[0029] One object is to re-route fax calls initiated from any fax
machine, through a fax ATA adapter, over a secure internet link
using Internet protocols, in order to provide a 100% guarantee that
the originating facsimile image will be delivered.
[0030] Another object is to encode the first page of a fax image
with a code of bits that are recognized by a software decoder
program at the fax service provider or fax server recipient. The
software decoder program has the capability to recognize the
encoded bits in the image, and also has the capability to recognize
in the T.30 header, the Non Standard Capabilities codes and
Facsimile Information Field, Customer Subscriber Identification
("CSID"), and from the telecommunications system, the phone number
from the originating device via Automatic Number Identification
("ANI") or Caller Identification ("Caller ID") and the time of the
originating facsimile call. When the software decoder program
recognizes such above described codes, the software confirms that
the originating fax call comes from a fax ATA adapter installed and
operating on the originating facsimile machine or fax server, the
software application signals the fax ATA adapter with an
acknowledgement. After the acknowledgement signal, the fax ATA
adapter uses the T.30 fax protocol to set the transmission speed to
any of the desired T.30 supported modem speeds; the object of
setting the speed to a slower speed is to keep the transmission
channel open while the fax program performs its other intended
function.
[0031] Another object is the fax software decoder software sets up
a secure link to the fax service server and notifies the fax ATA
adapter of the address of the secure link. The fax ATA adapter then
proceeds to transfer the bytes of the facsimile image data via any
internet transport layer, application layer, or internet layer
protocols to the designated web server. Encryption may or may not
be used. The fax transmission is terminated after the receiving
server issues a confirmation to the fax ATA adapter that the
facsimile image data was received. Thus, the original fax image was
sent to an accessible server at internet speeds rather than at
traditional telephony speeds, and the original fax image is sent
with a guarantee of delivery, whereas facsimile transmissions
typically experience a 10%-30% failure rate that necessitate
retrying the fax transmission a second or third time.
[0032] Another object is to reduce the telephony and computing
resources used by the fax service by streaming facsimile image data
to the fax server at internet speeds.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the
embodiments of the present inventive subject matter are further
described in the detailed description which follows, with reference
to the drawings by way of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the
present inventive subject matter, wherein like reference numerals
represent similar parts of the present inventive subject matter
throughout the several views and wherein:
[0034] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the process of sending a
fax from the originating fax system to the destination location
over the internet.
[0035] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the originating fax server with
a standard fax call connection to a remote service provider.
[0036] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the originating fax server with
a standard fax call connection to a remote service provider, with
instruction sent from the software decoder program to slow down the
facsimile transmission speed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0037] Although the detailed description herein contains many
specifics for the purposes of illustration, anyone of ordinary
skill in the art will appreciate that many variations and
alterations to the following details are within the scope of the
embodiments described herein. Thus, the following illustrative
embodiments are set forth without any loss of generality to, and
without imposing limitations upon, the claimed inventive subject
matter.
[0038] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the
inventive subject matter 100. The Fax ATA adapter 101 makes the
phone call 102 and detects if a fax decoder program is present 104
on the receiving end. The service provider recognizes the encoded
bits in the image 105, sets up a secure IP link 106, and sets the
connection to a very slow speed 107. The document is sent to the
service provider over the high speed internet connection 108, is
completed 110, at which time a T.30 fax confirmation 109 is sent
back to the Fax ATA adapter. The document is then forwarded on from
the service provider to the intended recipient 111.
[0039] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the fax delivery system 300. The
sender's fax originates from paper that is converted to a facsimile
image by a facsimile machine 301, or computer based file that is
converted to a facsimile image data by a fax program that resides
inside the fax ATA adapter with Ethernet connection 307.
[0040] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the fax ATA adapter initiates a
call 102 to a receiving fax system. If the receiving fax system is
a standard fax machine, or a fax service that does not have the
driver present, then the fax is transmitted as a normal T.30 fax
103 if connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or
T.38 fax 304 if connected to a data communications network such as
the internet.
[0041] The sender's fax ATA adapter 402 encodes hidden bits 308
into the fax image data, 302. If the fax call is answered by any
fax service, such as a public or private service provider, or any
customer owned fax system with a compatible fax decoder program
104, the service provider host 305 recognizes the embedded bits in
the image 105, then the encoded bits in the fax image will be
authenticated, 303 so that the receiving fax program will send a IP
(internet protocol) link to the sending fax ATA adapter 106. The
hidden bits also signal the software decoder program the number of
bytes that are contained in the image data.
[0042] In addition, the sending fax ATA adapter may send a message
to the receiving decoder program using the CSID or Non Standard
Capabilities fields or Fax Information Field of the T.30 protocol
to signal the decoder program to perform the functions as if there
were bits encoded in the facsimile image.
[0043] Further, the fax ATA adapter has the capability to and may
calculate a checksum on the facsimile image data using one or more
of the number of bytes of the image data, the number of pages of
the image data, a unique identifier of the image data and a unique
identifier of the software encoder program. The software decoder
program also has the capability and may calculate a checksum based
on the same criteria such that the checksum on the same facsimile
image data and same intended destination will match and may be used
for future validation of the facsimile image data.
[0044] FIG. 3 is a diagram of the fax delivery system showing how
the speed of the fax is slowed down and the fax is delivered over a
data communications link 400. At this point, the fax transmission
call is set to a slower speed 107 in FIGS. 1 and 405 in FIG. 3.
Group III fax speeds are typically either sent at V.17 (9600 bps to
14.4 bps) or V.34 (up to 33.6 bps), however, operating at the
higher speeds increases the error rate of facsimile transmissions,
and increases the potential for a failed transmission. Setting the
modem transmission speed to a much slower speed helps ensure that
the communication link stays open and active while the streaming
portion of the fax image is processed.
[0045] After the secure IP link 404 is received by the fax ATA
adapter, the image data is then streamed via the data
communications (Internet) link to the provided server address using
any available Transport Layer, Application Layer, or Internet Layer
Protocols, 302 in FIGS. 2 and 402 in FIG. 3.
[0046] The fax image data is thus streamed to the destination
server at the service provider or network fax server at the high
speed of the data communications network, 108 in FIGS. 1 and 402 in
FIG. 3 rather than at the ITU specified modem speeds; this has the
novel advantages of transmitting multi-page faxes at much faster
speeds than previously possible as well as reducing network
congestion of limited resources to process traditional voice or fax
modem calls (transmissions).
[0047] When the fax image data is streamed to the designated secure
location, the software decoder program of the receiving system
recognizes the completion of the transmission 110 by having the
number of expected bytes received as notified by the software
encoder program of the sender, and the document is considered
complete 110, and received at the service provider ready to forward
111, to the final destination. The software decoder program then
proceeds to send a T.30 confirmation signal 109, over the still
open standard facsimile transmission link with the fax ATA adapter
which terminates the call. The software encoder program at this
point may inform and third party software application that the fax
transaction is confirmed and complete. Note that at the time of
confirmation, the image has already been received at the fax
service or fax server location, and the confirmation time and date
stamp are officially recorded in the facsimile transmission and
serves as legal proof that the facsimile document was sent.
* * * * *