System, Method and Apparatus for an Interactive Virtual Fax Machine

摘要

A system, method, and apparatus for a virtual fax machine are provided. In one embodiment, a system for a virtual fax machine is provided including a computer configured to display a virtual fax machine based on a script, a server configured to receive at least one electronic document associated with a fax to be sent using the virtual fax machine, and a traditional facsimile machine configured to receive the fax to be sent. In another embodiment, an apparatus for a virtual fax machine is provided including a computer configured to locate and execute a script associated with a virtual fax machine, display the virtual fax machine, associate at least one electronic document with a fax to be sent, encode the at least one electronic document to a form suitable for communication over a network, and transmit the encoded electronic document over the network as the fax to be sent.

主权项

1. A method of sending faxes, comprising:
a computer receiving one or more scripts associated with a virtual fax machine from a server; the computer interpreting the one or more scripts associated with the virtual fax machine; the computer displaying the virtual fax machine on a display of the computer in accordance with the one or more scripts associated with the virtual fax machine, the virtual fax machine including a send paper tray representation; responsive to a user selection of one or more documents related to the send paper tray representation, the computer associating the one or more documents with a fax in accordance with the one or more scripts associated with the virtual fax machine; responsive to the user commencing transmission of the fax, the computer processing the one or more documents into encoded one or more electronic documents in accordance with the one or more scripts associated with the virtual fax machine; and the computer transmitting the encoded one or more electronic documents to the server over a packet-switched data network, wherein the server receives the encoded one or more electronic documents and routes the encoded one or more electronic documents to a facsimile service and wherein the facsimile service transcodes the encoded one or more electronic documents into transcoded one or more electronic documents and transmits the transcoded one or more electronic documents to one or more fax machines over a public switched telephone network.