The transmission of graphical information such as facsimile (fax) information is a complex interchange where two fax machines exchange information over conventional telephone circuits. When facsimiles are sent to local destinations, they are local calls and are relatively inexpensive. However, according to a 1993 Gallup/Pitney Bowes study on fax usage, about 41% of U. S. business telephone expenditures are fax related and 74% of those fax calls use long distance connections. Hence, long distance charges can be a significant component of the total operating cost of a fax machine.

In comparison, the cost of transmitting data over computer networks is relatively independent of the local-long distance characterization. Thus, when long distance transmissions are involved, it is generally more cost effective to communicate data over computer networks such as local area networks (LANs) or wide area networks (WANs) rather than telephone lines. However, conventional fax machines cannot connect to and communicate directly with computer networks.

Moreover, conventional fax machines cannot convert the fax information into electronic mail, or attachments to electronic mail. Furthermore, keypads of conventional fax machines do not provide for entering electronic mail addresses.

SUMMARY A routing apparatus is provided which selectively links a graphics transmission equipment such as a fax machine to a first network using a telephone line, and/or to a second network such as a computer network. The apparatus has a plurality of ports to permit communication over telephone and computer networks.

The apparatus also has a display which provides a visual feedback to users. A keypad is provided to accept destination e-mail addresses corresponding to

conventional fax numbers, and which may be suitably encoded strings representative of electronic mail (e-mail) addresses.

The apparatus detects whether the user wishes to send a fax over the first network or the second network by decoding a number entered as a destination. If the user wishes to transmit the fax using the telephone network in a conventional fashion, the apparatus simply forwards the fax transmission over the telephone network. Alternatively, if the fax number conforms to a predetermined protocol which indicates that the transmission is to be routed over a computer network, an electronic mail address is generated based on the entered destination. The fax transmission is captured, converted into a suitable format, and forwarded to the destination as electronic mail, or as an attachment to electronic mail.

The apparatus can be deployed singly or in pairs to link fax machines over the network. If operating alone, the apparatus can route transmissions from an attached fax machine to a computer connected to the computer network. The electronic mail and/or electronic mail attachments can be read by the computer at the destination. Also, if operating alone, the apparatus can receive e-mail and convert it to a fax format, and print the document on the associated fax machine.

If operating in pairs, a second routing apparatus connected to the computer network is deployed for driving a second fax machine. In this configuration, the electronic mail is routed over the computer network. The electronic mail (e-mail) is received and processed by the second routing apparatus. The second apparatus converts the e-mail and/or e-mail attachments back into a fax compatible format and directs a fax transmission to the attached second fax machine. The pair of fax machines can thus communicate using the computer network to reduce long distance charges.

Among the advantages of the invention are one or more of the following.

The apparatus establishes a link between an international network of fax machines and an international network of computers exchanging electronic mail. Fax transmissions are flexibly routed over a plurality of communication networks to minimize long-distance charges. Further, the apparatus allows users to send and receive electronic mail using conventional fax machines. Destination addresses are

conveniently and quickly generated by converting suitably encoded keypad entries into e-mail addresses.

Moreover, information sent over a conventional fax machine is converted and stored in a digital format suitable for transmission to other fax machines or computers with a resulting reduction in communication costs. The apparatus is inexpensive, easy to operate, and works with minimal space, power and cooling requirements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1A illustrates a routing apparatus as deployed in a first configuration.

Figure 1B illustrates the routing apparatus as deployed in a second configuration.

Figure 1C illustrates the routing apparatus as deployed in a third configuration.

Figure ID illustrates the routing apparatus as deployed in a fourth configuration.

Figure IE illustrates the routing apparatus as deployed in a fifth configuration.

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the routing apparatus of Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and IE.

Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process of sending information using the apparatus of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating in more detail the process for converting a telephone number into an electronic mail address in accordance with Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for preparing a file for transmission in accordance with Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating a process for receiving fax information by electronic mail in accordance with Figure ID or IE.

DESCRIPTION Referring now to Figure 1A, an operating environment is shown for a facsimile routing apparatus 100. In the operating environment of Figure 1A, the

facsimile routing apparatus 100 transmits data from a facsimile machine 120 directly to a second fax machine 134 using a conventional telephone network.

Alternatively, the apparatus 100 can transmit data to a third fax machine 152 using a computer network. The apparatus 100 preferably has a keypad 112 for receiving destination information, including telephone numbers and/or strings representative of electronic mail addresses. To provide for easier data entry, an external keyboard 119 may be connected to the apparatus 100 by an E port 117. The external keyboard 119 may be a full QWERTY keyboard so that users can enter data more accurately and quickly.

The apparatus 100 also has a display 114 for providing a visual feedback to users on the destination information entered using the key pad 112 or keyboard 119. The display 114 may be a small liquid crystal display (LCD) sufficient to display a telephone number. Also, to provide for more graphics capability, an external display 115 may be connected to the apparatus 100 by a D port 113. The external display 115 may be used to display not only the information entered by the keypad 112, but also the content of the transmission such as a fax image being routed through the apparatus 100.

The apparatus 100 further has a plurality of ports: an A port 116, a B port 132 and a C port 124. The A port 116 is connected to a facsimile machine 120 by a first telephone wire 118. Similarly, the C port 124 is connected to the telephone network 126 by a second telephone wire 125. The telephone network 126 in turn is connected to a second telephone network 132. A fax machine 134 may be connected to the telephone network 132 at a remote location. Connectors for the A and C ports 116 and 124 would typically be RJ-11 type telephone connectors.

The B port 132 is connected to a local area network (LAN) 134. The LAN 134 in turn is connected to one or more workstations (not shown) and/or other computers such as personal computers and servers. The LAN 134 is also connected to a wide area network (WAN) 139, for example by a bridge 138. A second bridge 142 in turn connects the WAN 139 to a remote LAN 146.

Connected to the remote LAN 146 is a second facsimile routing apparatus 150, which is identical to the facsimile routing apparatus 100. The second apparatus 150 receives information captured in a first format such as an e-mail format from

the first apparatus 100, converts the first format to a fax format, and provides the fax format data to a third fax machine 152. In this way, two fax machines 120 and 152, each with associated facsimile routing apparatus 100 and 150, are able to send faxes to each other using a computer network.

The operating embodiment shown in Figure 1A thus can capture a fax transmission encoded in a first format from the first fax machine 120 and transmits the information over the conventional telephone network to the second fax machine 134 in a conventional manner. Alternatively, fax formatted data from the first fax machine 120 may be converted into a second format such as an e-mail format and transmitted over a computer network to the second apparatus 150. The second apparatus 150 in turn reconverts the e-mail formatted transmission back into a fax format and provides the fax format data to the third fax machine 152. As the data from the first fax machine 120 is transmitted over the computer network, each of fax machines 120 and 152 incurs only local telephone call expenses, if any, and avoids long-distance telephone charges. Usually, the connections to the LANs 134 and 146 involve no phone calls.

Referring now to Figure 1B, a second operating environment for the facsimile routing apparatus 100 is shown. In this environment, the WAN 139 is replaced by the Internet 140, which is a number of computer systems linked together by a backbone telecommunications network. Multiple networks can also be linked together and connected to the Internet 140 by hubs that enable computers on these networks to talk to one another and to other computers elsewhere on the Internet 140. The Internet 140 is thus able to have a global presence.

In the operating environment of Figure 1B, the apparatus 100 receives fax format data from the fax machine 120, converts the fax format data into the e-mail format and sends data to the second apparatus 150 over the Internet. The data is eventually received by the second apparatus 150 which is connected to the LAN 146. The second apparatus 150 converts the data from the e-mail format back to the fax format and provides this data to the second fax machine 152, as discussed earlier. Due to the ubiquity of the Internet, data transmission occurs at a relatively low cost over a widely accessible network.

Referring now to Figure I C, a third operating environment for the facsimile routing apparatus 100 is shown. Since the apparatus 100 as shown in Figure 1C converts facsimile pages into electronic mail format in order to send the pages using a computer network, the destination may be a computer instead of another fax machine. The environment of Figure 1C is similar to that of Figure 1B, except that the transmission from the fax machine 120 may be sent to a computer with fax-modem capability. In Figure 1C, data transmitted over the Internet 140 is routed to the destination through an Internet service provider (ISP) 180.

The ISP 180 is typically connected to the Internet 140 by a T-1 or T-3 connection. The ISP 180 in turn is linked to a computer 184 by a communication line, typically a telephone line, an integrated services data network (ISDN) line or a cable line, and a suitable modem 182. The computer 184 is connected to a display 186 and a printer 188 for viewing or making a hard copy of the e-mail transmission. In this manner, data transmitted from the facsimile machine 120 can be routed to reach the computer 184 over the Internet 140, or vice versa.

Figure ID illustrates the operating environment of Figure 1A, with the addition of electronic mail servers 190 and 192 which are connected to LANs 134 and 146, respectively. The servers 190 and 192 provide central depositories for temporary buffering of incoming and outgoing electronic mail.

Figure 1 E illustrates the connection of the apparatus 100 to the Internet by way of an alternate means different from that of Figure IB. In Figure IE, the modem port C is used to connect to an ISP using the conventional telephone system. This connection would, in most case, be a local telephone connection rather than a long distance call.

As used in the configurations of Figures lA-lE, the apparatus 100 and 150 tap into the ubiquity of the wide area network 139 or the Internet 140 to generate cost savings to users by reducing expenses associated with long-distance telephone fax transmissions. Yet, the routing apparatus 100 retains the flexibility of sending facsimiles by conventional telephone network, if necessary.

A block diagram of components of one embodiment of the apparatus 100 is shown in Figure 2. A microcontroller 160 provides processing capability. A conventional microprocessor or central processing unit (CPU) may be used instead.

The microcontroller 160 is connected to a read only memory (ROM) 162 and a random access memory (RAM) 164 to access instructions and data. The microcontroller 160 is also connected to the key pad 112 and the display 114 to receive user data entry as well as provide visual feedback.

The microcontroller 160 is optionally connected to a video converter 166 for driving the external display 115 over the D port 113. The microcontroller 160 is further optionally connected to a keyboard interface unit 168 for receiving user data entry from the external keyboard 119 over the E port 117.

The microcontroller 160 is connected to a first fax-modem 170. The first fax-modem 170 is connected to a fax machine 120 via the telephone wiring 118 by the A port 116. A second fax-modem 172 is connected to the microcontroller 160.

The second fax-modem 172 is also connected to the telephone line 125 by the C port 124. To access the computer network, the microcontroller 160 is connected to a network interface card (NIC) 174. The output of the NIC 174 is provided to the B port 132, which in turn is connected to the LAN 134 (Figures 1A, 1B or 1C).

As the LAN 134 is eventually connected to the WAN 139 (Figure 1A) or the Internet 140 (Figures 1B or 1C), the microcontroller 160 can route incoming fax data to a remote fax machine or a computer over a long distance network.

Referring now to Figure 3, the process for sending a fax using the apparatus 100 is illustrated. In this process, at the fax machine, the user enters either a conventional fax destination number to send a fax using the telephone network, or a pseudo-telephone number with a unique prefix to signal the apparatus 100 that it is to transmit the fax using the computer network in place of the telephone network. The pseudo-telephone number allows the standard set of telephone numbers that traditional fax machines are prepared to deal with to be used to designate an e-mail address.

During a conventional fax transmission process, the user enters a fax destination by entering a phone number in the fax machine 120 of Figure lA-lE.

In response, the fax machine 120 accesses the telephone network by first accessing the apparatus 100 of Figures lA-lE through the connection 118 and port A 116.

The apparatus 100 in turn completes an actual connection to the telephone network 126 using port C 124 and the connection 125. The phone number entered by the

user is used to dial the number for the destination fax machine over the connection 125. Upon making a connection with the destination fax machine, the apparatus transmits data to the destination fax machine.

If the fax transmission is to be performed over the wide area network 139 or Internet 140, the user enters information encoded as a pseudo-telephone number.

Any sequence of digits that would not interfere with the placement of a conventional telephone call may be used. For example, any number that begins with"99"indicates that the fax is to be sent over a computer network as no regular telephone call would start with the digits"99".

More particularly, referring to Figure 3, the send process 200 first checks whether the user has entered a preference (step 202). If the user wishes to send the transmission by the telephone line (plain old telephone system, or"POTS"), as is conventional, the send process 200 uses the destination fax number dialed by the fax machine and passes the facsimile transmission directly from the sending fax machine to the destination fax machine using the telephone line (step 204).

Step 204 is performed in five phases: phase a-call set up or call establishment; phase b-pre-message procedure; phase c-message transmissions; phase d-post message procedure; and phase e-call release. The process 204 performs phases a and e once per fax transmission forwarding operation and phases b, c and d as often as necessary to complete the forwarded transmission. After the forwarding operation has been completed, the process 200 exits in step 250.

If the fax transmission is to be routed over the wide area network 139 or the Internet 140, the send process 200 generates an e-mail address in step 222 as a function of the phone number with a predetermined protocol, such as the prefix "99"previously entered by the user at the fax machine. Step 222 is discussed in more detail in Figure 4.

Next, the send process 200 prepares the file for transmission (step 224), as discussed in more detail in Figure 5. From step 224, the routine of Figure 3 sends the fax via the local area network 134, the wide area network 139 or the Internet 140. The send process 200 then checks whether the transmission was successful (step 228). In the event of a failure, the send process 200 indicates an error to the

user (step 230) before exiting (step 250). Alternatively, in the event of a successful transmission, the routine of Figure 3 exits (step 250).

Referring now to Figure 4, the process 222 of Figure 3 is shown in more detail. The software in the apparatus maintains a directory associating"pseudo" telephone numbers with e-mail addresses. The process 222 initially examines the destination information and checks whether an address which is not listed in the directory is to be generated (step 262). If so, the user is prompted to enter the address using the key-pad 112 (step 272). Otherwise, the process 222 looks up the e-mail address based on the entered telephone number supplied via the fax machine (step 264).

From step 264, the process 222 checks whether the search of the look-up step 264 was successful (step 266). If not, an error is indicated (step 268) before the process proceeds to step 272. If a valid address was entered (step 272) or the e-mail address look-up was successful (step 266), the process 222 sets the destination information using the newly-generated e-mail address (step 270) before exiting (step 274).

Figure 5 illustrates one embodiment of the process 224 (Figure 3) for preparing a file for transmission. A process 224 checks whether the fax image is to be attached as an image file to the electronic mail message (step 276). If so, the process 224 attaches the fax image to the electronic mail message body (step 277).

The fax image may be formatted using a standard format for e-mail attachments, such as TIFF, JPEG or MPEG, PDF, among others. From step 277, the routine of Figure 5 exits (step 281).

From step 276, if additional processing is to be performed on the fax image to enhance the usability of the fax, the fax image is processed by a suitable document recognition engine, such as an Adobe Acrobat Capture engine, available from Adobe Systems Incorporated of San Jose, California. Other suitable optical character recognition engines may be used (step 278).

After the fax image has been processed in step 278, the process 224A attaches the result to the e-mail message (step 279) before exiting (step 281).

Referring to Figure 6, a process 330 in the apparatus for receiving information by electronic mail is shown. The process 330 initially polls a mail

server 190 or 192 connected to the apparatus by LAN 134 in Figures lA-lE or by WAN 139 or the Internet 140 in Figures lA-lE for messages (step 332). The process 330 then checks whether messages are available from the mail server (step 333). If not, the process 330 puts itself to sleep (step 336) and periodically wakes up to continue polling the server for messages.

When a message is received (step 334), the process 330 converts the electronic mail file to the fax image format (step 338). Next, the converted image is sent to the attached facsimile machine (step 340) via the connection 118 in Figures IA-IC before exiting (step 342). In this manner, the fax transmission is routed over the WAN 139 or Internet 140 and converted into a fax format before being transmitted to this destination fax machine.

Thus, two facsimile machines, both having associated apparatus 100 and 150, are directly linked by the telephone network. However, if the fax transmission is to be transmitted over a WAN, including the Internet, the first apparatus 100 intercepts the facsimile transmission, converts the information into a suitable electronic medium for attachment to an electronic mail, and routes the transmission to the destination over the WAN or Internet. The second or receiving apparatus 150 then converts the e-mail back into a fax form suitable for output on the second receiving fax machine.

Since each apparatus and fax machine pair is capable of sending either regular faxes over regular telephone lines or faxes converted to e-mail over the Internet or other LANs and WANs and can convert between the two formats, the following types of transmissions are supported: -Computer user generates e-mail which are sent to and output on a fax machine; -Fax transmissions which are sent to and read as e-mail by computer users; and -Fax transmissions which are cost-effectively sent to other fax machines over the Internet rather than long distance telephone lines.

Variations to the fax routing apparatus are within the scope of the claims.

For example, although the apparatus has two telephone line connections to link two fax machines over the telephone network, the apparatus may use one telephone

connection to receive and buffer the transmission into its memory and, at the end of the transmission, in turn call the destination fax machine and transmit the fax information stored in memory to the destination fax machine. Further, in place of a directory look-up to generate e-mail addresses, other suitable methods may be used, including detecting and capturing the e-mail address located on the document to be transmitted, among others.

Additionally, to aid users in categorizing and handling documents routed by the apparatus, the invention contemplates that key words such as"from","to", "title","date", among others, can be extracted from the fax transmission and appended to e-mail documents, or vice versa. Moreover, to simplify computer access to the document, the invention contemplates that the document being faxed is converted into a suitable graphics file standard such as a Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), JPEG, MPEG, or PDF file. Alternatively, the document can be saved as a computer readable text file using an appropriate optical character recognition (OCR) engine. Further, the computer readable file may be compressed to reduce storage space and transmission time.

Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.