Method and apparatus for using a person digital assistant to interface with a communication station
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsDaja Phillips, Gregory J. Wolff, Jonathan J. Hull
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for interfacing a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a communications appliance is provided. The method comprising a communication station receiving semi-structured data from a personal digital assistant (PDA) in a format native to the PDA, and parsing the semi-structured data to identify a type of the semi-structured data. If the semi-structured data is destination data, sending a job to a destination indicated by the semi-structured data.
Claims34
A method of interfacing with a communication station, the method comprising:
- receiving semi-structured data from a personal digital assistant (PDA) in a format native to the PDA;
- parsing the semi-structured data to identify a type of the semi-structured data;
- fetching information from a search location indicated by the semi-structured data if the semi-structured data is a search request incompletely indicating a destination;
- prompting the user to select the destination for the data based on the information fetched from the search location;
- and
- sending data to the destination indicated by the semi-structured data if the type of the semi-structured data is destination data, the data being distinct from the semi-structured data and provided by a source other than the PDA.
An apparatus for sending data from a communication station, the apparatus comprising:
- a communication interface to receive semi-structured data from a personal digital assistant (PDA) in a format native to the PDA;
- a parser to parse the semi-structured data and to identify a type of the semi-structured data;
- a retrieving logic to fetch information from a search location indicated by the semi-structured data if the semi-structured data is a search request partially indicating a destination;
- a user interface to prompt the user to select the destination for the data based on the information fetched from the search location;
- and
- sending logic to send appropriate data to the destination indicated by the structured data, the appropriate data being distinct from the semi-structured data and provided by a source other than the PDA.
A system comprising:
- a personal digital assistant (PDA);
- a communications appliance coupled to a network;
- and
- a memory for storing a unique job identification (job ID) for each job handled by the communications appliance;
- the communications appliance comprising:
- a communication interface to receive semi-structured data from the PDA;
- a parser to parse the semi-structured data and to identify a type of the semi-structured data;
- a retrieving logic to fetch information from a search location indicated by the semi-structured data if the semi-structured data is a search request partially indicating a destination;
- a user interface to prompt the user to select the destination for the data based on the information fetched from the search location;
- a sending logic for sending data based on the semi-structured data received from the PDA, the data being distinct from the semi-structured data and provided by a source other than the PDA;
- and
- the communication interface for returning the job ID to the PDA.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.