HK1119804A

HK1119804A - Method and system for transferring digitized representations of documents via computer network transfer protocols

Info

Publication number: HK1119804A
Application number: HK08111862.4A
Authority: HK
Inventors: M．K．亨利; C．L．福特斯库; J．E．温诺克
Original assignee: 蒙哥耐特
Priority date: 2005-02-17
Filing date: 2006-02-17
Publication date: 2009-03-13

Description

Method and system for transmitting digital representation of document by computer network transmission protocol

Background

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for communicating a digitized representation of a document over a selected computer network transport protocol. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention provide: receiving a digitized image representing a document (including text, images, etc.) via a desired computer network transmission protocol, converting the digitized representation from a first file format to a second file format, and outputting the second file to an appropriate destination based on data derived from the digitized representation of the document.

In the past, facsimile images could be moved over the internet by converting facsimile signals having a facsimile format into an electronic mail format (e.g., RFC-822). Once the conversion is complete, the e-mail is delivered to the intended destination over the internet according to Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) or similar. The internet is a global communication network based on TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol). Various user-based services currently exist that allow users to send facsimile images over the internet.

According to one type of service provided or previously provided by companies such as eFax, Jfax, etc., a user is provided with a unique telephone number. Any document faxed to the number is converted to an email format and transmitted to the user's email inbox. One drawback of this type of service is that it requires users to have a particular telephone number associated with their email address. A second disadvantage is that the user must distribute the personal fax telephone number to anyone who may want to send a fax to the user. Finally, the operation of such services is expensive from the service provider's perspective because the costs associated with purchasing and operating so many individual dedicated telephone numbers are very high.

Another type of service previously provided by UUNET (now WorldCom) requires the user to attach additional hardware between the user's fax machine and the service's network. The purpose of this service is to reduce the cost of long distance faxing for a large number of users. The UUNET system converts the fax to the equivalent of an email, which is then routed through the network of the UUNET to the nearest UUFAX server. The UUFAX server converts the email back to fax format and transmits the fax to the fax machine at the destination using a local call. The disadvantage of this service is the time required to access the service and the early hardware addition and expenditure.

Other types of client hardware solutions include products from RightFAX and HP Scanners. A disadvantage of these solutions is that the user has to invest in expensive hardware.

It is therefore desirable to provide a method and system that can efficiently deliver digitized documents to a desired destination via an appropriate network protocol.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically transferring a digitized representation of a document to an electronic data destination via a specified computer network protocol. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention provide for optically receiving a digitized representation of a document (e.g., text, image, etc.). Various methods are contemplated, including receiving a facsimile transmission via a facsimile machine (e.g., standalone machine, computer); receiving digitized data from a scanner or multifunction copier/scanner; receiving digitized data from a digital camera (e.g., camera phone, PDA, digital camera, digital video camera); a "print to file" file or the like is received.

In various embodiments, the digitized data may be automatically converted from one data storage format to another storage format before being sent to the electronic data destination. For example, a fax transmission may be converted to a widely used file format such as. pdf,. GIFf,. doc,. txt, etc.; the scanned GIFf image may be converted into another graphic file format such as jpg,. bmp,. pdf,. gif, etc. In various embodiments, the electronic data destination of the digitized data may be a web server, an email server (email mailbox), a storage directory, a database, a storage network, an FTP location, a web server, a directory location, or the like. Additionally, in various embodiments, the data format may be a format suitable for subsequent retrieval by the receiver in a variety of ways, such as by an email client, by a Web browser, by a Web client, by a database management system, by a designated directory, and so forth. In certain embodiments of the present invention, various computer network protocols may be used to transfer data to a predetermined destination, such as HTTPS, FTP, HTTP, SMTP, WAP, and the like.

In the following discussion, certain embodiments relate to a fax template or cover, a fax machine, and a fax transmission. It should be understood that the fax template page is only one embodiment of a cover for a digitized representation of a document. In addition, other means for creating such digitized template sheets include: optical scanners, multifunction machines (e.g., copiers/scanners), digital cameras, computers, and the like. Additionally, other transmission methods besides fax-email transmission are contemplated, such as transmission using a computer network protocol, transmission using infrared or optical links, transmission using Bluetooth or other wireless links, and so forth.

Embodiments of the security document transformation architecture are designed for scalability, security, privacy, reliability, and compatibility. Various embodiments include a scalable architecture comprising:

1. an Alternate-Path telephone company Circuit (Alternate-Path Telco Circuit) is used to provide call failure recovery in the event of a fiber break. The MongoNet super trunk pair (super-trunk pair) of the T1 circuit guarantees diversity of carriers and physical loops to reduce the possibility of external service disconnection (i.e., excavator cutting of optical fiber).

2. Multiple data centers to co-locate our services with geographic diversity.

3. Clusters to bring high availability (MongoNet service) for embodiments of the invention. Various embodiments are used on a RedHat AS2.1 (advanced Server) with SAN backend.

4. A distributed, threaded, message-based architecture provides support for scalability, fault recovery, and fault tolerance of the montonet service.

5. Packages for reducing the time to produce new server machines and new versions of service software for existing machines.

Various embodiments of the present invention provide a high level of security by reducing exposure to security usage through the use of packet filtering, firewalls, and virtual local area networks coupled with tight ACLs and access processes. For any reason other than when initiating internal processes (i.e., outgoing e-mail), external or DMZ traffic is not allowed to enter the internal subnet. For sites that support the SMTP verb STARTTLS, embodiments are delivered through TLS. As an added layer of security, the various embodiments may be delivered to the customer's SMTP server, or mailed to the customer URL for further processing (for compliance, indexing, and/or archiving). In other embodiments, the secure e-mail compliant server may also be used as a reinforcement (bolt-on) option for further customization within the customer firewall.

The various embodiments provide a high level of security because the operations can be fully automated. In some embodiments, all documents are converted and routed through a character recognition system such as that described in the parent application. Various embodiments of the present invention customer customers will not store any intermediate files unless instructed to do so by the customer as a custom account option. Under normal configuration, all content files are deleted immediately after the transmission sent from the various embodiments is sent.

Various embodiments are intended to include a "compliance" or "gatekeeper" feature that allows customers to view and approve all faxes or transmissions before they are sent. Various security embodiments send a link (minus PDF attachments) to a fax recipient or the like for secure login to receive a PDF. These solutions may be used together and provided entirely in various embodiments. In other embodiments, the customer may choose to install the secure e-mail compliant server as a reinforcement within the customer's firewall. Various security and compliance embodiments provide the highest level of security that may be available to the customer, thereby eliminating content delivered by email.

Various embodiments of the present invention may maintain multiple instances of all services. Each request message presented to a service must conform to internal criteria and can be presented to an instance of any particular service. The message router response check ensures that the response is meaningful for the presented message. The various embodiments may be stateless, not belonging to any country. Various embodiments use an Oracle database in an HA (high availability) configuration.

Various embodiments use template methods for email build or other delivery tool build, providing a high degree of compatibility with client systems. If the website has special restrictions (i.e., no HTML mail), the embodiment may be configured to meet the customer's needs. In certain embodiments, Adobe ® universal PDF format, available for free at www.adobe.com, may be used.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method for a computer system is described. A technique includes receiving a facsimile transmission from a user, where the facsimile transmission includes sending a digitized representation of a document using a facsimile transmission format, processing the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination email address, and reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an email attachment format. Other techniques include processing at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more keywords, providing the one or more keywords to an advertisement server, and receiving advertisement data from the advertisement server. Other methods may include forming an email message addressed to a destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion includes that portion of a digitized representation of a document in an email attachment format.

According to another aspect of the invention, a computer system is described. An apparatus includes a memory configured to store a facsimile transmission from a user, where the facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a document sent using a facsimile transmission format. Another apparatus includes a processor coupled with a memory, wherein the processor is configured to process a digitized representation of a document to determine at least one destination email address, wherein the processor is configured to reformat a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an email attachment format, wherein the processor is configured to determine advertisement data associated with a facsimile transmission, and wherein the processor is configured to form an email message addressed to the destination email address. In various embodiments, the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes the advertising data, and wherein the attachment portion includes that portion of the digitized representation of the document in the email attachment format. In other embodiments, the processor is configured to process at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more keywords. In further embodiments, the processor is configured to provide the one or more keywords to an advertisement server.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer program product of a computer system including a processor is described. A computer program product comprising: instructing the processor to receive a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a document sent using a facsimile transmission format; instructing a processor to process the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination email address; and computer executable code that instructs the processor to format at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an email attachment format. Another computer program product includes: the computer-readable medium includes code for instructing a processor to process at least a portion of a digitized representation of a document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more keywords, code for instructing the processor to provide the one or more keywords to an advertisement server, and code for instructing the processor to receive advertisement data from the advertisement server. Yet another computer product comprises: the processor is instructed to form an email message addressed to the destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes the advertising data, wherein the attachment portion includes that portion of the digitized representation of the document in an email attachment format. In various embodiments, tangible media may store computer executable code, the media comprising: magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, network storage devices, and removable hard disks; optical storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD, high-capacity DVD, holographic memory, and bar code; semiconductor memories such as flash memories, Read Only Memories (ROMs), and battery-backed volatile memories, etc.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for a computer system is disclosed. One technique includes: receiving a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission comprises issuing a digitized representation of a first document using a facsimile transmission format, processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination email address, wherein the first destination email address is not known a priori by a computer system, and receiving a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission comprises issuing a digitized representation of a second document using the facsimile transmission format. A process may include: processing the digitized representation of the second document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination email address, combining at least a portion of the digitized representation of the second document and at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document into an email attachment in an email attachment format, and forming an email message addressed to the destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion includes an email attachment.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer program product of a computer system including a processor is described. A computer program product comprising: executable code that instructs a processor to receive a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission comprises issuing a digitized representation of a first document using a facsimile transmission format; code that directs a processor to perform an optical recognition process on the digitized representation of the first document to determine a first destination email address, wherein the first destination email address need not be known to the computer system; and code that instructs the processor to receive a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a second document sent using the facsimile transmission format. Other computer program products include: the processor is instructed to perform an optical recognition process on the digitized representation of the second document to instruct the second facsimile transmission to execute executable code associated with the first facsimile transmission, to combine the digitized representation of the first document and the digitized representation of the second document into a combined representation, and to form an email message addressed to the destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion includes the combined representation. In various embodiments, tangible media may store computer executable code, the media comprising: magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, network storage devices, and removable hard disks; optical storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD, high-capacity DVD, holographic memory, and bar code; semiconductor memories such as flash memories, Read Only Memories (ROMs), and battery-backed volatile memories, etc.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer system is described. An apparatus includes a memory configured to store a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document issued using a facsimile transmission format, wherein the memory is further configured to store at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document in an email attachment format, and wherein the memory is further configured to store a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission includes a digitized representation of a second document issued using the facsimile transmission format. Another apparatus includes a processor coupled with a memory, wherein the processor is configured to process a digitized representation of a first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination email address, wherein the processor is configured to process a digitized representation of a second document with an optical character recognition process to determine that a second fax transmission is related to the first fax transmission, wherein the processor is configured to combine at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document and at least a portion of the digitized representation of the second document into a combined digitized representation, and wherein the processor is configured to generate an email message addressed to the destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes advertisement data, and wherein the attachment portion includes the combined digitized representation.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for a computer system is described. One technique includes: receiving a first transmission from a user, wherein the first transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document sent using a first transmission format; processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first electronic destination, wherein the computer system need not know the first electronic destination prior to receiving the first transmission; and processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a file name of the portion of the digitized representation of the first document that is in the stored format. Other processes include: reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document from the first transmission format into a storage format, and issuing an electronic transmission to a first electronic destination, wherein the electronic transmission includes the portion of the storage format in the digitized representation of the first document.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer system is disclosed. An apparatus includes a memory configured to store a first transmission from a user, where the first transmission includes a digitized representation of a first document issued using a first transmission format. The device may include a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to receive the first transmission from the user, wherein the processor is configured to determine the electronic destination in response to an optical character recognition process of the digitized representation of the first document, wherein the electronic destination does not need to be known to the computer system prior to storing the first transmission in the memory, wherein the processor is configured to form a first stored document by reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document from a first transmission format into a storage format, wherein the processor is configured to determine the advertising data in response to the first transmission; wherein the processor is further configured to process the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a filename of the first stored document, and wherein the processor is configured to issue an electronic transmission to the first electronic destination, wherein the electronic transmission comprises the first stored document.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer program product for a computer system including a processor is described. A computer program product comprising: executable code that instructs a processor to receive a first electronic transmission from a user, wherein the first electronic transmission comprises a digitized representation of a visual document emitted using a transmission format; code that directs a processor to process the digitized representation of the visual document with an optical character recognition process to determine an electronic destination, wherein the electronic destination need not be known to the computer system prior to receiving the first electronic transmission; and code that instructs the processor to format at least a portion of the digitized representation of the visual document into a stored format. Other computer program products include: code that directs a processor to process the digitized representation of the visual document with an optical character recognition process to determine a file name associated with the portion of the stored format in the digitized representation of the visual document; and code that instructs the processor to issue a second electronic transmission to the electronic destination, wherein the second electronic transmission includes the portion of the stored format in the digitized representation of the visual document. In various embodiments, tangible media may store computer executable code, the media comprising: magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, network storage devices, and removable hard disks; optical storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD, high-capacity DVD, holographic memory, and bar code; semiconductor memories such as flash memories, Read Only Memories (ROMs), and battery-backed volatile memories, etc.

Other features and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention will be recognized with reference to the remaining portions of the specification, including the drawings and claims. Further features and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

Brief description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a hardware configuration of a point of presence (POP) providing a fax/email interface according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a diagram of a process for obtaining an email cover page, according to an example embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3B is a diagram of a process by which a user interacts with the system of the present invention to send e-mail from a fax machine, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is an exemplary illustration of an email cover received from the POP of fig. 2;

fig. 5 is a simplified block diagram illustrating the software architecture of the POP of fig. 2;

fig. 6A is an exemplary illustration of a fax-email confirmation page received from the POP of fig. 2;

fig. 6B is another exemplary illustration of a fax-email confirmation page received from the POP of fig. 2;

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a Network Operations Center (NOC);

FIG. 8A is a diagram of a process by which a user interacts with the system of the present invention to send a fax from an email, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8B is an illustration of a reply process in which the recipient of the fax delivered in the process according to FIG. 8A replies to the fax using a return fax page;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary operation of a security mechanism for preventing unauthorized access to electronic mail in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram illustrating one exemplary application in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an example of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an example of yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a possible data flow in accordance with various embodiments of the invention; and

fig. 14 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an overview of a network architecture in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention in the form of one or more exemplary embodiments will now be described. Fig. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a fax/email communication system 5 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The system 5 includes a Network Operations Center (NOC)8 selectively coupled to both a Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) and the internet, and a plurality of access points (POPs) 10 selectively coupled to a NOC8 via the POTS and the internet. The "internet" refers herein to the world wide web in a network based on the TCP/IP protocol, and all access means thereto (e.g., a local area network having an email system and coupled to the internet) (TCP/IP stands for "transmission control protocol/internet protocol" and is the language that governs communications between all computers on the internet).

As will be described in greater detail below, the system 5 allows a user to send and receive e-mail from any of the individual fax machines 2 and fax from a fax machine or email sender without having to assign a unique predefined fax number to the fax machine or email sender. Here, it should be emphasized that the fax machine 2 as shown in fig. 1 is only one possible example. In other words, fax machines used in the context of various embodiments of the present invention may also include any fax protocol compliant communication device or any other scanning device. Likewise, computer workstation 4 of FIG. 1 is but one possible example. In other words, any device capable of sending e-mail may be used in place of computer workstation 4.

POP10 is distributed over a wide geographic area, e.g., the united states or worldwide. An exemplary embodiment of POP10 is shown in fig. 2. POP10 includes: one or more fax-modem libraries 20; one or more fax servers 22; an advertisement and statistics (ad/statistics) server 24; an email server 26; an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit 28; an Ethernet switch 30; an IP router 32; and a T-1 Channel Service Unit (CSU) 34. It should be emphasized that the embodiment of POP10 in fig. 2 is merely exemplary. For example, other configurations are possible within the spirit and scope of various embodiments of the present invention, including but not limited to using a higher capacity internet access line (e.g., T-3), providing multiple email servers for handoff, etc. Fig. 1 and 2 will be further detailed in the context of the description presented below.

Referring now to fig. 3A, therein is shown an illustration of how a user obtains an "email cover" from the fax server 22, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. At step 40, the user dials a particular toll-free fax reply number (e.g., 1-800) from any fax machine or telephone. It should be understood that this fax reply number is not limited to a toll-free telephone number; any other type of telephone number may also be included. This fax reply number is routed by the telephone network to POP10 via POTS based on the geographic location of the user. As shown in fig. 2, the fax-modem bank 20 of POP10 receives faxes over a B-1 line, for example, comprising a 24-wire telephone bundle. The POP10 then sends a blank "email cover" back to the user with further instructions on how to send the email from the user's fax machine at step 42.

The e-mail cover looks like a normal fax cover, but it contains a line of blank character boxes and a local telephone number that the user can use to send a fax without incurring any charges. The local telephone number is generated by a table-driven translation process through automatic number identification, which can be detected from outgoing 1-800 numbers. In an alternative embodiment, each POP10 of system 5 may be accessed using a single toll-free number. An exemplary email cover is shown in fig. 4. In one embodiment, the character boxes 61 have "small ten characters" (tick marks) 63 on the edge of each character box 61. The small cross 63 has the effect of forcing the user to enter a character in the character box 61 away from the edge of the character box. Entering characters away from the edges of the character frame is beneficial because later in the process, the characters can be identified more accurately when performing character recognition.

In one exemplary embodiment, the email cover, or more generally, the cover, also includes a list of special features or options that may be selected by the user. For example, one of the special features or options may be an archiving option. If the user selects this option, an archived copy of the fax or transmission is automatically generated and archived at the storage location. The storage locations may vary according to design choice. For example, the storage location may be the sender's own computer system. Some other special features or options may be document format options. For example, a document to be faxed or sent may be sent as text only within an email, or as a Word attachment to an email (after using OCR techniques on the document), or as a PDF formatted attachment to an email (with or without selectable text). Other types of special features or options will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art based on the disclosure provided herein. Further details will be given below.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the cover may be miniaturized to the size of a small Post, such as Post-it. The user can still fill in the necessary information on this miniaturized email cover. Once completed, this miniaturized email cover can be attached to the first page of the document for facsimile transmission. Subsequent character recognition can be adjusted to improve the sensitivity of locating and identifying miniaturized email covers on the top page of the document. Due to the reduced size of the miniaturized email cover pages, special markings or symbols, such as unique bar codes, may be included to facilitate enabling email addresses to more easily locate and identify the character recognition that needs to be performed within the miniaturized email cover. The miniaturized email cover may be sold as a peelable pad. When a document is to be faxed to an email address, the user simply fills in the necessary information on the miniaturized email cover, removes the completed miniaturized email cover and attaches it to the first page of the document.

In another alternative exemplary embodiment, the user is provided with an electronic version of the email cover page in the form of an electronic file by email or downloaded from a website. In this exemplary embodiment, the electronic file is implemented using the PDF format. When implemented in this manner, the electronic file may be activated to generate an email cover page on the computer. The email cover page is then displayed to the user. The user may then enter the desired information directly onto the email cover using an input device such as a keyboard. The information entered in this manner is more reliable, thereby minimizing errors that may occur when performing subsequent character recognition. The completed email cover page may then be printed out and faxed with the desired document.

Additionally, when an email cover page is used to capture the necessary information, some of the captured information (e.g., the email address) may be regenerated on another portion of the email cover page. For example, the email address may be reprinted on another portion of the email cover page, or the email address may be encoded in a bar code format or other machine readable format and then printed as part of the email cover page. This provides redundancy and further improves the accuracy of the character recognition that needs to be performed subsequently.

Optionally, some information on the email cover page may be rendered unreadable to the recipient of the email. For example, a fax number used by a sender may be printed in a grayscale pattern, such as an anilox pattern, in which the sender can see the fax number with the eye before faxing an email cover. However, after the fax, the fax number and the pattern cannot be distinguished from each other due to the limitation of the fax scanning technique, so that the fax number appears to be unusable by the receiving side.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, therein is shown an illustration of how a user interacts with the system 5 of various embodiments of the present invention to send e-mail from a fax machine 2, according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. At step 44, the user fills in the letter box with the normal handwriting for the destination email address (e.g., john doe @ genetic. Alternatively, the email address is printed in a machine-readable format. In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the email cover page includes a "premium feature page" that can be downloaded to the user's fax or email address. This advanced features page may also be generated at the user's computer. The advanced features page allows the user to select one or more options or services provided by the system 5, such as creating a mass-sending list.

System 5 may maintain one or more mass-sending lists for particular users. For example, one or more mass texting lists may be associated or linked with a particular sender email address. The email addresses within the mass-sending list may be stored by the system 5. When filling out the email envelope, the user need only provide an alias or other identifying information for the particular mass-texting list. The system 5 can retrieve the sender's email address and the alias for the particular mass-sending list from the completed email cover page. The system 5 then looks up the mass-send list associated with the sender's email address and determines whether the alias is associated with one of the mass-send lists linked to the sender's email address. If so, a fax is sent to all email addresses in the mass textlist.

At step 46, the user faxes to the telephone number associated with the selected POP10, where the fax is received by the fax-modem bank 20 on the fax server 22. The fax-modem bank 20 includes an incoming fax spool 60 (not shown in the drawings) that converts faxes into an image file format, which may be, for example, the standard G3 TIFF format, and then stores the imaged faxes in a spool area on the local disk drive. The imaged email cover is then sent to one of the fax servers 22 of POP10 for further processing.

In addition to the fax spooler 60, and as shown in FIG. 5, the software architecture 70 of each fax server 22 includes: a home page (i.e., cover) character recognition module 62, a fax-to-email gateway 64, an email-to-fax gateway 66, and an outgoing fax spool 68.

At step 48, the top character recognition module 62 is operable to extract the imaged email address from the imaged email cover page. Preferably, the home character recognition module 62 does this by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Optionally, the imaged email cover may be cleaned or filtered numerous times as deemed appropriate to remove any unwanted markings or patterns before invoking top page character recognition module 62 to perform its function. Additionally, as described above, the imaged email cover page may include redundant information related to the imaged email address. The top page character recognition module 62 may be adapted to cross-check the redundant information to ensure that the imaged e-mail address is accurate.

At step 50, the electronic image of the fax is packaged and formatted into a MIME compliant email message by the fax-to-email gateway 64. "MIME" stands for multipurpose internet mail extension protocol and refers to an official internet standard for specifying how email messages must be formatted so that they can be exchanged between different email systems. The electronic image of the fax is then sent to the email server 26 as an attachment to the email. In an alternative exemplary embodiment, certain information is removed from the electronic image of the fax before it is sent to the email server 26. For example, a particular fax number used by a sender may be removed or otherwise rendered unreadable by a recipient of an email.

When the email server 26 receives the facsimile image, the email server 26 delivers the status of the email to the advertisement and statistics server (advertisement/statistics server) 24. As shown in FIG. 5, the software architecture 71 of the ad/ads server 24 includes: a confirmation and instruction page writer 72, a banner page writer 74, and a PostScript presentation engine 76. The confirmation and instruction page composer 72 receives the delivery status of the email from the email server 26, and then generates a delivery or non-delivery notification and a user instruction page in PostScript format.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the email server 26 and/or the ad/stat server 24 may include a real-time billing engine (not shown). The real-time billing engine is used to track individual user usage and generate appropriate billing information accordingly. Usage can be tracked in a number of different ways. For example, usage is tracked by the number of minutes used for a particular fax number. In this regard, a user, such as a company, may be assigned one or more specific fax numbers for use by their employees. The use of each particular fax number can be monitored by a real-time accounting engine. Billing information can be calculated on a real-time basis and made available to authorized users via a site on the internet. In addition, billing information for each facsimile sent can also be included in the confirmation and instruction pages as described below.

At step 52, the confirmation and instruction page composer 72 generates a confirmation and instruction page, and at step 54, the advertisement is retrieved from the advertisement/statistics server 24 and incorporated into the confirmation and instruction page. In addition, at step 56, the confirmation and instruction page composer 72 retrieves the advertisement from the advertisement/statistics server 24, which is incorporated into the email in a banner format. In various embodiments, the advertisements incorporated into the confirmation and instruction pages specifically target the user's geographic location, target the user based on the user profile, and target the user based on the relevance of the sent messages. In some embodiments, the system 5 determines the geographic location of the user from the prefix code and/or area code of the user's fax number and then targets advertisements based on demographic characteristics (e.g., average revenue rating) of the area proximate the user. In an alternative embodiment, the email address confirmation page includes an e-commerce aspect in which the user is provided with a "checkbox" on the confirmation and instruction page that the user can select to indicate further interest in a particular advertising offer. One exemplary embodiment of the confirm and specify page is shown in FIG. 6A. Optionally, the confirmation and instruction pages may also include a thumbnail view of one or more fax pages, as shown in FIG. 6B.

In another alternative embodiment, a pay (e.g., 1-900) number is provided to the user at the beginning of the process, i.e., instead of step 10 in FIG. 3A, as a pay-per-use service. In such paid embodiments, the advertisement may not be delivered to the sender, recipient, or other party. In other embodiments, a toll free number (e.g., 1-800) may be provided to the user at the beginning of the process as part of an advertisement funded service, where faxes, email messages, email attachments, and the like include advertisements. One such example is shown in fig. 6 above. Other examples of embodiments of sponsored advertising will be given below.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, when the email server 26 receives a fax image, the email server 26 contacts the advertisement/statistics server 24 to retrieve preferences that may be associated with emails generated for that fax image. Preferences may be in a particular format, sales information, graphics, etc. and may be sender-oriented or recipient-oriented. Information from the e-mail cover page, such as account numbers, e-mail addresses of the respective sender and recipient, fax numbers or other unique indicia or symbols used by the sender, etc., may be used to determine preferences to be incorporated into the e-mail. For example, if a fax is received from a sender using a particular fax number, an electronic mail generated from the fax may include information about the sender. If a particular fax number is specific to a particular company, company specific sales information and graphics can be incorporated into the email to provide a branded or standard look and feel.

In another alternative exemplary embodiment, the acknowledgement and instruction page may include dynamic content provided based on the sender's history and/or past actions or behaviors. The ad/stat server 24 may track the sender's history and/or past actions or behaviors. For example, the ad/stat server 24 may track the number of times a fax was sent by a particular sender that was not available due to poor or erroneous recipient email addresses. The ad/stat server 24 may even track the types of problems that caused past failures, such as the concatenation of the letters "v" and "u" of the sender making a fax impossible. The ad/stat server 24 then provides the appropriate information to be included in the confirmation and instruction page to the email server 26 based on the sender's history and/or past actions or behaviors. Such information may include, for example, skills or helpful tips to avoid problematic writing.

After the confirmation and designation page is composed, it is rasterized (rasterize) by the PostScript rendering engine 76 into a fax-encoded bitmap image and then sent to the fax server 22, where the outgoing fax spool 68 is used to store the rasterized confirmation and instruction page on a local disk drive for later delivery. Because bitmap image rendering is a computationally intensive process, custom load distribution software for distributing the rasterization process among multiple fax server 22 machines may be used as an alternative embodiment.

In yet another alternative exemplary embodiment, the email also includes a link that allows the recipient to use the services provided by the system 5 on a trial basis for promotional or marketing purposes. The recipient/trial user may click on the link and be directed to the website. The website may display a trial offer to the trial user and prompt the trial user to enter his/her e-mail address to receive the trial offer. Assuming the trial user decides to accept the trial offer and enters his/her email address, the electronic version of the email cover page is forwarded to the provided email address. This e-mail cover includes a specific fax number that is valid only for trial purposes. For example, this particular fax number may only be used for a limited number of fax transmissions. When the trial user uses the service provided by the system 5, the e-mail sent by the trial user also includes the above-described link that allows the recipient to attempt the service.

At step 58, the email (with the advertisement) is sent to the intended recipient over the Internet, for example using SMTP protocol, and sent as an attachment (e.g., a GIF file) in a standard format that is viewable on most platforms.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the link to the email is sent to the intended recipient over the internet. The link is dynamically created for each email. More specifically, the address of the link is randomly generated for the email on an ad hoc basis. This is to prevent unauthorized access of the e-mail. The intended recipient may then click on the link to retrieve and view the email.

Optionally, when the intended recipient clicks on the link and views the email, a receipt is generated and forwarded to the sender to confirm that the intended recipient has received the email.

Optionally, when the link is used to access the email over the internet, a security mechanism is provided that allows authorized access to the email only to the intended recipient. Fig. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operation of the security mechanism. As shown in fig. 9, when the user receives a link, s/he clicks on the link at 90 to request access to an email or fax. By clicking on this link, the user is actually in contact with the security manager 92 which controls access to the email. If security manager 92 determines that the user is an authorized recipient, access to the email is granted, and then at 94, security manager 92 may send the email to the user. One way to determine that the user is an authorized recipient is for security manager 92 to first verify that the user has logged into security manager 92. If the user has logged into security manager 92, certain credentials associated with the user are available. These credentials may include, for example, a session ID associated with the user's email address. The security manager 92 then checks the email address of the user retrieved based on the credentials against the email address of the intended recipient of the email. If the two email addresses match, the user is an authorized recipient of the requested email.

On the other hand, if the two email addresses do not match, the user is effectively logged in but not an authorized recipient of the requested email. The security manager 92 then calls 96 an error handler routine 98. At 100, the error handler routine 98 notifies the user that access to the requested email is denied because the user is not an authorized recipient. Optionally, at 102, the error handler routine 98 records the rejected request for archival and/or security purposes.

If the user is not logged into security manager 92, security manager 92 prompts the user to log in at 104. To log in, the user submits her/his email address and password at 106. The password is given when the user registers with the security manager 92. If the user's email address and the provided password match those maintained by security manager 92, then at 108, the user is considered logged in and credentials, such as a session ID, are forwarded to the user. Once the user possesses the credentials, the process described above is repeated to determine whether the user is an authorized recipient.

If the user is not registered with the security manager 92, i.e., the user does not have a password associated with her/his email address, the user is prompted to register with the security manager 92. To register with security manager 92, the user provides her/his email address at 110. Upon receiving the email address, security manager 92 generates a password linked to the email address and forwards the password to the user at 112. Security manager 92 also creates an account for the user for future reference.

Finally, at step 59, a confirmation and instruction page, possibly in combination with an advertisement as described above, is sent to the user for confirmation purposes. For example, the confirmation and instruction page may be sent to the user over POTS in the form of a confirmation fax confirming whether the sender's fax number is available; similarly, the confirmation and instruction page may also be sent to the user as a confirmation email or as part thereof.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the confirmation and instruction page may also be sent to other email addresses. For example, if the transmitted fax relates to a company business, a confirmed copy of the email generated from the fax may be forwarded to the company's archiving or storage facility for storage or archiving purposes. In one example, a user may specify an archiving or storage facility by specification of a particular account in one field. For example, one transmission may include a CC field entry of "03111995 @ webpost. In this example, "03111995" represents an account number, and "webpost. Additionally, in this example, the CC and/or BCC field entries include "mol report. In this example, the send attachment is stored with the name of "moldreport. pdf" for storage at "webpost. com" in account "03111995". A custom field for an illustration of such data is disclosed in fig. 11. Numerous other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure.

At this point, it should be emphasized that although the software modules of the software architecture of FIG. 5 are shown distributed across multiple servers, those skilled in the art will appreciate that all of the software modules may reside on a single server or on other servers than those shown in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, a user may interact with the system of various embodiments of the present invention to send a fax from any standalone fax machine to any other standalone fax machine. To this end, the user obtains a "fax number page" similar to obtaining an "email cover" described above in connection with steps 40 and 42, for example. The user then enters the fax number for the intended fax recipient, for example, in a handwritten format or a printed machine-readable format, and then faxes the selected POP 10's city number as described in steps 44 and 46 above (or, alternatively, a pay-per-use number as also described above). When a fax is received by the selected POP10, then the fax number is extracted and an electronic image of the fax is formatted by the fax-to-email gateway 64 into a MIME compliant email message similar to steps 48 and 50 above. The email server 26 then sends the MIME image to an email-fax gateway 66, which may reside on a different POP10, where the email-fax gateway 66 converts the MIME image to a text formatted file (e.g., PostScript). The PostScript rendering engine 96 is then used to rasterize the text formatted file into a fax encoded bitmap image. And finally, the outgoing fax spool 68 receives the fax-encoded bitmap image and sends it to the intended fax recipient.

In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the web page can be downloaded by facsimile. In this embodiment, the user is provided with an "email cover" as described above. This e-mail cover provides a letter box for entering the desired web address (which may be entered, for example, in normal handwriting or printed in machine-readable format), and some indicator that the user may use to request multiple pages from the web address that the user wants to download. For example, one indicator on the cover may be a series of bubble boxes located at predetermined locations on the cover.

Referring now to fig. 7, a Network Operations Center (NOC)8 is shown in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. NOC8 functions as a system headquarters and is configured to communicate with all of the POPs 10 shown and described with reference to fig. 1. NOC8 includes: an internet access router and firewall component (IP router) 82 coupled between the internet through, for example, a T1 tunnel service unit (CSU)84 and an ethernet switch 86 (at a data rate of, for example, 100 Mbps); a private branch exchange (PBX)90 coupled to the telephone network via, for example, B-1 lines; an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit 92 coupled to the PBX90, and a computer-telephone integration (CTI) server 94 coupled between the IVR unit 92 and the ethernet switch 86. Also coupled to the ethernet switch 86 is a NOC statistics server 96; NOC advertisement statistics server 98; a NOC workstation 100; and a management/development workstation 102.

In various embodiments, computer code is stored and executed within the tangible memory of NOC8 to implement the functions described herein. In addition, the tangible memory may be used to store facsimile transmissions, format converters, status data, optical character engines, advertising engines, operating systems, and other types of data described in this patent application. In various embodiments, tangible media may include magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard drives, network storage devices, and removable hard disks; optical storage media such as CD-ROM, DVD, holographic memory, and bar codes; semiconductor memories such as flash memories, Read Only Memories (ROMs), and battery-backed volatile memories, etc.

The NOC ad statistics server 98 stores and makes available to advertisers statistics relating to the advertiser's ads, such as the number of times the ads were sent, the number of positive responses to the ads by the viewer, qualitative metrics of the party to whom the ads were sent, and the like.

The NOC management/development workstation acts as a help platform for those users logged into the web server 88 and also allows system providers to develop, for example, to increase the functionality of the website provided by the web server 88.

The IVR unit 92 allows the user to dial into the NOC via the PBX90 using the same 1-800 toll free access number used above to initiate the fax-email process. The IVR92 provides voice prompts to the user, to which the user can respond using a telephone keypad. The prompt may relate to, for example, a user instruction, or may allow the user to download information from the internet, such as stock quotes, weather forecasts, travel information, and the like.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a user may log into a Web server from, for example, computer workstation 4 (see FIG. 1) and then send a fax from an e-mail to any of the individual fax machines. An exemplary process for accomplishing this is shown in FIG. 8A.

At step 110, after the user logs into the web server 88 (see FIG. 7), the user sends an email to the web server 88. Then, at step 112, web server 88 captures and stores the user's email address and the fax number to which the user wants to send a fax. This information is relayed over the internet to the email server 26 of the (preferably) closest POP10 associated with the fax number. As shown in fig. 5, each email server 26 includes a mail transfer agent 39 that accepts emails from NOC 8. The email-fax gateway 66 is then used to convert the email message into PostScript text.

The banner page composer 74 generates a return fax page at step 114 and retrieves the advertisement from the advertisement/statistics server 24 and incorporates the advertisement into the return fax page at step 116. Preferably, the advertisement is specifically targeted to the location of the facsimile recipient. The system 5 determines the location of the facsimile recipient by comparing the prefix code and/or area code of the recipient's facsimile number with the prefix code and/or area code stored in the advertisement/statistics server 24. Once the proximity is identified, the advertisement is targeted based on demographic characteristics (e.g., average revenue ratings) of the recipient's proximity. In an alternative embodiment, the return fax page includes an e-commerce aspect in which the fax recipient is provided with a "check box" on the return fax page that the user can select to indicate further interest in a particular advertising offer.

After the return fax page has been composed, it is rasterized with the converted fax image by the PostScript rendering engine 76 into a fax-encoded bitmap image, which is then sent to the fax modem bank 20 of POP10, where the outgoing fax spool 68 is used to store the rasterized fax and return fax pages on a local disk drive for later delivery.

At step 118, the fax and return fax pages are sent to the fax recipient via POTS.

Referring now to fig. 8B, upon receiving the fax and the return fax page at step 120, the fax recipient uses the return fax page to reply to the fax and sends the reply fax at step 122.

The banner page composer 74 of the advertisement/statistics server 24 is operable at step 124 to generate a confirmation page including the second advertisement which is then sent back to the user of the returned fax page at step 126. Steps 124 and 126 substantially follow steps 54 and 59 of the fax-email process with reference to fig. 3B.

The advertising sponsoring aspect of the systems and methods of various embodiments of the present invention also allows a user to send a fax from any individual fax machine to any other individual fax machine at no charge, thereby avoiding the long distance telephone charges that are typically charged for any long distance fax transmission. To accomplish this, the user simply dials the toll free (1-800) access number to obtain the local number of POP10 as described above. The local POP10 then responds by faxing a local number back to the user. Steps 44 through 48 are then performed as described in conjunction with fig. 3B, followed by steps 110 through 118 as previously described in conjunction with fig. 8A. The only difference from the above process is the letter box providing the fax address on the cover sheet, and the OCR capability for extracting the fax address.

In another alternative embodiment of the present invention, NOC8 includes a local database (not shown in fig. 7) configured to store a frequent user's email address book. The user can log into the web server 88, upload the address book and associate nicknames or real names with each email address (e.g., "John Doe" with john _ doe @ genetic. com). In this way, the user can then send an email from any individual fax machine simply by filling in the letter box of the email cover (as described previously with respect to FIG. 3B) with the nickname or real name of the intended recipient.

Finally, in another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertiser is provided with a "dynamic print ads" service whereby the advertiser can log onto the web server 88 of the NOC8, open an account, create advertisements and customize them based on specified demographic information.

The various embodiments of the present invention as described above may be used in many different applications. FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an exemplary application in accordance with the present invention. As shown in fig. 10, the user 200 faxes a document using the system 5 as described above. The faxed document is received by the server 202 and placed in a processing queue to await processing. When the faxed document is processed, an email generated based on the faxed document is forwarded to compliance/authorization officer 204. The email may be delivered to compliance/authorization officer 204 in a number of different ways; but preferably the email is delivered through a secure website or virtual private network. In this particular application, compliance/authorization officer 204 examines the email to determine if it is allowed to be sent to its intended recipient. After the email has been checked, compliance/authorization officer 204 relays its permit/decline back to server 202 for further action. If permission is given, the server 202 forwards the email to the intended recipient. Optionally, a confirmation of delivery may be forwarded to user 200. On the other hand, if a rejection is given, the server 202 prevents the email from being sent to the intended recipient and notifies the user of the action taken. Based on the disclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize other methods and/or ways to employ the various embodiments of the present invention.

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, the system 5 is capable of processing inputs having different types of electronic formats. For example, instead of the user sending a document through a fax machine, the user may choose to first use the scanner to scan the document into a scanned image. The scanned image of the document is then forwarded to the fax server 22. Depending on the scanning technique used to generate the scanned image, fax server 22 converts the scanned image accordingly for processing as described above. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, one of ordinary skill in the art will be able to implement various embodiments of the present invention to process inputs having different types of electronic formats.

As described above, various embodiments allow a user to send a fax or other electronic communication from a standalone fax machine, scanner, or the like. The facsimile or other electronic communication is routed to the appropriate destination based on the data graphically included on the facsimile or other electronic communication. For example, the communication may be routed to an email inbox.

Novel template cover

Fig. 11 shows an example of a novel template sheet (cover) that may optionally be digitized by a fax machine. In various embodiments, the fax template page is from Adobe Reader^TMPdf document type open. In various embodiments, the fax template page includes a "fill-in" capability that may allow a user to type information into the page. As will be explained in depth below, a user can input various data within the template page and can make multiple function selections for transmission purposes.

In other embodiments of the present invention, template pages may be obtained from other sources. In one example, the template page may be retrieved in response to a web-based form transmission in which a user enters data on a web form, as described above. In this example, when the user is finished typing in data, the web server provides or electronically saves to the user a digitized representation of the filled-in template page that she can print out. In an alternative embodiment, the filled-in template page may be sent to the FROM sender's email address for security and settlement purposes. In such embodiments, a web server or the like verifies that the sender's email address is authorized to receive the template page before sending the filled-in template page.

In an offline embodiment, the template page may be retrieved from an office-produced macro plug-in such as Word, Excel, or the like, that prompts the user to enter information. In these examples, after the user enters the data, the data automatically populates the fields within the document. The document may then be printed out, "print to file" in a computer, and so on.

In the embodiment of FIG. 11, multiple fields are shown. In other embodiments, more or fewer fields may be used for a template page. In fig. 11, a template sheet 400 includes: a to field 410; a carbon copy field 420; a secret transport field 430; a from field 440; a subject field 450, a filename description field 460, customization fields 470 and 480, and a notes field 490.

As will be described below, fields 410 through 480 typically include human and machine readable data that may be manipulated by optical font recognition (OCR) techniques to determine a sending destination such as the sender's email address, cc (carbon copy) recipient, fax number, other destination, and the like. If OCR technology provides ambiguous results, the operator may examine the data entered into these fields to attempt to determine a predetermined email address, etc. In various embodiments, the operator may also provide feedback to the sender regarding the quality of the transmission, such as the scanning surface of a scanner or facsimile machine being dirty, etc.

It is important that the comment field 490 and data in any page following the template page 400 are inaccessible for human review when sent from the sender to the recipient. Such data is stored in encrypted form on a typical sending server. Thus, any confidential data within the comment field 490 and within the document is secure and cannot be accessed or borrowed by an operator.

In some embodiments of the present invention, when the filled-in template page 400 is received by the server, the images of the fields 410 through 480 (and the barcodes 590 and 600 as described below) are extracted from the original transmission. The image is then recognized using OCR technology to attempt to identify routing data (e.g., email address, fax number, data format, etc.). After the data from fields 410 through 480 is identified and used for transmission purposes, the data may be discarded, may be used for recording purposes, and the like. Any data present in the original transmission, except for the designated portion of the template page 400, is invisible and the transmission is kept secure and secret. In addition, after the original transmission has been converted and transmitted to the appropriate destination, the original transmission and the issued transmission are deleted and unrecoverable. As described above and further below, certain embodiments may allow compliance officers and the like to review the transmissions before they are sent out.

As shown in FIG. 11, various functional options are provided in the template page 400, including: option 500 for making filled-in data searchable, option 510 for electronically archiving the transmission, option 520 for initiating a certification process for time stamped delivery or access of the transmission, option 530 for providing an electronic postmark receipt, option 540 for digitally watermarking the transmission, options 550 and 560 for two-sided document transmission, option 570 for indicating on fields such as To field 410, carbon copy field 420, secret feed field 430, from field whether handwritten data should be prioritized over any machine identification data.

In various embodiments, when the populated data is selected to be searchable (option 500), optical character recognition techniques may be used to convert the digitized representation of the document into searchable text (e.g., ASCII characters) and graphics. Other types of OCR engines may be used to recognize characters in other written languages such as chinese characters, japanese kana characters, korean phonetic characters, hebrew characters, arabic characters, and the like. In one embodiment, as described above, a text file based on the recognized text may be provided to the recipient. In another embodiment, where the document is converted to a.pdf format, the recognized text is stored as part of the.pdf file, but is generally not visible to the user. Instead, users typically view a digitized representation of a document. In some embodiments, the searchable text may be searched for archival purposes, advertising purposes, and the like, as described below.

In other embodiments of the present invention where a digitized representation of a document is to be stored in an electronic data archive, data warehouse, or the like, the searchable text may be used for indexing the digitized representation of the document in a data archiving system. The document may then be identified within the data archive based on the index word. For example, text repeatedly recognized from a document by OCR may be used as a keyword. For example, the transmission of a digitized representation including a home loan application may be associated with the keyword "home loan" and/or "home loan application". In such examples, the received transmission may be converted from, for example, a fax format to another format, such as PDF format, and the PDF format document may be stored in the document management system under the keywords "family loan" and/or "family loan application". In other embodiments, the keywords used may be manually specified by the sender of the transmission. For example, the user specifies keywords for optical character recognition in the Subject field 450, custom fields 470 and 480, Notes field 490, and the like.

In other embodiments of the present invention, when a digitized representation of a document is stored in an electronic data archive, data warehouse, or the like, the filename and location of the archive may be provided in the Subject field 450, filename field 460, custom fields 470 and 480, Notes field 490, TO field, CC field 120, BCC field 130, FROM field 140, or the like. As one example, a user may specify an archive server or storage facility by specifying a particular account in one field. For example, one transmission may include a TO field 410 entry of "09101960 @ webpost.com". In this example, "09101960" represents the user's account number, etc., and "webpost. In addition, in this example, the filename field 460, CC field 120, etc. includes "Lawrence Wells FargoSegments. In this example, the sending attachment is then stored under the name "Lawrence Wells fargsotiments. pdf" for storage at "webpost. com" of account "09101960". In various embodiments, NOC8, POP server 10, etc. may use any number of transport protocols, such as FTP, security protocols, etc., for delivering documents to a desired location. Numerous other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure.

Also shown in fig. 11 is a transmit tracking number 580. In addition, barcodes 590 and 600 are shown in different orientations and at different locations on template 400. In certain embodiments, the tracking number 580 is sent, along with the barcodes 590 and 600 in an Adobe Reader^TMIs generated and implemented as a plug-in. Further details will be given below.

In some embodiments of the invention, fewer than all of the above fields and options may be provided on a template page. For example, in one embodiment, only the To field 410 and the from field 440 are supported, while in another embodiment, the To field 410, the from field 440, and the subject field 450, among others, are included on the template page.

Problem of billing

In some embodiments of the present invention where the template page is used for faxes, the dial-in fax number listed on the template page 400 is associated with a particular organization. Thus, billing for the organization can be tracked based on traffic sent to the dial-in fax number. In other embodiments, billing may be based on the sender's sending fax number. In these cases, multiple send fax numbers may be associated with a particular organization, and when a fax is received from one of these send fax numbers, a bill for the use may be returned to the particular organization through the send server 5.

Certain embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in a kiosk fax machine or the like. Such kiosks may be found at airports, libraries, hotels, convention centers, etc. In these embodiments, a magnetic stripe reader, a smart card reader, a keypad or keyboard, a coin or bill slot, a biometric input device, etc., may be provided that allows the user to pay for the service. For example, to make a payment, the user may swipe a credit card and enter a bill delivery zip code; the user can swipe a bank card or debit card and enter a password; the user may use a smart card and enter a password, or use other secure stored value or credit card or token; the user may insert paper money or coins, etc. After the user document is scanned, etc., and only after the appropriate payment has been made, the kiosk machine will send the scanned document to the system 5 in fig. 1 for processing as described above.

In various embodiments, the sender agrees (via contract, subscription, etc.) to bill the delivery service by taking the action of sending a delivery via the above-described embodiments. In such cases, the language used for this purpose is clearly illustrated on the template cover. In another embodiment, the sender may be required to sign at a predetermined location of the template cover, otherwise no transmission will be provided. Suitable optical detection techniques for detecting and recording the sender's signature may be included in the sending server 5. In some cases, if a signature is missed, a response may be sent to FROM: the email address sends an email indicating the problem. It is envisaged that in such instances no digital representation of the document is provided to prevent fraud. In embodiments requiring a signature, the appropriate contract language may be explicitly stated on the template cover next to the signature line.

According to the above-described embodiments where the user agrees to bill the sending service, any number of methods may be used to pay the bill, such as by direct billing, by third party payment mechanism, and so forth.

In some embodiments, tracking and/or billing for services is based on the sender's sending telephone number. In such a case, the sender may call in a general fax number, toll free number (e.g., 800, 888), or the like coupled to the sending server 5. In these embodiments, the sending telephone number of the sender is known and provided to the sending server 5 by an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service or the like. In some cases, the sender's telephone number may be associated with a particular organization that has a direct billing relationship with the sending server 5. Thus, services may be billed directly to a particular organization.

In some embodiments, the sender's telephone number is not associated with a particular organization, and the template cover-sheet includes the language in which the sender agrees to pay for the transmission. In various embodiments, the language on the template cover page may specify how to bill for the transmission. In one embodiment, the user agrees to pay the bill by a city telephone bill called out by the sender. These mechanisms are referred to in the telephone industry as "informal billing". In another embodiment, the user agrees to pay a bill through the ISP they have an account with. This data may be FROM the FROM shown in fig. 10: data fields, etc. For example, if FROM: the field 440 specifies: net, "CarolineCL @ Earthlink," ISP "Earthlink" may bill the sender through her monthly account.

In various embodiments, to reduce the likelihood of fraud, the FROM may: the sender sends an email that verifies that the transmission was sent and that the transmission is to be billed to the ISP. Embodiments may also require FROM: the sender is at the TO: the recipient provides confirmation of the transmission via an email message prior to transmission. In other embodiments, the sender may pay for the transmission through an online payment system such as PayPal, Visa, or other payment system. The transmission may then be provided once PayPal, Visa, etc. notifies the transmission server 5 that payment has been received.

In various embodiments, additional fill-in data fields or options may be provided on the template page to enable the user to enter billing information data or third party billing information mechanisms. For example, in various embodiments, a user may enter a Federal Express, UPS, US Postal Service, DHL, etc. account number, PayPal or other electronic payment data, Visa/MasterCard/Discover number or other credit card related data, prepaid phone calling card account information, stored value card, check, deposit or loan account number, billing phone number, etc.

In certain embodiments of the invention, a "cash on demand" (COD) type payment mechanism may be implemented. In such a case, the sender may send an email to the recipient, and the recipient receives a notification from the sending server 5 that the sending is waiting for their email. To obtain the transmission, the recipient may use any suitable payment mechanism, such as direct billing, third party billing, etc., as described above, for example. Such embodiments are expected to be useful for business travelers and the like. As one example, a person may fax a copy of a document to her home office on a trip. Subsequently, when she returns home, she opens an email notification from the sending server 5, takes appropriate action (e.g., providing an account number and password), and then takes a copy of the transmission. Various embodiments include

As previously mentioned, some embodiments are based on advertiser sponsorship. These embodiments are based on transmitting data. For example, one or more detailed embodiments include geographically targeting relevant advertisements based on an area code of a phone coupled with a sending machine (e.g., fax machine, computer). Another embodiment is based on determining a subject matter related advertisement based on data recognized from the transmitted optical characters.

FIG. 13 shows a flow diagram according to an embodiment of the invention. More specifically, FIG. 13 includes additional details of steps 54 and 56 in FIG. 3B, and/or steps 116 and 124 in FIGS. 8A and/or 8B.

Initially, a digitized representation of data (e.g., a document) is processed by an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine (step 300). In various embodiments, the data (e.g., text) retrieved in this step may also be used for archiving purposes, document indexing purposes, text search purposes, compliance purposes, or other purposes as described above. Thus, this step may or may not actually be part of steps 54, 56, etc. In some embodiments, the OCR engine may include an automatic spell checker/spell correction function. As a result, the words identified in the document are more likely to be spelled correctly. In various embodiments, the image of the document may be modified to indicate where the text captured by OCR is incorrectly spelled, where the OCR is unable to recognize characters, and so on.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the recognized characters in the document then pass through a correlation engine (step 310). It is contemplated that the association engine may analyze and process recognized words in a document to semantically determine what the document is about, or "associations" of the document. In other words, the processing engine attempts to determine the topic of the document. As a first example, if the words "loan," "ownership," and "automobile" often appear together in a document, the correlation engine may conclude that the document relates to an automobile loan; as a second example, if the words "loan," "ownership," and "property" often appear together in a document, the correlation engine may conclude that the document relates to a mortgage loan; as a third example, if the words "loan," "ownership," and "property" do not appear together, but often appear in the document, and the words "farmer" and "fertilizer" often appear, the association/advertising engine/server may conclude that the document relates to agriculture; and so on.

In various embodiments, the (keywords) identified from the document may be communicated from the OCR process to an association/ad server. For example, in some embodiments, the keywords passed to an association/ad server such as Google, Yahoo, e-Bay, MSN, A9, Lycos, AskJeeves, AOL, etc. are simply a set of keywords, etc. Further, returned from Google, etc., are one or more links, advertisements, messages, goods/services listings, auction listings, search results, media, etc., based on the keyword. Thus, as can be imagined, these and other types of search results responsive to keywords can be provided in various embodiments of the present invention.

In some embodiments, the operator of the association/ad server (e.g., Google) does not know who the search came from. In these embodiments, user privacy is thus maintained. In other embodiments, users may voluntarily identify themselves to the association/advertisement server. For example, the user may include tracking information, such as a username, that the association/advertisement engine may identify. For example, when the user is in FROM: CC: when their particular email address or username is listed in the field, the username/email address, etc. may be passed to an association engine such as a9.com, google.com, yahoo.com, etc. In response, the correlation engine not only provides one or more advertisements, but also maintains the search for the benefit of the user, such as A9, Google desktop, and the like.

In various embodiments of the invention, any number of semantic parsing, association/ad engines, etc. may be used to perform the above analysis. This may include being publicly available and available as a result of Yahoo! Microsoft Search, Google and Google Search, Excite, AskJeeves, etc. As is well known, these engines are capable of determining prosodic structures (metrics) such as one or more key search terms that are used to represent a document.

In some embodiments of the invention, the sending server 5 determines the appropriate advertisements to include in the sending of the document based on the document prosodic structure determined by the correlation engine (step 320). Continuing with the above example, advertisements for car insurance, car accessories, car wash coupons, etc. may be identified for the first document; advertisements regarding the removed company, cleaning services, etc. may be identified for the second document; and advertisements may be identified for the third document regarding weather, farm equipment, etc. Thus, the selected advertisement is generally highly relevant to the subject matter of the document.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the selected one or more advertisements are sent to the sender of the document as described above (step 330). In various embodiments, the advertisement may be presented as a return fax as shown in FIG. 6A; the advertisement may be presented in the body of the return email message; advertisements may be included in email attachments; and so on. In various embodiments, one or more user clickable links or hypertext links may also be included. In various examples, the advertisement may be a service tag, banner advertisement, watermark, sponsorship logo, frame, and the like.

In various embodiments, revenue may be captured through the addition of click-through advertisements incorporated into email messages. For example, revenue may be based on the number of impressions made, the number of click throughs, the number and amount of purchases made due to click throughs, and so on. These revenues can be used to fund services, increase revenues, and the like.

In various embodiments of the invention, the selected one or more advertisements may also be sent to a source such as FROM: and CC: the recipient, etc. of the document (step 340). In various embodiments, the advertisement may be presented in the transmitted facsimile; the advertisement may be presented in an email message; advertisements may be included in email attachments; and so on. Similarly to the above, in various embodiments, one or more user clickable links or hypertext links may also be included.

In some embodiments of the present invention, after one or more advertisements have been served, the data is typically updated in the advertisement statistics server 98 (step 350).

Double-sided source document and large source document delivery

Most fax machines and scanners have the ability to digitize documents printed on only one side, i.e., simplex documents. However, sending double-sided documents from such fax machines or scanners is a challenge. One method of sending a two-sided document is to send only the even or odd pages initially in a first transmission and then send the remaining even or odd pages in a second transmission.

One problem with this solution is that the transmissions must be combined manually by the recipient at the receiving end. In other words, the recipient is burdened with the task of tracking two separate transmissions and collating and interleaving the separate transmission pages so that the pages of the source document are arranged in the correct order. In one example, the first transmission may include odd pages 1, 3, 5, 9, etc. and the second transmission may include even pages 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. When receiving the first and second transmissions, the receiver must manually combine the two transmissions so that the order of the pages is: 1. 2, 3, 4, etc. This is very time consuming, especially for large transmissions. In addition, because it requires two or more separate transmissions, one of the transmissions is likely to be delayed, lost, or misrouted, especially in a busy office environment.

Another method of sending a double-sided document is for the sender to first copy the double-sided document onto a simplex sheet and then fax the simplex copy to the receiver.

The problem with this solution is that it requires the sender to make a separate copy of the document. For example, the sender must manually make a single-sided copy of the duplex sheet on a copier, or the sender must use a copier that can copy the duplex document onto a single sheet using a paper feeder. However, because paper feeder copiers are expensive to purchase or rent, they are typically only used in an office environment and are not found in a home office. Therefore, most users must make a single-sided copy manually. Other disadvantages include that making a single, simplex version of a document for transmission (e.g., facsimile) purposes only wastes paper resources and wastes copier resources.

Only a small fraction of fax machines and scanners now have the capability to digitize duplex documents. Paper feeders for such facsimile machines and scanners are generally expensive and, therefore, are used in most office environments and not in home offices.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, the inventors propose a new method of sending documents from a two-sided source document without the above-mentioned disadvantages.

In one embodiment, using the system described in the referenced application, the user uses AdobeReader^TMOr Acrobat^TMSoftware or other suitable software (e.g., Word, PowerPoint) opens a copy of the template page (. pdf file). In response, a template page such as that shown in FIG. 11 is opened and displayed to the user.

In some embodiments of the invention, users have double-sided documents they wish to send. To do this, the user first fills in the appropriate data into fields 410 through 490. Next, the user manually selects the option 550 on the facsimile template page 400, and prints out the filled-in template page when ready. This filled-in cover is then placed as a top page on an odd page (e.g., the front side of a double-sided document). The combined page is then sent to the sending server as described above. In response, the sending server confirms receipt of this first transmission with a reply fax, email message, or the like, also as described above.

In the present embodiment, when the template page is still in Adobe Reader^TMWhen open in the software, the user then manually selects the option 560 on the template page 400. Thus, option 550 is automatically deselected. In various embodiments, the user then prints out a copy of the filled-in template page for the remaining even pages. This filled-in cover is then placed as a top page on an even page (e.g., the back of a double-sided document). The combined page is then sent (e.g., faxed) to the sending server as described above. In response, the sending server confirms receipt of this second transmission with a reply fax, email message, or the like, also as described above.

In some embodiments of the present invention, odd page transmissions may be sent before or after even page transmissions. In these embodiments, it is assumed that the odd page transmits the first page including the source document. In other embodiments, assume that the first transmission includes a first page of the source document.

In other embodiments of the invention, when either option 550 or option 560 is selected, two separate covers are automatically generated for the user: one cover for odd page transmission and one cover for even page transmission. In one embodiment, one cover has selected options 550 and the other cover has selected options 560. In an alternative embodiment, two substantially similar covers are printed and the user manually selects either option 550 or option 560. In various embodiments, the user manually prints out each cover, while in other embodiments, the pair of covers are printed out in response to a single user print command.

In other embodiments, instead of options 550 and 560, a single option may be provided as a fill-in option within the fax template page indicating that a faxed document is to be sent as two separate fax transmissions. As described above, two separate covers may be automatically generated for printing by the user and for use as covers when the single option is selected. In various embodiments, most of the user-entered data will be the same for two separate covers, however, to distinguish between these covers, any type of visual notification or indicator may be included on the covers that indicates to the user which cover is for even pages and which cover is for odd pages. For example, the text "first" may be printed in a particular location on a first cover, while the text "second" may be printed in the same location or a different location on a second cover, and so on. In various embodiments, the first cover and the second cover may look very different. For example, a first cover page may appear.

In a particular example of the present invention, the fax server receives a fax transmission and determines that the transmission is the first half of the transmission in response to data on the first cover sheet. In various embodiments, the fax server "read" option 550 is selected; the fax server "reads" text, such as "first" on the cover; noting the mark at a predetermined location; and so on. Upon receiving a fax transmission, the fax server will not automatically issue the transmission TO the identified TO email address (or destination) unless requested TO do so. In various embodiments, the fax server automatically indicates the success of the first fax transmission to the FROM email address. In various embodiments, the fax server stores the fax transmission and waits for a second fax transmission.

Next, in these examples of the invention, the fax server then receives a second fax transmission and determines that the transmission is the second half of the transmission. This can be determined by the fax server based on the same filler data such as TO, FROM, SUBJECT fields, tracking numbers, etc. This may also be determined by the fax server based on data on the second cover, such as identifying that option 560 was selected, identifying "second" on the cover, and so on. After receiving the second fax transmission, the fax server will not automatically issue the transmission TO the identified TO email address (or destination) unless requested TO do so, but can send an acknowledgement TO the FROM email address. Time window limitations may also be used in various embodiments such that two unrelated documents sent from the same sender to the same recipient are not inadvertently mixed. One example time window may be 24 hours, etc.

In some embodiments of the present invention, once the sending server determines that a pair of transmissions (e.g., an even page transmission and an odd page transmission) has been received, the sending server combines the transmissions into a single transmission. In the above example, the fax server automatically interleaves odd pages from the first transmitted document with even pages from the second transmitted document. Thus, the combined document includes a single (or two) cover sheets, followed by a first sheet of the double-sided source document, a second sheet of the double-sided source document, a third sheet of the double-sided source document, and so on.

In various embodiments, the combined document may then be saved in a desired file format. Pdf can be saved as a single multi-page adobe. In various embodiments, the combined document is then sent TO the TO email address (or destination) and an appropriate copy (if any) is sent TO the carbon copy recipient, typically TO the FROM email address.

In other embodiments, other methods for combining data from multiple transmissions are contemplated. For example, the multiple transmitted pages need not be interleaved completely or at all, and in another example the order of the multiple transmissions may be specified. These embodiments are useful when the source document may be too long to be sent as a single transmission. As one example, the first transmission may include part 1 of a 500 page article, the second transmission may include part 3 of the article, and the third transmission may include part 2 of the article. In these embodiments, the user may be prompted to enter the send number of the source document on the template page. In response, these page numbers may be automatically generated as covers for the respective transmissions. Based on data on the cover page, etc., the receiving server (e.g., a fax machine) can identify how the multi-part transmission should be recombined. For example, the cover page sequentially indicates which transmission should be the first transmission, which transmission should be the second transmission and which transmission should be the third transmission.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a "chapter division" page may be generated in addition to the automatically generated multi-part sent cover. These chapter divisions pages can be used to indicate where there is a logical division in a single transmission. As described above, these logical divisions can be used to indicate how a multi-part transmission should be recreated in a fax server. For example, the first transmission may include 1, 3, and 4 chapters of the book (using chapter break pages), while the second transmission may include 2, 5, and 6 chapters of the book (again using chapter break pages). In various embodiments, the user may indicate how the sent "chapters" should be reassembled by marking on the front cover or chapter break page. With respect to these indicia, in one example, the fax server combines the transmissions and creates a single transmission with chapters 1-6 in sequence. In other embodiments, the present invention contemplates many other methods of combining multiple pages between single transmissions.

According to embodiments described in the above-mentioned application, data files are combined that can then be converted into one or more data storage formats, such as adobe pdf compatible, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, X-Docs, XML,. GIFf, operating system specific data storage formats, operating system independent data storage formats, and the like.

Next, based on the data "identified" from the cover sheet, the transmission server (e.g., facsimile server) determines transmission information of the data file. In various embodiments, as described above, the sending information may include the recipient's email address, a socket on the computer network for the server, a hyperlink on which the recipient clicks to access the data file, the recipient's account number, and the like. In some embodiments of the invention, the sending server also determines an appropriate network transport protocol for the data file based on the routing information. In the above embodiments, when the routing information is an email address, the network transport protocol is SMTP. In other embodiments, other types of network transport protocols may be used, including HTTPS, FTP, HTTP, and the like.

In some embodiments of the invention, tracking number 580 may be provided on the cover page. The tracking number 580 may be generated when the user prints out a filled-in template page, or when the template page is received by the sender/server, or the like. In various embodiments, tracking number 580 may be rendered on a filled-in template page, sent to a sender or recipient in a confirmation email, or the like. In various embodiments, tracking number 580 may include virtually any alphanumeric character or the like.

In various embodiments, the tracking number may be based on data filled in by the user, based on user data, based on time and date, Media Access Controller (MAC) address, and the like. In various embodiments, based on these data, a hash or other method for generating a unique tracking number may be envisioned.

In operation of a particular embodiment, if a tracking number is assigned on the sender system, when a sending server (e.g., a fax server) receives a transmission (e.g., a fax transmission), the sending server performs optical character recognition to identify the tracking number. In various embodiments, the tracking number may appear at a predetermined location on the template page after filling out, or any other location. In various embodiments, the tracking number may also be identified using OCR technology. The tracking number is then associated with the entire facsimile transmission.

In some embodiments of the invention, a record is generated indicating the status of the transmission within the sending server when the sending server processes the transmission. For example, in various embodiments, the types of data that the sending server may store may include: the number of pages currently received by the sending server (e.g., fax server), the status of the transmission (e.g., fax received, data file format (e.g.: pdf,. jpg, XML, etc.), status of converting a transmission to a data file format, network transport protocol (e.g.: SMTP, HTTP, HTTPs, FTP, etc.), status of transmitting a data file (e.g.: email accepted by the email server at time x, email returned by the email server, email reported as SPAM, etc.), whether the transmission is approved or denied, whether the user opens a transmission in a data file format, whether the user requests a certified data file in the delivery system, etc. Many other types of status and information may be recorded in other embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, the type and/or amount of trace data available to the requester may be limited.

In various embodiments, a sender of a transmission may request information about facsimile transmission via email, IM, etc. by submitting a tracking number to a transmission server. In response, the requested state information is provided to the requestor. In other embodiments, the status report may be automatically provided to the sender at various stages of the sending process, for example, the sender may be provided with an email with this information.

In other embodiments of the invention, the sending server determines the tracking number as it processes the transmission to determine the transmitted data. The generated tracking number is then provided to the original sender of the fax. As described above, the sender may then request status information regarding the transmission from the transmission server based on the tracking number when sending an email or the like to the recipient.

OCR improvements

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of human-readable data (e.g., handwriting) and machine-readable data (e.g., bar code, MICR font) address, etc. has been successfully used to identify filling data for sending cover papers. However, problems arise when it is difficult for the OCR subsystem to recognize data entered by the sender. Typical reasons that are difficult for OCR systems to identify may include incorrectly printed characters, misaligned and/or rotated fax pages, noisy transmissions, etc. Accordingly, the inventors have recognized a need for additional methods of enhancing the ability to identify sender input data.

In the example of fig. 11, data input by the sender is displayed and represented at multiple locations on the cover to improve the OCR recognition process. More specifically, as shown in fig. 11, a TO field 410, a Carbon copy field 420, a blind Carbon copy field 430, a from field 440, a subject field 450, a file specification field 460, and custom fields 470 and 480 are provided. In addition, barcodes 590 and 600 are provided. In various embodiments, barcodes 590 and 600 may include the same data or different data.

In some embodiments of the invention, it is contemplated that the AdobeReader will be followed by the sender filling in these fields^TMThe template 400 is printed within software, an office production program (e.g., Word), or the like. In these embodiments, the fonts of the human-readable characters in fields 410 through 480 may be more conducive to OCR technology font output with a font such as MICRORE-43B, CMC-7.

Fig. 12 shows an example of another embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, a portion of the printed template page 710 is shown. As shown, fields 720 and 730 may include the same data and may not be aligned on a page. By locating fields 720 and 730 out of coordination, vertical stripes that often occur in facsimile transmissions tend not to be confused with the same portions of fields 720 and 730. Therefore, there is a higher chance of sending recognizable data for both fields 720 and 730.

In some embodiments of the present invention, various types of grammar checking may be performed prior to printing out the filled-in cover. For example, for email addresses, the appropriate top-level domain suffixes (. com,. net,. gov,. diz,. org, etc.) may be checked and flagged when there is an error. For example, if the user enters "applet @ aol.con," the user may be presented with a message indicating that the top-level domain suffix is not present.

Additionally, in other embodiments, the grammar check may be based on the domain name entered (e.g., aol. com, mit. edu). In these embodiments, the validity of the domain name may be confirmed before the cover page is printed out. Com, "the system may access the internet to perform a domain name lookup. Com "may be presented to the user with a message indicating that the domain name does not exist. Alternatively, "fotmail.com" may be automatically corrected to "hotmail.com". In other embodiments, a dictionary or other commonly-named resource may be the basis for other automatic corrections.

Other types of syntax checks, such as checking the email address of the filled field against the sender's address book, may also be performed in other embodiments. In various embodiments, the syntax checking function captures possible errors before sending the document to the sending server.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the sending server, rather than the sending system, may perform the above-described syntax checking based on the optical character recognition result. For example, if the OCR results read "aol.con" or "mit.com," several options are available. In some embodiments, the sending server may automatically determine the best guess based on the grammar. For example, the fax server may change "aol.con" to "aol.com" and/or "mit.com" to "mit.edu". In other examples, the correction of data such as an email address may be based on a partial prior history of the sender. For example, if the sender has previously sent out many transmissions to "davidcl @ mid. edu", but the OCR system recognized "qavdcl @ mid. edu" in this transmission, the sending server may automatically correct it to read "davidcl @ mid. edu". In various embodiments, the sender may be identified by the phone number of the sender's incoming call, based on the FROM email address, the phone number of the sender's fax machine, etc. In other embodiments, automatic correction may be made based on the email address of the organization with which the sender is associated, and the like.

In some embodiments, the sending server may highlight grammar questions to an operator of the sending server. In response, the operator may determine whether the suggested correction should be used. In various embodiments, as described above, only the user-entered address field shown in FIG. 11 is displayed to the operator. In addition, the remainder of the cover, including the notes field 490, is not visible to the operator. Likewise, the operator cannot access any other portion of the transmission, or any other page of the facsimile transmission. The use of template pages with additional OCR targets is believed to improve the accuracy of the transmission without sacrificing the high degree of security and privacy already provided by embodiments of the present invention.

In other embodiments of the invention, a "address book" based on prior transmissions by the sender may be maintained by the sending server or the like. In the case of a syntax error, the sending server may automatically determine whether a best guess exists and send the fax to that guess. In other embodiments, the sending server may alternatively output the syntax error to the operator.

In other embodiments, if there is a grammar error, the sending server may automatically contact the sender via email, instant messaging program, etc., and indicate the grammar error, etc. In these embodiments, the sender may be invited to provide the corrected data by a return communication. In some embodiments, the sending server may automatically determine the corrected data from the sending party and continue operation based on the corrected data. In other embodiments, the operator may view the corrected data from the sender and make the correction as appropriate.

The syntax checking and syntax error reporting and processing described above may also be used to notify the sender of a delivery failure error for a returned electronic message, and the like.

Additional OCR enhancements

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, barcodes 590 and 600 are included in the fax template page 400. In various embodiments, barcodes 590 and 600 provide OCR targets to the sending server in addition to fields 410-490. In the illustrated embodiment, fields 410-490 are generally human-readable and machine-readable, while barcodes 590 and 600 are generally machine-readable only.

In various embodiments, optical character recognition of text characters is used to identify the printed characters in fields 410-490. In other embodiments, other language text characters may be supported by OCR technology for such languages. In addition, the barcodes 590 and 600 are independently recognized, typically using OCR of the barcode. In some embodiments of the invention, the data recognized from the three OCR targets must be matched with a high degree of confidence before the recognized data is used by the sending server. In other embodiments, the candidate data identified by two of the three OCR targets must substantially match before the identified data is used by the sending server. In other embodiments, if option 570 is selected, the OCR target may be ignored and fields 410 through 480 are used.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, the data encoded with barcodes 590 and 600 includes only a subset of the data in fields 410 through 480, for example, and barcodes 590 and 600 may include only field 410 data and field 440 data; only field 410 data, field 420 data, field 440 data; only field 410 to 450 data; and so on. In other embodiments, other combinations or subsets of fields 410 through 480 are contemplated. In other embodiments, the same data may be encoded into the barcodes 590 and 600, or different data may be encoded into the barcodes 590 and 600. For example, in one embodiment, barcodes 590 and 600 each include data from fields 410 through 420, data from fields 410 through 450, and so on. As an additional example, barcode 590 includes data from field 440 but not data from field 430, while barcode 600 includes data from field 430 but not data from field 440. In the case where the data is unique to a barcode 590 or 600, consider that two of the two OCR engines (e.g., fields 410-480 OCR and barcode OCR) return candidate data that must substantially match, otherwise, an error is identified. Other types of examples are contemplated.

In other embodiments of the present invention, barcodes 590 and 600 may include checksums or hashed data based on data from one or more of fields 410 through 490.

In operation, the filled-in data and/or a hash of the filled-in data is encoded into a bar code format prior to printing out the filled-in cover. The bar code may then be written generally in different orientations in the bar code 590 and the bar code 600 in FIG. 11.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the font appearing as text within fields 410 through 490, as well as the barcode font, may be included in the template. To do so, in various embodiments, rights to included fonts must be obtained, and flags must be set within the font library embedded within the pdf file that include the copyright status of those fonts.

Then, when the sending server receives the filled in envelope, a separate OCR engine is used to identify the filled in data in fields 410-490 and barcodes 590 and 600. In one embodiment, the sending server processes the transmission using the identified data if the two or three identified data from the OCR engines substantially match. In another embodiment, if the hash of the data in fields 400-490 substantially matches the data encoded in barcode 590 and/or 600, the sending server uses the identified data to process the transmission. In the event that the data does not match, the sender may be notified of the error and requested to correct the error as described above. The operator may also be notified of the error and requested for the pre-send process.

Other enhancements

FIG. 11 identifies other functions that may be enabled by the sending server. In some embodiments of the invention, when the sender selects field 500, the sending server may use an optical character recognition engine to recognize text in some/all of the pages of the received transmission. Pdf file, the identified text is combined with the image sent in the adobe. In other embodiments, the identified text may be provided to the recipient as a txt,. rtf,. doc file, etc. along with the transmission.

In some embodiments of the present invention, when the sender selects field 520, the sending server may initiate an email attestation process by which to demonstrate when the email message was delivered to the recipient, when the recipient opened the email message, and the like. In some embodiments, the original transmission typically resides on the sending server. In addition, the recipient receives a notification that the transmission has arrived at the recipient in the form of an email, page, cellular telephone call, or the like. In response, the recipient logs into the sending server with a password to retrieve the transmission. In these embodiments, the time when the recipient receives the transmission is recorded.

In some embodiments of the present invention, when the sender selects field 530, the sending server may provide an electronic postmark receipt. In certain embodiments of the present invention, it is contemplated that the U.S. postal service electronic postmark may be associated with a facsimile transmission. This provides several advantages, including: an officially certifiable electronic delivery of data, a certification of delivery including date and data, etc. is fax-sent between parties. In these embodiments, incoming and/or outgoing transmissions may be hashed, which is then transmitted to the certification authority. In various embodiments, a hashing algorithm such as MD (5) or the like based on sending a uniquely calculated value may be used. In response to the hash, the U.S. postal service electronic postmark or any other certification authority indicia records the hash, along with the time and data, into a certification authority database. It is contemplated that these proofs may be used to prove the issuance and delivery of a transmission.

In other embodiments of the invention, when the sender selects field 540, the sending server may perform an additional action of appending a digital watermark or the like to the sending. In various embodiments, the digital watermark may be applied to a.pdf,. GIFf,. gif,. doc or other document. In other embodiments, the digital watermark may include determining a unique hash or identifier for transmission and providing the hash or identifier as part of the facsimile transmission or subsequent transmission, etc. Many other methods of watermarking are also contemplated.

In other embodiments of the present invention, additional function buttons for template covers may be displayed on the display. For example, in one embodiment, a "question" or "trouble" button is provided. In various embodiments, if the user selects the "question" button, the user is coupled to the service page via, for example, a browser that is launched. In some embodiments, the version number of the template page, the version number of the software (e.g., AdobeReader), etc. may be automatically sent for remote problem diagnosis purposes. In some embodiments, in response to the diagnosis, the user may be provided with a patch, the user may be provided with an updated template page, the user may be provided with a link to an upgrade page, and so forth.

In other embodiments of the present invention, updates to the template page are checked when the user opens the template page for upgrade purposes. In the event that there are updates available, the user may be presented with an option to update the template page and software. In various embodiments, the user may be asked for the correct phone number and password before providing the update to the user.

In other embodiments of the invention, the updated template page may be automatically provided as part of a copy of the transmission received by the sender when the sender sends a facsimile. Thus, users are automatically updated as they use the delivery service.

In some embodiments of the invention, when the sender selects field 510, the sending server may perform additional actions to send data to the archive system. In various embodiments, the archive system may be associated with a sending server, a sender, a third party server, and so forth. Typically, state information associated with the transmission to the recipient may also be sent to the archive system. In various embodiments, various methods for generating the profile index word may be used, including based on the date of transmission, the sender, the recipient, etc. In these embodiments, the source document may be faxed, scanned, electronically "printed" to the sending server. In some embodiments, the transmission from the user may come from a fax machine, a scanner, a multi-function machine, printing to a file computer output, or the like. In these embodiments, a field on the cover of the transmission, such as field 450 and 490, may be used to identify keywords by the sender that are useful for retrieving the transmission in the data file.

In various embodiments, the cover page may be a dedicated application and provide a drop-down of field 410- "490 to the sender, thereby limiting the sender's options. For example, field 470 may be used to specify certain types of SEC profiles such as 10Q, 8K, etc.; field 410 may be used to specify between a limited number of data files, such as "tax return", "charge request form", etc.; the field 480 may be used to specify a scanning scheme such as 200dpi, 300dpi, 72dpi, or the like.

In addition, fields such as field 410-440 may specify an appropriate data profile. The data archive may include a storage area network or other data store. In various embodiments, a sending server processes a transmission from a sender and sends the transmission to a data archive.

As an example, the sender specifies on the send cover that the document should be sent to the tax data profile via field 410 or option 510. In addition, the sender also specifies a taxpayer ID in field 470 and a tax form on field 450. As described above, option 500 may also be selected to make the content searchable.

In one embodiment, once the sending cover is filled, the sender prints out the cover. The sender then combines the cover page with the document and sends (e.g., faxes) it to a pre-designated telephone number. In various embodiments, the sending server then receives the cover page and then determines, based on OCR techniques, that the additional documents are to be stored in the specified tax payment data archive. The additional documents are also OCR' ed according to option 500. The additional documents may then be converted into another format, such as. The document or converted document and the OCR-passed text and keywords are then provided to a tax payment data archive. In this example, a server associated with the data archive receives the keywords and stores the document or converted document with the OCR-passed text according to the keywords.

In another embodiment, the transmission may be placed in a save server and sent for entry into the data archive only if the transmission is authorized. For example, in one embodiment, a compliance officer or the like approves the transmission before it is stored in the data archive. In another example, the sender checks the key data and other portions of the transmission before the sender authorizes storage of the transmission. In other embodiments, the sender enters a keyword when the sender checks for a transmission and then approves the transmission.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the sender interface may be Web-based. For example, the user connects through a Web page such as a Web browser with top-level fields 410 through 490 and options 500 through 570 that may be similar to prompting her to enter data. In some embodiments of the invention, the user may type data into a field, or select an entry based on a drop-down box as described above.

In various embodiments, the template cover is ready for the sender to print based on the form data. In some embodiments of the invention, the cover may be. pdf,. gif,. GIFf,. doc or other printable format for sending as described above. In addition, for a plurality of transmission documents, a plurality of cover sheets may be provided for the transmission purpose as described above.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a web server providing web forms may provide multiple functions before providing a printable cover. As one example, the web server may automatically perform a contextual check of the sender input data. For example, as described above, an entry with an incorrect top-level domain name may be marked as incorrect for the sender and no cover page may be provided. Also for example, the web server may store data entered by the sender or provide such data to the sending server. Then, when the sender sends the transmission to the sending server, the sending server attempts to recognize the data filled in by the user using OCR. However, if there is uncertainty in the OCR process, the sending server determines the expected data against the data previously entered by the sending party. In other embodiments, a special mark may be provided on the cover (e.g., via a web form) indicating that the transmission includes data previously provided to the sending server. In these examples, the sending server may perform sufficient OCR on the cover sheet to uniquely identify previously stored sender-entered data. The sending server may then use the data entered by the sender for sending purposes.

Various embodiments may include some, but not necessarily all, of the above features. For example, one embodiment may allow a digitized document to be converted only to the.pdf or.giff format and sent only to email addresses. Other embodiments may allow a digitized document to be converted to another file format and placed in a storage location. In these embodiments, an email including instructions to access the converted document at the storage location will be sent to the recipient. These embodiments allow tracking of the reception of the recipient. Another embodiment may redirect outgoing digitized documents to a centralized queue for compliance purposes. In response, if the compliance officer approves the transmission, the digitized document may again be converted to another file format and then sent by email to an email address. Yet another embodiment may allow for distributed archiving and indexing of digitized documents. For example, outgoing transmissions may be placed in a queue for indexing purposes. In response, the sender manually provides an index key for the digitized document. Once the index key is determined, the digitized document and the key are provided to an archiving system.

In other embodiments of the invention, the transmission may include returning a facsimile cover in addition to the transmission to the recipient including the digitized document. This option may be designated by an option box on the cover sheet, or the like. This fax cover can be pre-populated with data from the automatically switched "from" and "to" email addresses. In this way, the receiver can easily send a return transmission to the sender. For example, a loan officer may issue a document for the applicant to sign, and the digitized document arrives as a pdf document in the applicant's email. Along with the e-mail is a filled-in return fax cover. In this example, the applicant prints out and signs a document, places the filled-in return fax cover over the signed document, and faxes it to the numbers listed on the filled-in return fax cover page. The signed document is then converted to a pdf document or the like and sent to the loan officer's email. In various examples, the loan officer may pay two transmitted fees. In other embodiments, a common blank cover may be provided to the recipient.

Many variations or modifications are readily contemplated. In light of the above disclosure, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many variations on the described embodiments may be made. Pdf file format, however, it should be understood that in other embodiments, different "industry standard" file formats, currently developed or developed in the future, may also be used. These may also include "open" or "closed" (e.g., proprietary) document formats.

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram illustrating possible data flows as described above according to various embodiments of the present invention. As noted above, many other types of data streams are also contemplated. Fig. 14 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an overview of a network architecture in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. Many other types of network architectures may be used in other embodiments of the invention.

Other embodiments may be envisioned by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. In other embodiments, combinations or sub-combinations of the above disclosed inventions may be advantageously made. The embodiments are grouped for ease of understanding. However, it should be understood that combinations of blocks, additions of new blocks, rearrangements of blocks, etc., are contemplated in alternative embodiments of the present invention.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A method for a computer system, comprising:

receiving a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a document sent using a facsimile transmission format;

processing the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination email address;

reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an email attachment format;

processing at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more keywords;

providing the one or more keywords to an advertisement server;

receiving advertisement data from the advertisement server; and

forming an email message addressed to said destination email address, wherein said email message comprises a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein said body portion comprises advertising data and said attachment portion comprises that portion of a digitized representation of said document in an email attachment format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the digitized representation of the document to determine the destination email address comprises processing at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine the destination email address.

3. The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the advertisement data comprises one or more advertisements selected from the group consisting of hyperlinks, sponsored notifications, lists of at least one service provider, lists of at least one item provider, lists of at least one auction, search results.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the email attachment format is selected from a group of data file formats consisting of pdf compatible, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, X-Docs, XML, GIF, industry standard format.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising

Determining a tracking number associated with the facsimile transmission;

maintaining a processing state associated with the facsimile transmission;

forming an association between the tracking number and the processing state; and

storing an association between the tracking number and the processing state.

6. A computer system, comprising:

a memory configured to store a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a document sent using a facsimile transmission format; and

a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the document to determine at least one destination email address, wherein the processor is configured to reformat at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an email attachment format, wherein the processor is configured to determine advertising data associated with the facsimile transmission, and the processor is configured to form an email message addressed to the destination email address;

wherein the email includes a body portion and an attachment portion, the body portion including advertisement data and the attachment portion including that portion of the digitized representation of the document in an email attachment format;

wherein the processor is configured to process at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more keywords;

wherein the processor is configured to provide one or more keywords to an advertisement server.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the advertisement server is selected from the group consisting of an advertisement engine, a correlation engine, a third party server.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the third party server is selected from the group consisting of Google server, Yahoo |. Server, e-Bay server, Microsoft web server, A9 server, Lycos server, Ask Jeeves server, AOL server.

9. The computer system of any of claims 6-8, wherein processing the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination email address comprises processing at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine the destination email address.

10. The computer system of any one of claims 6 to 9,

the processor is further configured to process a first portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine a first candidate email address;

the processor is configured to process a second portion of the digitized representation of the document with the optical character recognition engine to determine a second candidate email address; and

the processor is configured to determine the destination email address in response to the first candidate email address and a second candidate email address.

11. A computer program product for a computer system including a processor, comprising:

a tangible medium configured for storage:

code that instructs the processor to receive a facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a document sent using a facsimile transmission format;

code that directs the processor to process the digitized representation of the document to determine a destination email address;

code that instructs the processor to format at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document into an email attachment format;

code that instructs the processor to process at least a portion of the digitized representation of the document with an optical character recognition engine to determine one or more keywords;

code that instructs the processor to provide one or more keywords to an advertisement server;

code that directs the processor to receive advertisement data from the advertisement server; and

code that instructs the processor to form an email message addressed to the destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein the body portion includes advertisement data and the attachment portion includes that portion of the digitized representation of the document in an email attachment format.

12. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the third party is selected from the group consisting of MSN, Yahoo |. Lycos, AOL, Google, A9, e-Bay, Ask Jeeves and Dog Tile.

13. The computer program product of any of claims 11 to 12, wherein the advertisement data comprises one or more results selected from the group consisting of a hyperlink, a sponsored notification, a listing of at least one service provider, a listing of at least one item provider, a listing of at least one auction, search results, textual data, and graphical data.

14. The computer program product of any of claims 11 to 13, wherein the digitized representation portion comprises a digitized representation of data selected from the group consisting of barcode data, handwriting data, human-readable data, machine-readable data.

15. The computer program product of any of claims 11 to 14, further comprising:

code that directs the processor to determine a tracking number associated with the facsimile transmission;

code that instructs the processor to maintain a processing state associated with the facsimile transmission;

code that directs the processor to generate an association between the tracking number and the processing state;

code that instructs the processor to store an association between the tracking number and the processing state in a tangible memory.

16. A method for a computer system, comprising:

receiving a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a first document issued using a facsimile transmission format;

processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination email address, wherein the first destination email address need not be known a priori by a computer system;

receiving a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a second document sent using the facsimile transmission format;

processing the digitized representation of the second document with an optical character recognition process to determine the first destination email address;

combining at least a portion of the digitized representation of the second document and at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document into an email attachment in an email attachment format;

forming an email message addressed to said destination email address, wherein said email message comprises a body portion and an attachment portion, wherein said body portion comprises advertising data and said attachment portion comprises said email attachment.

17. The method of claim 16,

the digitally represented portion of the first document comprises a plurality of pages of the first document;

the digitally represented portion of the second document comprises a plurality of pages of the second document; and

the email attachment includes a plurality of pages of the first document and a plurality of pages of the second document.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein at least a portion of the multi-page first document and at least a portion of the multi-page second document are interleaved in the attachment portion of the email message.

19. The method of any one of claims 16 to 18,

the first document comprises a plurality of even pages of a document; and

the second document includes a plurality of odd pages of the document.

20. The method of any one of claims 16 to 19,

the digitized representation of the first document comprises a representation of two or more targets; and

processing the digitized representation of the cover page to determine a first destination email address includes processing two or more targets to determine the first destination email address.

21. A computer program product of a computer system including a processor, comprising:

a tangible medium coupled with the processor, wherein the tangible medium comprises:

code that directs the processor to receive a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a first document issued using a facsimile transmission format;

code that instructs the processor to perform an optical recognition process on the digitized representation of the first document to determine a first destination email address, the first destination email address not necessarily being known to a computer system;

code that instructs the processor to receive a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a second document sent using a facsimile transmission format;

code instructing the processor to perform an optical recognition process on the digitized representation of the second document to instruct the second facsimile transmission to be associated with the first facsimile transmission;

code that directs the processor to combine the digitized representation of the first document and the digitized representation of the second document into a combined representation;

code that instructs said processor to form an email message addressed to said destination email address, wherein said email message comprises a body portion and an attachment portion, said body portion comprising advertisement data and said attachment portion comprising said combined representation.

22. The computer program product of claim 21,

the digitized representation of the first document includes a plurality of pages of the first document;

the digitized representation of the second document includes a plurality of pages of the second document; and

in the combined representation, at least one of the plurality of pages from the first document is inserted between pages of the multi-page second document.

23. The computer program product according to any of the claims 21 to 22,

the first facsimile transmission is received from the user before receiving the second facsimile transmission from the user; and

the plurality of pages of the first document and the plurality of pages of the second document are arranged in an attachment portion of the email message in an arrangement.

24. The computer program product of claim 23,

the first document comprising a cover page including a handwritten section and a user selectable option section; and

the optical recognition process includes processing the handwriting portion to determine the first destination email address and processing the user selectable option portion to determine the arrangement.

25. The computer program product according to any of the claims 21 to 24,

the digitized representation of the first document comprises a first multi-page document;

the digitized representation of the second document comprises a second multi-page document; and

the first plurality of pages and the second plurality of pages are selected from the group consisting of even pages of the document/odd pages of the document, pages from a first portion of the document/pages from a second portion of the document.

26. A computer system, comprising:

a memory configured to store a first facsimile transmission from a user, wherein the first facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a first document issued using a facsimile transmission format, wherein the memory is further configured to store at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document in an email attachment format, and the memory is further configured to store a second facsimile transmission from the user, wherein the second facsimile transmission comprises a digitized representation of a second document issued using the facsimile transmission format;

a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first destination email address, wherein the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the second document with an optical character recognition process to determine that the second facsimile transmission is related to the first facsimile transmission, wherein the processor is configured to combine at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document and at least a portion of the digitized representation of the second document into a combined digitized representation, and wherein the processor is configured to form an email message addressed to the destination email address, wherein the email message includes a body portion and an attachment portion, the body portion including advertising data and the attachment portion including the combined digital representation.

27. The computer system of claim 26,

in the combined digital representation, multiple pages of the first document are interleaved into the multiple pages of the second document, or the multiple pages of the second document are appended behind the multiple pages of the first document.

28. The computer system of any one of claims 26 to 27,

the processor is configured to process the digitized representation of the second document with the optical character recognition process to determine the first destination email address.

29. The computer system of any one of claims 26 to 28,

the first document includes a cover;

the optical character recognition process determines the first destination email address in response to a cover page in the first document.

30. The computer system of claim 29,

the optical character recognition process determines the first destination email address in response to a majority agreement of optical character recognition results of more than one optical character recognition target on a cover page in the first document.

31. A method for a computer system, comprising:

receiving a first transmission from a user, wherein the first transmission comprises a digitized representation of a first document sent using a first transmission format;

processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a first electronic destination, wherein the first electronic destination need not be known to the computer system prior to receiving the first transmission;

processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process to determine a file name of the portion of the digitized representation of the first document that is in the stored format;

reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document from the first transmission format into a storage format;

issuing an electronic transmission to the first electronic destination, wherein the electronic transmission includes the portion of the digitized representation of the first document in the stored format.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein issuing the electronic transmission includes delivering the portion of the digital representation of the first document in the stored format with a file name in a server.

33. The method of any one of claims 31 to 32,

the first electronic destination comprises account identification data; and

the file name is associated with the account identification data in the server.

34. The method of any one of claims 31 to 33,

processing the digitized representation of the first document with an optical character recognition process includes processing the digitized representation of the first document with the optical character recognition process to determine one or more identifiers associated with the electronic transmission; and

wherein the method further comprises:

providing the one or more identifiers to the first electronic destination;

wherein the first electronic destination comprises a storage server;

wherein the portion of the digitized representation of the first document that is in the storage format is associated with one or more identifiers in the storage server.

35. The method of claim 34,

the one or more identifiers associated with the electronic transmission are selected from a set of defined keywords.

36. A computer system, comprising:

a memory configured to store a first transmission from a user, wherein the first transmission comprises a digitized representation of a first document issued using a first transmission format; and

a processor coupled to the memory,

wherein the processor is configured to receive the first transmission from a user;

wherein the processor is configured to determine an electronic destination in response to an optical character recognition process of the digitized representation of the first document, wherein the electronic destination need not be known to a computer system prior to storing the first transmission in the memory;

wherein the processor is configured to form a first stored document by reformatting at least a portion of the digitized representation of the first document from the first transmission format to a storage format;

wherein the processor is configured to determine advertisement data in response to the first transmission; wherein the processor is further configured to process the digitized representation of the first document with the optical character recognition process to determine a file name of the first stored document; and

wherein the processor is configured to issue an electronic transmission to the first electronic destination, wherein the electronic transmission comprises a first stored document.

37. The computer system of claim 36,

the first electronic destination comprises a storage server; and

the electronically sending includes posting the first stored document on a storage server with the file name.

38. The computer system of any of claims 36-37, wherein a network transport protocol associated with the electronic transmission is selected from the group consisting of SMTP, HTTP, HTTPs, FTP.

39. The computer system of any one of claims 36 to 38,

the processor is further configured to determine an account identifier associated with the first transmission in response to optical character processing of the digitized representation of the first document with the optical character recognition process; and

the electronic transmission also includes an account identifier.

40. The computer system of any one of claims 36 to 39, wherein the storage format is selected from the group consisting of an industry standard format, an Adobe Acrobat compatible format, an image format,. jpg, and. bmp.

41. A computer program product for a computer system including a processor, comprising:

a tangible medium comprising:

code that instructs the processor to receive a first electronic transmission from a user, wherein the first electronic transmission comprises a digitized representation of a human-visible document emitted using a transmission format;

code that instructs the processor to process a digitized representation of a human-visible document with an optical character recognition process to determine the electronic destination, wherein the electronic destination is not required to be known by the computer system prior to receiving the first electronic transmission;

code that instructs the processor to format at least a portion of a digitized representation of a human-readable document into a storage format;

code that instructs the processor to process the digitized representation of the human-visual document with an optical character recognition process to determine a file name associated with the portion of the storage format in the digitized representation of the human-visual document; and

code that instructs the processor to issue a second electronic transmission to the electronic destination, wherein the second electronic transmission comprises the portion of the digitized representation of the human-viewable document that is in the stored format.

42. The computer program product of claim 41,

the storage format is selected from the group consisting of an industry standard format, adobe.

43. The computer program product according to any of claims 41 to 42,

the portion of the digitized representation of the first human-viewable document in the stored format is delivered to the electronic destination with the file name.

44. The computer program product of any of claims 41 to 43, further comprising code that instructs the processor to process the digitized representation of the human-visual document with the optical character recognition process to determine one or more identifiers associated with the portion of the stored format in the digitized representation of the human-visual document;

wherein the portion of the digitized representation of the human visual document in the stored format is delivered to the electronic destination under the file name and associated with the account identifier.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the one or more identifiers are selected from a predetermined list of identifiers.