Method and system for transmitting a facsimile from a computer to a remote fax machine using an internet fax machine as transfer station
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorXiaoan Hou
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, method, and computer program product for transmission of facsimiles via the Internet. An Internet fax driver is installed on a computer to send a document converted to an image using an electronic mail message over the Internet to an Internet fax machine. The electronic mail message, or fax request, can be either to Print a Document which is printed at the Internet fax machine or to Fax a Document which is sent from the Internet fax machine to a destination G3 fax machine designated by the user. Exemplary embodiments of the Internet fax driver include a driver which automatically converts a document to an image and a driver that allows the user to select a document already an image to send.
Claims16
A method for transmitting a facsimile, comprising:
- creating an image;
- inputting parameters of a fax machine to a graphical user interface of a general purpose computer, the parameters including a password of the fax machine;
- forming an electronic mail address that always includes (1) an Internet electronic mail address of the fax machine, (2) the input password of the fax machine, and (3) a receiver fax number;
- generating a fax request as an electronic mail message, the electronic mail message including the electronic mail address and the image;
- transmitting the electronic mail message to the fax machine;
- and
- determining whether to print the image at the fax machine or forward the image to a second fax machine corresponding to the receiver fax number based only on the electronic mail address,
- wherein the fax machine has only one password, and the receiver fax number and the password of the fax machine are always included in the electronic mail address.
A computer program product including a computer readable medium for transmitting a facsimile, comprising:
- an image creating code configured to create an image to be transmitted through the Internet;
- a graphical user interface configured to allow a user to input parameters of a fax machine to which the image will be transmitted, the parameters including a password of the fax machine;
- a fax request generating code configured to generate a fax request as an electronic mail message including the image and to send the fax request to the fax machine, the electronic mail message comprising an Internet electronic mail address of the fax machine, the password of the fax machine, a receiver fax number, and the image to be faxed;
- and
- a determining code configured to determine whether to print the image at the fax machine or forward the image to a second fax machine corresponding to the receiver fax number based only on the electronic mail address,
- wherein the fax machine has only one password, and the receiver fax number and the password of the fax machine are always included in the electronic mail address.
A system for transmitting a facsimile, comprising:
- means for creating an image;
- means for inputting parameters of a fax machine to a graphical user interface of a general purpose computer, the parameters including a password of the fax machine, wherein the fax machine has only one password;
- means for forming an electronic mail address that always includes (1) an Internet electronic mail address of the fax machine, (2) the input password of the fax machine, and (3) a receiver fax number, wherein the receiver fax number and the password of the fax machine is are always included in the electronic mail address;
- means for generating a fax request as an electronic mail message, the electronic mail message including the electronic mail address and the image;
- means for transmitting the electronic mail message to the fax machine, and
- means for determining whether to print the image at the fax machine or forward the image to a second fax machine corresponding to the receiver fax number based only on the electronic mail address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.