Certified inbound facsimile service

A method for monitoring delivery of e-mail messages, comprising:

• delivering an e-mail message to a primary, intended recipient;
• determining the time at which the e-mail message was delivered to the primary recipient;
• determining work hours for the primary recipient;
• determining whether the primary recipient reads the e-mail message within a primary maximum time frame;
• considering only work hours of the primary recipient in the primary maximum time frame;
• and
• when the primary recipient does not read the e-mail message within the primary maximum time frame, taking additional action to enable reading of the e-mail message by an alternate recipient.

A computer program resident on computer-readable media and arranged to monitor delivery of e-mail messages, the computer program being arranged to:

• deliver an e-mail message to an e-mail client of a primary, intended recipient's computer;
• determine the time at which the e-mail message was delivered to the primary recipient's computer;
• determine whether the primary recipient reads the e-mail message within a primary maximum time frame;
• when the primary recipient does not read the e-mail message within the primary maximum time frame, then
• deliver a copy of the e-mail message to an e-mail client of at least one secondary recipient's computer;
• determine the time at which the e-mail message was delivered to each of the at least one secondary recipient's computer;
• and
• determine whether any of the at least one secondary recipient reads the e-mail message within a secondary maximum time frame;
• and
• when both the primary and secondary recipients do not read the e-mail message within the secondary maximum time frame, notify an available recipient of the non-reading of the e-mail message by the primary and secondary recipients to enable the available recipient to attend to facilitating a response to the e-mail message.

A computer program resident on computer-readable media and arranged to monitor delivery of e-mail messages, the computer program being arranged to:

• deliver an e-mail message to an e-mail client of a primary, intended recipient's computer;
• determine the time at which the e-mail message was delivered to the primary recipient's computer;
• store work hours for the primary recipient;
• determine whether the primary recipient reads the e-mail message within a primary maximum time frame while considering only work hours of the primary recipient in the primary maximum time frame;
• and
• when the primary recipient does not read the e-mail message within the primary maximum time frame, take additional action to enable reading of the e-mail message by an alternate recipient.

A system for monitoring delivery of e-mail messages derived from facsimile messages, comprising:

• communications hardware which has at least one designated fax number and receives facsimile transmissions;
• at least one database including data about e-mail addresses of possible recipients of facsimile transmissions;
• and
• a processor coupled to said communications hardware and said at least one database and arranged to convert each facsimile transmission into an e-mail message and deliver the e-mail message to at least one e-mail address of an intended, primary recipient of the facsimile transmission obtained from said at least one database;
• said processor being arranged to record the time at which the e-mail message was delivered, determine whether the primary recipient reads the e-mail message within a maximum first time frame, if not, deliver a copy of the e-mail message to at least one secondary recipient, record the time at which the e-mail message was delivered to the at least one secondary recipient, determine whether the primary or secondary recipient reads the e-mail message within a maximum second time frame, and if not, notify an available recipient of the lack of reading of the e-mail message by both the primary and secondary recipients.