Personal digital assistant facilitated communication system

A facsimile communication method, including the steps of:

• receiving at a personal data assistant an alphanumeric email address, being the address of a mailbox on a computer network;
• conveying via a first data exchange the received address from the personal data assistant to a host interface portion together with commands instructing the host interface portion to initiate a facsimile delivery;
• establishing a communication session between the host interface portion and a forwarding facility;
• conveying the received address from the host interface portion to the forwarding facility, dung the first communication session via a second data exchange independent of the first data exchange;
• conveying an image from the fax function associated with the host interface portion to the forwarding facility, during the first communication session via a third data exchange independent of the first and the second data exchanges;
• and
• delivering the image as an electronic file from the forward facility to the destination address received at the personal data assistant;
• and
• wherein the first data exchange involves at least a first protocol, and the second data exchange involves at least a second protocol different from the first protocol, and the third data exchange involves at least a third protocol different from each of the first and second protocols.

A facsimile communication method, including the steps of:

• receiving at a personal data assistant a destination address;
• conveying via a first data exchange the received address from the personal data assistant to a host interface portion together with commands instructing the host interface portion to initiate a facsimile delivery;
• establishing, through the dialing of a destination address different from the destination address received during the receiving step, a communication session between the host interface portion and a forwarding facility;
• conveying the received address from the host interface portion to the forwarding facility, during the first communication session via a second data exchange independent of the first data exchange;
• conveying an image from a fax function associated with the host interface portion to the forwarding facility, during the first communication session via a third data exchange independent of the first and the second data exchanges;
• and
• delivering the image as an electronic file from the forwarding facility to the destination address received at the personal data assistant;
• the receiving step occurs while the personal data assistant is located away from the physical location of the fax function;
• and
• the step of conveying the received address to a host interface portion occurs while the host interface portion is linked to the fax function;
• and
• prior to the step of conveying the image but after the step of conveying the received address to the host interfere portion, including the step of prompting for the placement of a hardcopy into the scanner of the fax function.

A facsimile communication method, including the steps of:

• receiving at a personal data assistant an alphanumeric email address, being the address of a mailbox on a computer network;
• conveying via a first data exchange the received address from the personal data assistant to a host interface portion together with commands instructing the host interface portion to initiate a facsimile delivery;
• establishing a communication session between the host interface portion and a forwarding facility;
• conveying the received address from the host interface portion to the forwarding facility, during the first communication session via a second data exchange independent of the first data exchange;
• conveying au image from the fax function associated with the host interface portion to the forwarding facility, during the first communication session via a third data exchange independent of the first and the second data exchanges;
• and
• delivering the image as an electronic file from the forwarding facility to the destination address received at the personal data assistant;
• the receiving step occurs while the personal data assistant is located away from the physical location of the fax function;
• and
• the step of conveying the received address to a host interface portion occurs while the host interface portion is linked to the fax function;
• and
• prior to the step of conveying the image but after the step of conveying the received address to the host interface portion, including the step of prompting for the placement of a hardcopy into the scanner of the fax function.

A facsimile communication method, comprising the steps of:

• entering into a portable traveler interface portion, at any place remote from the physical location of a scanner of a fax function and remote from the physical location of a host interface portion, a plurality of destination addresses including at least one email address and at least one telephone number;
• communicating the plurality of destination addresses from the traveler interface portion to a host interface portion during a single communication session;
• determining at the host interface portion each destination address of the plurality to be one of either an email address or a telephone number;
• prompting by the host interface portion for placement of related hardcopy documents into the scanner of a fax function;
• after the prompting step, generating image data from the hardcopy documents;
• and
• communicating the image data from the fax function to at least one address entered into the traveler interface portion.