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`
`Unlted States Patent [19]
`Witek
`
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`5,461,488
`Oct. 24, 1995
`
`[54] COMPUTERIZED FACSHVHLE (FAX)
`SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION
`[75] Inventor: Keith E. Witek, Austin, Tex.
`
`2/1994 Zoccolillo ............................. .. 358/402
`5,287,199
`Primary Examiner_scott A_ Rogers
`A’mmey' Ag‘m” 0’ F’”"*Ke“h E‘ wltek
`[57]
`ABSTRACT
`A fax system is automated herein by using a modem (10), a
`computer (12), and an office network which coupled the
`computer (12) to a plurality of end-user computers (26). A
`fax is received by the computer (12) through the modem
`(10). Once the fax is received by the computer (12), a
`program
`Stores the fax in a computer ?le
`in a
`non-text format Code (18) converts the non-text format of
`?le (15) to a text format (17) which is read by a pattern
`recognition program (18). The program (18) determines,
`from the ?le (17), a destination of the fax document. The
`destination can be one or more of a printer (24), a computer
`in the plurality of computers (26), a default computer, or a
`default storage location (e.g., disk storage). A log ?le (19) is
`kept by computer (12) to record the operations of the
`computer (12) and receipt and routing information regarding
`received faxes. The control code (22) coordinates the other
`programs in memory (13).
`
`39 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
`
`‘
`
`:
`
`.
`
`h
`
`.
`
`[73] Asslgnee Motorola’ Inc ’ Sc aumburg’ m
`_
`[21] Appl‘ NO" 304’337
`[22] Filed;
`sep_ 12’ 1994
`
`6
`Int- Cl- .............................. "
`[52] US. Cl. ........................ .. 358/402; 358/407; 358/442;
`358/444; 353/440; 395/492; 395/500; 395/18213;
`395/600; 395/650; 364/419.03; 364/419.07
`[58] Field of Search ................................... .. 358/402, 407,
`358/434, 440, 468, 442, 444; 379/100;
`395/200, 325
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U'S‘ PATENT DOCUMENTS
`2/1992 Silverberg ............................. .. 358/407
`5,091,790
`5,175,684 12/1992 Chong ..... ..
`5,247,591
`9/1993 Baran .................................... .. 358/402
`
`SERIAL
`COMPUTER
`INTERFACE
`MODEM \
`10
`
`PHONE LINE
`(ANALOG)
`
`COMPUTER g
`MEMORY l2
`
`FAX RECEIPT
`SOFTWARE 14
`
`'
`PICT FAX FILE
`.12
`
`19
`
`CONTROL
`CODE
`
`22
`_
`
`FAX
`TRANSMISSION
`
`OCR
`SOFTWARE @
`
`TEXT FAX FILE
`Z
`
`CUSTOM PATTERN
`RECOG. 18
`
`ELECTRONIC
`MAIL @
`
`OFFICE NETWORK
`\
`
`24
`\ PRINTER
`
`COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER
`
`Facebook, Inc. - Inter Partes Review
`Exhibit 1004
`
`001
`
`

`
`‘US. Patent
`
`Oct. 24, 1995
`
`Sheet 1 of 2
`
`5,461,488
`
`SERI
`CO
`INT
`MODEM I \
`10'
`
`PHONE LINE
`(ANALOG)
`
`FAX
`TRANSMISSION
`
`J2
`COMPUTER
`MEMORY I;
`
`> FAX RECEIPT
`SOFTWARE 14
`
`V
`
`PICT FAX FILE
`g
`
`V
`
`.
`
`OCR
`SOFTWARE 16
`—
`
`/
`TM FAX FILE
`\
`ll
`
`L0G
`FILE
`
`CONTROL
`CODE
`
`22
`-
`
`V
`CUSTOM PATTERN
`RECOG. 18
`
`V
`
`ELECTRONIC
`MAIL
`
`|
`I
`
`:
`
`24
`\ PRINTER
`
`OFFICE NETWORK \
`
`V
`
`V
`
`T
`
`\
`
`V
`
`‘
`
`COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER
`
`FIG!
`
`Facebook, Inc. - Inter Partes Review
`Exhibit 1004
`
`002
`
`

`
`U.S. Patent
`
`0a. 24, 1995
`
`Sheet 2 of 2
`
`5,461,488
`
`RESET/START
`
`llO\
`ROUTE FAX TO A
`DEFAULT COMPUTER,
`A PRINTER, AND/OR
`A DEFAULT DISK
`STORAGE AREA
`
`RECEIVE FAX
`
`I 102
`
`SAVE FAX AS
`A PICT FILE
`
`CONVERT PICT FILE
`TO A TEXT FILE
`
`THE TEXT FILE
`CONTAIN A VALID
`FAX RECIPIENT OR
`
`ELECTRONICALLY SEND
`THE FAX TO THE
`DESTINATION VIA
`ELECTRONIC MEDIA
`
`SELECTIVELY LOG
`INFORMATION FROM
`THE ABOVE STEPS FOR
`HISTORICAL/SUBSEQUENT
`REFERENCE
`
`FIGZ
`
`Facebook, Inc. - Inter Partes Review
`Exhibit 1004
`
`003
`
`

`
`5,461,488
`
`1
`COMPUTERIZED FACSIIVIILE (FAX)
`SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATION
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`.
`
`.
`
`The present invention relates generally to computerized or
`data processing systems, and more particularly, to comput
`erized facsimile routing and logging systems and methods.
`
`.
`
`5
`
`10
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Thus use of facsimile (Fax) transmissions is becoming
`increasingly popular as companies and business expands to
`nation-wide and global-wide markets. The need to commu
`nicate with remote locations is an increasingly important
`function. In the past, Fax machines have been used to
`receive Fax transmissions from a phone line and print the
`Fax transmission to paper. The paper was then hand routed
`by a human user to a proper destination.
`In many cases, the Fax could be lost in the recipient’s
`in-basket, mis-routed, or routed long after the Fax was sent.
`In some cases, Faxes need to be logged on paper or in a
`database for future reference which takes a considerable
`amount of man hours. In addition, the Fax document, which
`are received in a paper format, cannot be electronically
`modi?ed or changed by a recipient in a time ef?cient and
`easy manner. In addition, some Faxes are sent simply to pass
`information which need not be permanently ?xed on paper.
`Due to the above complications, a more automated Fax
`logging and routing system is needed.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 illustrates, in a block diagram, a fax data process
`ing system in accordance with the present invention; and
`FIG. 2 illustrates, in a ?owchart, a method for performing
`computerized routing and tracking of fax documents in
`accordance with the present invention.
`It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of
`illustration, elements illustrated in the FIGURES have not
`necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimen
`sions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to
`other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appro
`priate, reference numerals have been repeated among the
`FIGURES to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
`
`DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENT
`
`FIG. 1 illustrates a system used to automate facsimile
`(“fax”) logging and routing via a computerized system. FIG.
`1 illustrates a modem 10. Modern 10 (a serial communica
`tion device) has an input, which is illustrated in FIG. 1 as
`being an analog phone line. In general, any compatible
`telecommunication or communication protocol may be used
`as input to the modem 10. The modem 10 can be any serial
`communication device which can interface data from a
`phone line, communication line, and/or network to a com
`puter. The modem 10 can operate an any speed, from 300
`baud to 28.8 band or above. The modem 10 is coupled to a
`computer 12 via a serial computer interface. Any serial
`computer interface which is either parallel or serial in nature
`can be used for the serial computer interface in FIG. 1.
`Typically, the serial computer interface in FIG. 1 contains a
`plurality of conductors to either transmit a plurality of data
`bits, a plurality of control signals, and/or handshaking
`signals.
`FIG. 1 illustrates a computer 12. Computer 12 is also
`
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`2
`referred to as a control computer and is any device which
`either manipulates, stores, routes, or transmits data in any
`manner. In one form, computer 12 can be any computer
`which comprises one or more of a display screen, a key
`board, a mouse, or a CPU/Memory unit. In other forms, the
`computer 12 may be a rnicrocontroller, a DSP, a rnicrocon
`trolling unit, a plurality of microprocessors, a mainframe, a
`supercomputer, or any like computer device. The computer
`has either external to it or internal to it access to a memory
`13, illustrated in FIG. 1. Memory 13 is comprised of one or
`more of disk storage, tape storage, magnetic media, non
`volatile memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory,
`FLASH memory, DRAM memory, SRAM memory, ROM,
`CD memory, computer memory, and/or any like memory
`system or device.
`Within memory 13 is a fax receipt software program 14.
`Program 14 is generally used to receive data from the serial
`computer interface and store it into a pict fax ?le 15. The pict
`fax ?le 15 stores information received which is received
`through the modem 10 and processed by program 14. The
`information in fax ?le 15 is typically one or more fax
`transmissions or fax documents received through modem 10
`via the serial computer interface. In general, the fax receipt
`software 14 allows the computer 12 to simulate or “look
`like” a fax machine to another fax machine coupled to the
`modem 10 via the phone line. The fax software 14 is
`designed to primarily receive fax transmissions of the
`CCI’IT group IH type. Other transmission forms and pro
`tocols may also be supported and recognized by fax receipt
`software 14. Fax software 14 also recognizes various fax and
`coding schemes, such as Huffman encoding, and can be used
`to communicate at any standard telecommunication speed
`such as 14.4 kBaud, 12 kBaud, 9.6 kBaud, 7.2 kBaud, 4.8
`kBaud, 2.4 kBaud, etc. Also, the fax receipt software 14 is
`coded to dynamically and automatically match the transmis
`sion speed of the data coming in through the modem 10. The
`fax receipt software program 14 has the primary purpose of
`receiving one or more fax transmissions through the modem
`10 and processing that fax transmission into a data format
`stored in the pict fax ?le 15, which can be subsequently
`processed.
`In some cases, many faxed transmissions will be received
`in a short period of time and multiple pict fax ?les 15 will
`be created. A control code portion 22 is typically used to
`monitor the fax receipt software program 14 to insure data
`is not lost and that proper management of multiple ?les is
`carried out by the computer 12. The pict fax ?les 15 may
`either be prioritized by time or by a fax transmitting urgency
`or a like priority. Once one or more pict fax ?les 15 have
`been formed via program 14, optical character recognition
`(OCR) 16 is used to process the pict fax ?le 15. If more than
`one fax ?le 15 exists within memory 13 at one point in time,
`control code 22 determines via the priority scheme discussed
`above, which pict fax ?le 15 is processed in which order by
`the software 16. The primary purpose of the OCR software
`16 is to scan one or more pict fax ?les 15 and translate those
`pict fax ?les 15 from a non-text format to a text format. The
`text format, which is stored in text fax ?le 17, may be
`represented in one of many manners such as ASCII, binary,
`BCD, and/or the like. In one form, the OCR software 16
`converts only a portion of the pict fax ?le 15 to text, and in
`another form the OCR software 16 will convert the entire
`pict fax ?le 15 to text fax ?le 17. In either case, the OCR
`software 16 is converting the pict fax ?le 15 to a text fax ?le
`for at least one primary purpose. This primary purpose is to
`determine from the faxed data any information which is
`needed to electronically log or track the fax transmission and
`
`Facebook, Inc. - Inter Partes Review
`Exhibit 1004
`
`004
`
`

`
`5,461,488
`
`15
`
`20
`
`25
`
`3
`determines where to properly route the fax transmission
`(i.e., a fax destination).
`All fax documents contain a cover sheet, or a like sheet,
`which communicates to a human user: (1) who the fax is
`from; and (2) where the fax is to be sent, along with other
`optional information. For example, a fax from Company A
`may have Company B’s name on the cover sheet as a
`recipient. A fax sent from a John Smith to a Bill Johnson
`would have John Smith as the sender on the cover sheet and
`a Bill Johnson as the recipient on the cover sheet. In
`addition, the cover sheet may contain additional information
`such as a legal clause of legal con?dentiality, a number of
`pages transmitted, phone numbers in which to contact indi
`viduals, and like information. In some cases, a fax document
`will contain high resolution or low resolution graphics
`which may be drawings, ?gures, company logos, or the like.
`Typically, these drawings within the pict fax ?le are not
`converted to text by the OCR software 16, but remain in a
`graphics format. The OCR software 16 is typically looking
`for one or more pieces of information from this “cover
`sheet”.
`Once the OCR software 16 has generated the text fax ?le
`17, the control code 22 initiates custom pattern recognition
`via custom pattern recognition code 18. Custom pattern
`recognition code 18 contains a plurality of predetermined or
`preselected text or text strings. These text strings contain
`names which identify a destination of all potential faxes that
`can be received by computer 12. For example, if four people
`can receive faxes from the link establishes via computer 12
`and the office network, four names will be stored in the
`custom pattern recognition code 18 to determine which of
`the four recipients should receive the fax. In many cases, one
`person or one destination will be the recipient of a fax, but
`in certain circumstances custom pattern recognition code 18
`may ?nd that several or multiple destinations are needed in
`order to route the fax properly.
`In many cases, when writing a cover sheet for a fax, or
`when generating a fax cover sheet via computer, mistakes
`are made. For example, typos may occur, names may be
`misspelled, or the OCR software may not have properly
`recognized the name on the coversheet. In this case, the
`custom pattern recognition 18 either contains multiple
`strings which identify a particular user (i.e., “David
`Johnson”, “Dave”, “johnson”, “Dave Johnson”, “Johnson”,
`“dave”, “david”, “jonson”, “Jonson” etc.) or employs a
`pattern recognition scheme which is used in spelling check—
`ers to identify misspelled words in a “error minimization”
`manner. This error scheme which is used in spelling checker
`matches misspelled or mis-recognized words to a list of
`valid words and determines which valid word in the list of
`valid words either closely matches or signi?cantly matches
`the misspelled word read from ?le 17. This error correction
`system is typically performed by a numerical weight factor
`which is generated on a character-by-character comparison
`basis between strings stored via code 18 and strings parsed
`in the text fax ?le 17. For example, the parsed string from
`the text fax ?le 17 may be, for example, “Rick”. In the
`database accessed by code 18, no “Reik” exists. Instead, the
`code 18 identi?es a “Rick”, “Rich”, “Rieker”, etc. The code
`18 uses a numerical error weight scheme to determine
`which, if any, string from “Rick”, “Rich”, “Rieker”, etc. is
`closest to the parsed term “Reik” from the ?le 17.
`Once the code 18 recognizes one or more destinations of
`the fax received via the modem 10, the fax is routed via an
`electronic mail program 20 to the proper destination. The
`proper destination may be identi?ed by the E-mail program
`20 via an address, a user name, a numerical value, a network
`
`4
`identi?er, or any like identi?cation means which can he
`found or identi?ed via one or more of code 18 and E-mail
`program 20. E-mail program 21) can communicate across
`either telecommunication lines, local area networks, token
`passing networks, serial computer interfaces, parallel com
`puter interfaces, buses, or any like computer communication
`means to transmit the faxes received by modem 10 to the
`destinations identi?ed by the customer pattern recognition
`code 18.
`In FIG. 1, six possible destinations are illustrated via six
`computers 26. In a preferred form, more than one destination
`is attached to the office network through the E-mail program
`20. It is important to note that any number N of destinations,
`computers, or users can be coupled to the e-mail code 20 via
`the o?ice network wherein N is a ?nite positive integer. In
`addition, the end user may not always be a computer 26, but
`a speci?c folder, directory, or disk area on a computer, a
`default computer, a disk drive/tape drive, a computer screen,
`a printer, or the like.
`The control code 22 will interact with one or more of
`software 14, software 16, pattern recognition code 18, and
`E-mail program 20 to coordinate the execution of these
`software programs and to record information regarding the
`processes performed by computer 12. For example, control
`code 22 can prioritize, memory manage, and garage collect
`pict fax ?les 15 as they are processed by software 14 and
`software 16. In addition, the control code can communicate
`with the pattern recognition code 18 and the E-mail program
`20 to store fax receipt times, processing errors, information
`regarding destination identi?cation, and time of transmis
`sion along the office network.
`Since the control code 22 functions as a coordinator for
`the entire system illustrated in computer 12, the control code
`contains valuable information as to the receipt and trans
`mission of faxed documents. This information can be stored
`in a log ?le 19 for subsequent reference and future use. The
`log ?le 19 is generated by the control code 22 and has
`optional or required (depending upon a system set-up)
`entries for each fax received by the modem 10 and processed
`by the computer 12. It is important to note that some fax
`receipts may be intended for logging, while other fax
`receipts or transmissions may be indicated as transmissions
`which should not be logged in another form. In most cases,
`the fax transmission will be logged so that the receipt and
`routing of the fax can be determined at a later date. The log
`?le 19 will contain, per fax, information such as the time and
`date of receipt by the program 14, the time of the generation
`of ?le 15, any complications or information regarding the
`OCR software 16, the time the text fax ?le 17 was generated,
`the destinations determined by the code 18, the time and
`destinations transmitted by the e-mail program 20, user
`information from computers 26 when logging onto or
`accessing the computer 12, number of pages received per
`faxed transmission, the sender of the fax, phone numbers,
`addresses, and any other information which could be
`regarded as useful to a facsimile user or sender.
`In some cases, either the OCR software 16 will not
`properly convert the pict faxed ?le 15, or the custom pattern
`recognition 18 will either not notice a user connected via the
`office network or not be able to determine a user within the
`proper error tolerances (see above). In these cases, the fax
`will either be stored by the control code in a default storage
`location for access at a subsequent time or will be transmit
`ted via the office network to a default computer which can
`be accessed by a system administrator or secretary who is
`then responsible for the hand-routing of the faxes which are
`not properly handled by computer 12. In another form, the
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`Facebook, Inc. - Inter Partes Review
`Exhibit 1004
`
`005
`
`

`
`5,461,488
`
`10
`
`35
`
`5
`fax can simply be printed via a hardware printer 24 and
`routed by hand via human personnel or stored to a default
`disk space for access by all users of computers 26.
`The system illustrated in FIG. 1 has several advantages.
`One advantage is that the system of FIG. 1 may be used as
`a scanner. The scanner function of FIG. 1 is discussed as
`follows. If a fax machine is coupled to the fax transmission
`phone line of FIG. 1, then a user can fax a paper document
`to himself/herself. This faxed paper document is received by
`the modem 10 from the fax machine and processed by
`computer 12 to a text fax ?le 17. This ?le 17 is subsequently
`mailed to the user identi?ed on the cover sheet of the faxed
`transmission (in this case, the user is the person who sent the
`fax in the ?rst place). Therefore, if one were to fax himself
`a document through the computer 12, that document would
`be sent to his/her computer 26 as a text ?le and not a paper
`?le or pict ?le. Therefore, fax or paper documents can be
`converted by computer 12 to text computer formats which
`can be edited and changed by a user coupled via a computer
`26 to the computer 12.
`In addition, the man hours required to keep track of one
`or more fax machines by secretaries and/or support staff is
`very time consuming. By using the system illustrated in FIG.
`1, man hours required to log and route faxes are signi?cantly
`reduced compared to the prior art. Prior art fax machines
`operate by printing out a document received on a phone line
`and leaving the document for a human user to pick up and
`distribute. This technique is not secure, due to the fact that
`any user can grab the printed copy off of the fax machine and
`mis-route, steal, or illegally access the material transmitted.
`The system of FIG. 1 ensures a higher level of security since
`only those destined to receive the fax are those with access
`to the fax since there exists computer security measures to
`prevent others from logging into computers 26 if not autho
`rized to do so. In addition, the computer 12 may contain a
`large amount to security software to avoid viruses and
`unauthorized access.
`When a fax is printed on paper in a prior art fax, the faxes
`need to be routed by human personnel and may be lost,
`routed late, or routed incorrectly. Once lost, routed incor
`rectly, or routed late, the fax can usually not be regained and
`resubmitted to its ?nal destination. The system of FIG. 1
`prevents this loss by storing the received fax permanently on
`disk or a like media and ensures that the fax will be routed
`to an end user in a timely, e?lcient, and secure manner. In
`addition, the system of FIG. 1 ensures extensive and proper
`logging of the receipt and communication of fax ?les
`without extensive human interaction. In many cases, faxes
`are transmitted to communicate routine information between
`o?ices and is not required to be on printed paper for storage.
`Therefore, the system of FIG. 1 is environmentally sound in
`that it saves paper when a fax need not be recorded on paper
`and only viewed by a user on a computer screen.
`It is important to note that the E-mail program 20 can
`route one or more of either the text fax ?le 17 or the pict fax
`?le 15 depending upon conditions set within the computer
`12. In some cases, a sender will want the end user coupled
`to computer 26 not to have textural access to his ?le so that
`the ?le cannot be changed or edited in a easy manner. In
`another form, the sender may wish to have the end user
`change the facsimile or edit the facsimile, in which case the
`text fax ?le 17 is communicated by the E-mail program 20.
`In many cases, the text fax ?le can be E-mail transmitted in
`a much faster time than any pict ?le. It is also important to
`note that the OCR software 16 can use one of any known
`techniques to recognize not only computer-generated cover
`sheets comprising senders and destinations, but senders and
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`destinations written by hand on a cover sheet of a facsimile
`document. In addition, translation software which translates
`a document from one language to another (e.g. Japanese to
`English or vice versa) may be incorporated into the OCR
`software 16 or may be added as a new module in FIG. 1. The
`OCR software 16 can then recognize and translate facsimile
`senders, destinations, and text from foreign languages to
`English (and vice versa) so that a recipient and sender need
`not speak the same language.
`It is important to note that the software 14, software 16,
`pattern recognition 18, and E-mail program 20 may be
`“pipelined” in order to achieve greater throughput of faxes
`through the computer 12. For example, a ?rst fax may be in
`the process of being received by software 14 or may be in
`the process of being written to a fax ?le 15, while a second
`fax is being OCR converted via the software 16 to a ?le 17,
`while a third fax is being pattern recognized via code 18,
`while a fourth fax is being routed via the E-mail program 20.
`This technique will also ensure that one slow software
`portion within computer 12 does not entirely slow the entire
`fax receiving process. For example, if the fax receipt soft
`ware 14 can receive faxes faster than the OCR software can
`convert faxes, then the fax receipt software 14 can stack or
`queue pict fax ?les 15 and not slow receipt of faxes through
`the fax transmission phone line in the modem 10. In another
`form, if a “bottle-neck” is found wherein one of the software
`14, 16, 18, or 20 is slowing the process, this slower program
`may be augmented by adding similar processing capability
`in parallel to the slow program to improve throughput (i.e.
`parallel software processing).
`FIG. 2 illustrates a ?ow chart which describes the opera
`tion of the system illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, a step 100
`is used to determine if a fax is incoming from modem 10 into
`the computer 12. If a fax is not currently being received by
`computer 12, the fax receipt software 14 may continue to
`poll the modem or watch the serial computer interface line
`for incoming information, or the computer 12 can selec
`tively disable and enable the fax software in a periodic
`manner to enable time multiplexing of the processor within
`computer 12 so that other tasks may be performed other than
`waiting for a fax to come in along the serial computer
`interface. Once a fax transmission is identi?ed as being
`received via the serial computer interface, a step 102
`receives the fax via software 14. The fax is then saved either
`after receipt or during receipt to a pict fax file 15 in a step
`104. Once the ?le 15 in FIG. 1 is formed, a step 106 uses the
`software 16 to convert the ?le 15 to a ?le 17, wherein ?le 17
`is a text format. Once step 106 is performed, a step 108
`checks the text fax ?le 17 or FIG. 1 to determine if a valid
`recipient or destination or a plurality of valid recipients/
`destinations are found from documentation within the fax
`received by the serial computer interface. If the pattern
`recognition code 18 cannot ?nd a valid destination via step
`108, then the fax is routed to a default computer, printed to
`a printer, and/or stored at a default disk storage area.
`Optionally, this situation wherein a fax destination is not
`properly identi?ed can be ?agged to a network operator,
`secretary or user so that the unrecognizable destination may
`be ?xed in the future.
`Once a destination is recognized, a step 112 is used to
`electronically send the fax to the destination via electronic
`media or an E-mail protocol. The information sent may
`either be the text ?le 17 and/or the pict ?le 15. In some cases,
`it may su?ice to send notice to a user that the fax was
`received with information regarding where to go on a
`network to obtain the fax information. During the steps
`100-112 or after the steps of 100-112 have been executed,
`
`Facebook, Inc. - Inter Partes Review
`Exhibit 1004
`
`006
`
`

`
`5,461 ,488
`
`7
`a step 114 logs in a log ?le 19 various information discussed
`herein which relates to the fax transmission. After the fax is
`processed via step 114, step 100 is re-executed in order to
`process another fax received via the serial computer inter
`face.
`While the present invention has been illustrated and
`described with reference to speci?c embodiments, ?irther
`modification and improvements will occur to those skilled in
`the art. For example, “code”, as used herein, or “program”,
`as used herein, is any plurality of binary values or any
`executable, interpreted or compiled code which can be used
`by a computer or execution device to perform a task. This
`code or program can be written in any one of several known
`computer languages. A “computer”, as used herein, can
`mean any device which stores, processes, routes, manipu
`lates, or performs like operation on data. A “modem” is any
`serial communication device which can be used for taking
`fax information and inputting the fax information into a
`computer. A “text ?le” or “textural format”, as used herein,
`may be any data format for e?iciently storing alphanumeri
`cal data. In general, a text ?le or text format is any data
`structure which identi?es individual alphanumeric charac
`ters letters, or language characters from any faxed transmis
`sion. A “string”, as used herein, is one or more alpha numeric
`or textural characters which are identi?ed as being part of a
`group (such as a human name). The computers 26 herein
`may be any type of computer or destination which may not
`necessarily require display devices, user input devices, or
`memory. For example, an end-user or destination 26 may
`simply be a disk drive. It is to be understood, therefore, that
`this invention is not limited to the particular forms illustrated
`and that it is intended in the appended claims to cover all
`modi?cations that do not depart from the spirit and scope of
`this invention.
`What is claimed is:
`1. A data processing system for processing facsimile
`(FAX) transmissions, the data processing system compris
`ing:
`a serial communication device having an input for receiv—
`ing facsimile data from a serial communication line and
`an output for providing the facsimile data;
`a control computer coupled to the output of the serial
`communication device;
`a default computer which is coupled to the control com
`puter for receiving the facsimile data if the data pro
`cessing system cannot correctly determine where to
`route the facsimile data;
`a memory portion coupled to the control computer com
`prising:
`software for receiving the facsimile data from the serial
`communication device and storing the facsimile data
`in a ?rst data ?le in a ?rst format;
`software for converting a portion of the ?rst data ?le to
`a second format; and
`software which uses the second format to determine
`where to route the facsimile data within the data
`processing system; and
`wherein at least one of the software for receiving, the
`software for converting, or the software which uses
`the second format interfaces with control software to
`keep a log ?le, the log ?le storing information
`regarding the facsimile data, the information being
`selected from a group consisting of: facsimile data
`length, time of receipt of the facsimile data, time of
`routing of the facsimile data, a destination to which
`the facsimile data was routed, and where or who the
`
`35
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`60
`
`65
`
`%
`facsimile data was transmitted from.
`2. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the
`software for converting is an optical character recognition
`(OCR) method which produces a character output ?le.
`3. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein a printer
`is coupled to the control computer for paper printing of the
`facsimile data.
`4. The data processing system of claim 3 wherein the
`facsimile data is printed if the software for converting fails
`to properly convert the ?rst format to the second format.
`5. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the
`software which uses the second format attempts to match
`one string within a plurality of stored strings from memory
`to one string in the second format in order to determine
`where to route the facsimile data in the data processing
`system.
`6. The data processing system of claim 5 wherein the one
`string in the second format is a name of a user and indicates
`a destination computer wherein the destination computer is
`coupled to the control computer, the facsimile data being
`routed to the destination computer by passing the facsimile
`data and a destination address over a local area network.
`7. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the
`default computer which is coupled to the control computer
`is accessed by a human user to determine where to route the
`facsimile data by electronic mail.
`8. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the
`software for receiving converting creates a second data ?le
`which contains textual information and a control signal
`determines whether the ?rst data ?le or the second data ?le
`is routed by the software which uses the second format.
`9. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein at least
`one of the software for receiving, the software for convert»
`ing, the software which uses the second format, and the log
`?le are stored in the memory portion.
`10. The data processing system of claim 9 wherein the in
`order to determine a destination the data processing system
`translates the facsimile data from a ?rst human language to
`a second human language.
`11. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein the
`serial communication device is a modem operating at a
`communication rate above 2400 baud.
`12. The data processing system of claim 1 wherein a
`plurality of computers are coupled to the control computer
`and any one computer in the plurality of computers is a
`destination computer where the software which uses the
`second format transmits the facsimile data to the destination
`computer.
`13. The data processing system of claim 12 wherein more
`than one