FAX-THROUGH DATA NETWORK AND REMOTE ACCESS SYSTEM

摘要

A FAX-through data network (100) includes a receiver side LAN end station (108) and a sender side LAN end station (110). A first converter (120) receives a FAX communication from the sender FAX (104) and generates a FAX packet (112), which includes a receiver FAX-network ID. A FAX-network server (150) receives the FAX packet (112), extracts the receiver FAX-network ID, performs a lookup of a destination IP address in a mapping table (900) and forwards the FAX packet (112) to the destination IP address. Multiple mapping tables (902, 906, 908, 912) can be distributed in a hierarchical fashion, allowing querying and updating of multiple lookup tables as needed. A second converter (170) intercepts and identifies the FAX packet (112), extracts the FAX communication from the FAX packet (112), establishes a communication with the receiver FAX (106) without routing a signal through the PSTN and transmits the FAX communication to the receiver FAX machine (106).