Title of Invention

A METHOD OF SENDING MULTIPLE SUCCESSIVE FACSIMILE DATA TO SAME DESTINATION

Abstract This invention in general relates to facsimile communication over PSTN Networks. The invention relates to sending multiple facsimile data using store-and-forward method. This invention provides for a method for sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination over public switched telephone network. In the method the number of phases of transmission is reduced and there is substantial decrease in call establishment time as compared to the existing modes of facsimile transmission.
Full Text

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY
This invention in general relates to facsimile communicat Further, this invention relates to sending multiple facsimile data using store-and-forward method. More particularly, this invention relates to a method of sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination over public switched telephone network.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
The following references describe the current state of technology.
o ITU-T standard for document facsimile transmission in the Public Switched
Telephone Network (T.30). o US Patent Number - 5,877,868 - "Facsimile machine storing image data in
transmission buffer during memory transmission". o US Patent Number - 5,095,373 - "Facsimile machine having store and
forward mode".
T.30 facsimile protocol has five phases as shown in Figure 1 and described herein:
Phase A - Call establishment
Call establishment consists of establishing a connection between the calling and called terminals and exchanging the fax tones. It can be realized manually and/or automatically.
In manual operation at the calling terminal, the operator dials the number and hears the ringing tone. When the called terminal answers the call, the calling terminal operator hears the fax tone immediately or can have a verbal exchange depending on whether the called terminal answering is automatic or manual. The calling facsimile terminal is then switched to line which transmits the fax tone to the called terminal.

In manual operation at the called terminal, the operator answers the call when the ring is heard. Depending on whether the calling terminal call establishment is manual or automatic, the operator can have a verbal exchange or hears the calling fax tone. The operator then has to switch the facsimile terminal to line.
In automatic operation at the calling terminal, the terminal detects the dial tone and dials the desired number. When the called terminal answers the call, the calling terminal immediately transmits a fax calling tone.
In automatic operation at the called terminal, the terminal answers the call when there is an incoming ring and transmits the fax called tone immediately.
Phase B - Pre-message procedure
The pre-message procedure consists of the identification of capabilities and the commanding of the chosen conditions as well as confirmation of acceptable conditions.
Identification section
This consists of:
o Capabilities identification: The called terminal sends this information to the
calling terminal, e.g. bit rate, page length and width, data compression
format, scan time per line etc. o Confirmation for reception: The called terminal sends this message to the
calling terminal. o Terminal identification (option): e.g. telephone number, name of the
organization etc. o Non-standard facilities identification (option): e.g. for enhanced security.
Command section

This consists of: o Capabilities command for specifying the chosen (negotiated) capabilities
based on the identified capabilities. o Training which involves sending a series of Os, to give an indication of the
acceptability of the channel for the chosen data rate. o Synchronization of the calling and called terminal.

Phase C1 - In-message procedure and Phase C2 - Message transmission:
In these phases the data is transmitted to destination. Phase D - Post-message procedure
The post-message procedure includes information regarding:
o End-of-message signaling: To Indicate the end of a complete page of facsimile information and to return to the beginning of phase B.
o Multi-page signaling: This is sent by the calling terminal to indicate to the called terminal that a page of the document has been completely transmitted and to return to phase C for reception of the next page in the same document.
o end-of-facsimile procedure signaling: This is sent by the calling terminal to the called terminal to indicate that all the pages in the document have been completely transmitted and that no further documents are forthcoming and to proceed to phase E.
o Confirmation signaling: This is sent by the called terminal to confirm the receipt of the message in response to any of the above information sent by the calling terminal.
Phase E - Call release
The calling terminal transmits a disconnect signal to the called terminal for the release of the call. No response is expected.
In US patent 5,877,868, a facsimile machine which includes an image retrieval unit for retrieving image data from an image of a document; a retrieval buffer memory for temporarily storing the said image; an encoder for producing encoded data by encoding the said image data; a memory for storing the encoded data when the

encoded data is not immediately transmitted after being encoded by the encoder; a transmission buffer for temporarily storing the said encoded data before fax transmission and a buffer memory usage switching unit for switching use of the retrieval buffer memory and the transmission buffer so that the transmission buffer memory is used as a portion of the retrieval buffer memory when the encoder processes the image data for storage as encoded data in the memory is described.
In US patent 5,095,373, a facsimile machine which has a store and forward (SAF) mode with a reader for successively reading a plurality of document pages to be transmitted to different destinations in one read operation, a memory for storing such image data read by the reader, a first designating part for designating a plurality of destinations, a second designating part for arbitrarily designating document pages to be transmitted to each of the destinations which are designated by the first designating part, and a transmitting part for making a call out to the destinations one destination at a time and for successively transmitting to each destination the image data which are read out from the memory and are related to the document pages which are to be transmitted to each destination is described.
According to the first procedure above (T.30 facsimile protocol), if there are multiple successive facsimile data transfers to same destination, each and every data transfer has to go through all the phases. But the Phase E in first call is redundant as we are going to transfer more data to same destination and, Phase A and some part of Phase B (like resolution, supported encoding format, and training) and Phase E are not needed from second data transfer. And after the last call only we have to release the connection (Phase E). Following is the example with two successive data transfers from Source A to Destination B.
Here the step of establishing a call to the destination for data transfer, negotiating capabilities and transmitting data between the sender and the receiver, transferring the actual data, communicating the end of data, and releasing the call is done repeatedly.

(First Call) Phase A^ Phase B -^ Phase C -> Phase D -> Phase E; (Second Call) Phase A-> Phase B -+ Phase C -» Phase D -> Phase E;
Here Phase E in first call and, Phase A and part of Phase B in second call are redundant.
Further, in the current art, there is a huge delay in the call re-establishment process for each successive facsimile communication to the next destination.
Further, the patents referred to above explain how data can be transferred between two facsimile machines using store-and-forward method. They do not speak about optimal way of sending successive facsimile data to single destination.
In US patent 5,877,868, explains how the memory can be used efficiently in storing the scanned document in memory before transferring the same to destination, but if there are multiple documents to be transferred to the same destination, it follows the method explained above i.e. connecting, sending and disconnecting for each transfer.
In US patent 5,095,373, explains a method of sending same document to multiple destinations using Store-and-Forward method where scanned document is stored in memory before transferring the same to destination, but if the destination list has only one number and if there are many documents to be sent to same destination, for every transfer it disconnects and connects again to transfer next document which is expensive and redundant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of the invention is to invent a method of sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination over public switched telephone network.

It is a further object of this invention to overcome / eliminate the redundancies in multiple successive facsimile transfers to the same destination.
It is another object of the invention to achieve the above by informing the destination in Phase D of the transmission process about the next facsimile data transfer.
It is another object of the invention to invent a method of sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination wherein the number of phases of transmission is reduced and there is substantial decrease in call establishment time.
The present invention provides a method for sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination using store-and-forward method over public switched telephone network whereby the redundancies in multiple successive facsimile transfers to same destination can be eliminated by informing the destination in Phase D of the transmission process about the next facsimile data transfer.
The original T.30 facsimile protocol, which is used to transfer data between two facsimile machines, has five phases as explained above. Here each and every data transfer goes through all these phases even if all the data is sent to the same destination. If there are many data transfers to be sent to same destination, the Phase A in all transfers in all but first call, Phase E in all but last call, and some part of Phase B which negotiates parameters dependent on machine capabilities and line used to transfer the data in all but first call are redundant.
To eliminate all these redundancies this invention introduces a new signal (Multi Document Signal) which tells the destination that there is one more data transfer waiting for the same destination. On receiving this signal the destination and sender goes to modified Phase B, which negotiates only parameters dependent on the new data transfer. After all the data has been sent the sender informs the destination that there is no more data waiting for it by sending end-of-facsimile procedure signal

and releases the call. On receiving this signal the destination also goes to Phase E and releases the call.
With this significant delay in call establishment, call releasing and un-necessary negotiations are eliminated.
Accordingly, the present invention comprises a method of sending multiple successive facsimile data to a destination over public switched telephone network wherein a first data is transferred to the destination by establishing a call to the destination for data transfer after negotiating capabilities and transmitting data between the sender and the destination characterized in that at least one successive data is transmitted to the same destination after the destination is informed about the end of first data transmission and presence of a successive data where the call is released once all the successive transactions are over for the destination.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings and the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPAYNING DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates the five phases of the T.30 facsimile protocol of the prior art.
Figure 2 shows the flow of two successive facsimile transfers to same destination in single call. As shown in the diagram, in modified Phase D of first call, the source informs the destination about next data after which the flow jumps to modified Phase B.
Figure 3 shows a scenario where there are many fax machines in an organization and all the machines are sharing same PSTN connection to send data and are using a server to control the data transfer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail.
The present invention provides a method for sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination over public switched telephone network whereby the redundancies in successive facsimile transfers to same destination can be eliminated as explained below.
In order to eliminate the redundancies, the destination in Phase D of the current facsimile data transfer is informed about the next facsimile data transfer (like Multi page signal) as shown in Figure 2. Once the destination sends its confirmation, both source and destination will jump to new Phase B (subset of Phase B) and will continue with the new data transfer as shown in Fig 2. Whenever there is no facsimile waiting for the same destination, the source will inform the destination about end of data in Phase D of current transfer and goes to call disconnect phase.
Following is the example with three successive data transfers from Source A to Destination B.
(First Call) Phase A -» Phase B -» Phase C -» Modified Phase D (Second Call) Modified phase B -> Phase C -» Modified Phase D (Third Call) Modified Phase B -» Phase C -» Modified Phase D -> Phase E,

In the above example, Phase A and Phase E has been eliminated from Second call and redundancy in Phase B is removed from Second and Third calls.
As explained in related art and shown in Figure 1, the Phase B of T.30 protocol consists of two sections i. e. Identification section and Command section. The part of identification section like bit rate and scan time per line are redundant and in Command section training and synchronization are redundant if more than one data transfer is waiting for same destination as these parameters are dependent on the capability of the machine and line used rather than on the document transferred. In this case the negotiated parameters in the first call can be used in successive transfers. These redundancies can be eliminated in Modified Phase B and in this phase only document dependent parameters will be negotiated.
In Modified Phase D, a new signal (Multi Document Signal) is introduced which tells the destination that there is one more data transfer waiting for it. Then the caller and called destination will jump to modified phase B of T.30 protocol as shown in Figure 2. In the last call the calling terminal sends end-of-facsimile procedure signal which tells the destination of the end of data and both the sender and destination goes to Phase E of T.30 protocol.
With this invention the unnecessary call releases and call establishments and some part of pre-message procedure (Phase B) can be eliminated and thereby significant delays in call establishment are avoided.
Here are some scenarios which show advantages of the modified T.30 protocol:
Scenario 1:
Assume there is a Fax machine which supports store-and-forward method of data transfer. And assume that the all the data is transferred when the PSTN rates are low (usually night times). Say in the day time many people use the same machine to send the data to different destinations. There are chances that many people send

the data to same destination. If normal T.30 protocol is used in this situation, each and every data transfer has to go through all the phases of T.30 protocol. But actually the connection can be established once and the data can be sent one by one till all the data is transferred.
And finally, the connection can be released at the end of data transfer. It is accomplished using the modified Phase B and modified Phase D of T.30 protocol.
Scenario 2:
In this scenario let us assume that there are many fax machines in an organization and all the fax machines share the same PSTN connection to send data and use a server to control the data transfer as shown in Figure 3. Here, the server is used as store-and-forward point. There are chances that many data transfers to same destination from different fax machines are happening. In this case all the data transfers can be sent in a single connection thereby reducing communication costs.
It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a computer, rendering device or a multi function device.
Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom.



WE CLAIM
1. A method of sending multiple successive facsimile data to a destination over public switched telephone network wherein first data is transferred to the destination by establishing a call to the destination for data transfer after negotiating capabilities and transmitting data between the sender and the destination characterized in that at least once successive data is transmitted to the same destination after the destination is informed about the end of first data transmission and presence of successive data where the call is released once all the successive transactions are over for the destination.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the call is established once and the first data and the successive data are send one by one till the transfer of all the data meant for the same destination is delivered.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the destination is informed about the presence of a successive data by - multi document signaling.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein on receiving multi document signal the destination and sender operate in a modified phase, and thereby negotiate only parameters dependent on the successive data transfer.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein after all the successive data is transferred the sender informs the destination that there is no more data to be sent by sending an end-of-facsimile procedure signal and releases the call.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein on receiving end-of-facsimile procedure signal the destination releases the call.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said operation of negotiating

involves negotiating capabilities for the data transfer.
8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein transmitting data after negotiation involves transmitting training data and synchronization data.
9. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the data transfer supports store-and-forward data transfer.
10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the network can have a central
server in LAN and plurality of fax machines where the data from the said fax
machines are transferred through the said server.
11. A method of sending multiple successive facsimile data to same destination
over public switched telephone network such as herein described
particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings.


Documents:

1082-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1082-che-2004-claims duplicate.pdf

1082-che-2004-claims original.pdf

1082-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1082-che-2004-correspondnece-po.pdf

1082-che-2004-description complete duplicate.pdf

1082-che-2004-description complete original.pdf

1082-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1082-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1082-che-2004-form 13.pdf

1082-che-2004-form 26.pdf


Patent Number 207647
Indian Patent Application Number 1082/CHE/2004
PG Journal Number 27/2007
Publication Date 06-Jul-2007
Grant Date 19-Jun-2007
Date of Filing 15-Oct-2004
Name of Patentee M/S. SAMSUNG INDIA SOFTWARE OPERATIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
Applicant Address BAGMANE LAKEVIEW, BLOCK'B',NO.66/1, BAGMANE TECH PARK, C V RAMAN NAGAR, BYRASANDRA, BANGALORE-560093.
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 ANUMULA VENKATA NAGA SESHAIAH SAMSUNG INDIA SOFTWARE OPERATIONS PRIVATE LIMITED, BAGMANE LAKEVIEW, BLOCK'B',NO.66/1, BAGMANE TECH PARK, C V RAMAN NAGAR, BYRASANDRA, BANGALORE-560093.
PCT International Classification Number H 04 N 1/00
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 NA