Message storage and delivery system - Patent Review 5675507

Claims

I claim:

1. A network message storage and delivery system, comprising:

means for receiving an incoming call and for detecting an address signal associated with said incoming call, said address signal associated with a user of said message storage and delivery system;

means for receiving a message accompanied with said address signal, said message being in a first file format;

means for converting said message from said first file format to a second file format;

means for storing said message in said second file format in a storage area;

means for receiving a request from said user for said message and for retrieving said message from said storage area; and

means for transmitting a least a portion of said message in said second file format to said user;

wherein said portion of said message is transmitted to said user over the network, said second file format is a mixed media page layout language and comprises a standard generalized mark-up language.

2. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising means for notifying said user of said message.

3. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said notifying means comprises means for sending an E-mail message to said user.

4. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said notifying means provides said user with information on a type of said message.

5. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said notifying means comprises means for paging said user.

6. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 5, wherein said paging means comprises an alphanumeric pager.

7. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message.

8. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a data message.

9. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a voice message.

10. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for receiving said incoming call receives said incoming call over a DID trunk.

11. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 10, wherein said means for receiving said incoming call receives incoming calls over a plurality of DID trunks.

12. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for receiving said message detects whether said message comprises any one of a facsimile message, a data message, or a voice message.

13. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for receiving said request from said user comprises a hyper-text protocol deamon for receiving said request over the Internet.

14. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message, said first file format comprises TIFF/F, said second file format comprises HTML, and said converting means embeds a reduced size image of at least one page of said facsimile message within said second file format.

15. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 14, wherein said reduced size image of said one page is provided as an anchor to a full size view of said one page.

16. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message, said first file format comprises TIFF/F, said second file format comprises HTML, and said converting means embeds a full size image of at least one page of said facsimile message within said second file format.

17. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message, said first file format comprises TIFF/F, said second file format comprises HTML, and said converting means generates a listing of all facsimile messages associated with said user.

18. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said system further comprises previewing means for sending said user a listing of all facsimile messages for said user along with a reduced size image of a first page for each facsimile message.

19. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 18, wherein each reduced size image of the first page comprises an anchor and said transmitting means transmits the facsimile message associated with said anchor to said user when said user selects said anchor.

20. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said system further comprises previewing means for sending said user a listing of all facsimile messages for said user along with a full size image of a first page of each facsimile message.

21. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said system further comprises previewing means for sending said user a reduced size image of each page of said facsimile message.

22. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 21, wherein each reduced size image comprises an anchor to a full size image of the respective page.

23. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said system further comprises previewing means for sending said user a full size image of each page of said facsimile message.

24. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for receiving said incoming call comprises a central processor and said means for receiving said request from said user comprises a network server.

25. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said second file format comprises a grey scale image of said facsimile message.

26. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 25, wherein said image of said facsimile message comprises a full size image of said facsimile message.

27. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 25, wherein said image of said facsimile message comprises a reduced size image of said facsimile message.

28. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said message comprises an audio message and said transmitting means transmits all of said message to said user, said system further comprising means for playing said audio message in real time as said message is received by said user.

29. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said network comprises the Internet.

30. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said standard generalized mark-up language comprises hyper-text mark-up language.

31. A network message storage and delivery system, comprising:

a central processor for receiving an incoming call, for detecting an address signal on said incoming call, for detecting a message on said incoming call, and for placing said message in a storage area, said address signal being associated with a user of said network message storage and delivery system;

a network server for receiving said message from said storage area, for converting said message into a mixed media page layout language, and for placing said message in said storage area;

wherein when said network server receives a request from said user over said network, said network server transmits at least a portion of said message over said network to said user and wherein said network comprises the Internet and said network server comprises an Internet server.

32. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said central processor comprises a pulse/tone decoder for detecting said address signal and a digital signal processor for detecting said message.

33. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said network server comprises a hyper-text transfer protocol deamon for receiving said request from said user.

34. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said network server sends said user an E-mail message after said message has been received by said central processor.

35. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said network server is connected to a paging system for paging said user after said message has been received by said central processor.

36. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said central processor is connected to a DID trunk and said incoming call is received over said DID trunk.

37. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said central processor is connected to a plurality of DID trunks and said incoming call is received over one of said DID trunks.

38. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein message comprises a facsimile message and said network server converts said facsimile message from TIFF/F into a hyper-text mark-up language file.

39. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein message comprises a data message and said network server converts said data message into a hyper-text mark-up language file.

40. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein message comprises a voice message and said network server converts said voice message into a hyper-text mark-up language file.

41. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said network server generates a grey scale image of said facsimile message.

42. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 41, wherein said grey scale image of said facsimile message comprises a full size image of said facsimile message.

43. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 41, wherein said grey scale image of said facsimile message comprises a reduced size image of said facsimile message.

44. The message storage and delivery system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said message comprises an audio message and said network server transmits all of said message to said user, said system further comprising means for playing said audio message in real time to said user as said message is received by said user.

45. The system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said network server is for converting said message into a standard generalized mark-up language.

46. The system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said network server is for converting said message into a hyper-text mark-up language.

47. A method of storing and delivering a message for a user, comprising the steps of:

receiving an incoming call and detecting an address signal associated with said incoming call, said address signal associated with a user;

receiving a message associated with said address signal, said message being in a first file format;

converting said message from said first file format to a second file format;

storing said message in said second file format in a storage area;

receiving a request from said user for said message and retrieving said message from said storage area; and

transmitting at least a portion of said message in said second file format to said user;

wherein said step of transmitting occurs over a network, said step of converting said message converts said message into a mixed media page layout language, and said step of transmitting occurs over the Internet.

48. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said step of receiving said incoming call comprises the step of receiving said incoming call over a DID trunk.

49. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said step of receiving said message accompanied with said address signal comprises the step of detecting a type of said message.

50. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 49, wherein said step of detecting a type of said message comprises the step of detecting whether said message is a facsimile message, a voice message, or a data message.

51. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and said step of converting comprises the step of converting said message from said TIFF/F to hyper-text mark-up language.

52. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said message comprises a voice message and said step of converting comprises the step of converting said message to hyper-text mark-up language.

53. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said message comprises a data message and said step of converting comprises the step of converting said message to hyper-text mark-up language.

54. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, further comprising a step of generating a listing of all messages for said user.

55. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 54, wherein said step of generating said listing comprises the step of generating a textual listing of all messages.

56. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 54, wherein said messages comprise facsimile messages and said step of generating said listing comprises the step of generating said listing of all messages along with a reduced size image of a first page of each facsimile message.

57. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said messages comprise facsimile messages and further comprising a step of providing a reduced size image of a page for one of said messages and permitting said user to scroll through pages of said one message.

58. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said messages comprise facsimile messages and further comprising the steps of providing a full size image of a page for one of said messages and permitting said user to scroll through pages of said one message.

59. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, further comprising the step of notifying said user of said message.

60. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 59, wherein said step of notifying comprises the step of sending E-mail to said user.

61. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 59, wherein said step of notifying comprises the step of paging said user.

62. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said message comprises a facsimile message and step of converting said message further comprises the step of generating a grey scale image of said facsimile message.

63. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 62, wherein said step of generating said grey scale image comprises the step of generating a full size image of said facsimile message.

64. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 62, wherein said step of generating said grey scale image comprises the step of generating a reduced size image of said facsimile message.

65. The method of storing and delivering as set forth in claim 47, wherein said step of receiving comprises the step of receiving an audio message, said step of transmitting comprises the step of transmitting all of said audio message to said user, and further comprising the step of playing said audio message in real time as said message is being received by said user.

66. The method as set forth in claim 47, wherein said step of converting comprises a step of converting mid message into a standard generalized mark-up language.

67. The method as set forth in claim 47, wherein said step of converting comprises a step of converting said message into a hyper-text mark-up language.

68. A network message storage and delivery system, comprising:

means for receiving an incoming call and for detecting an address signal associated with said incoming call, said address signal associated with a user of said message storage and delivery system;

means for receiving a message accompanied with said address signal, said massage being in a first file format;

means for converting said message from said first file format to a second file format;

means for storing said message in said second file format in a storage area;

means for receiving a request from said user for said message and for retrieving said message from said storage area; and

means for transmitting a least a portion of said message in said second file format to said user;

wherein said portion of said message is transmitted to said user over the network, said second file format is a mixed media page layout language, and said network comprises the Internet.

69. The system as set forth in claim 68, wherein said mixed media page layout language comprises a standard generalized page layout language.

70. The system as set forth in claim 68, wherein said mixed media page layout language comprises a hyper-text mark-up language.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a system for storing and delivering messages and, more particularly, to a system for storing messages and for delivery the messages through a network, such as the internet, or a telephone line to an intended recipient.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Even though the facsimile machine is heavily relied upon by businesses of all sizes and is quickly becoming a standard piece of office equipment, many businesses or households cannot receive the benefits of the facsimile machine. Unfortunately, for a small business or for a private household, a facsimile machine is a rather expensive piece of equipment. In addition to the cost of purchasing the facsimile machine, the facsimile machine also requires toner, paper, maintenance, as well as possible repairs. These expenses may be large enough to prevent many of the small businesses and certainly many households from benefitting from the service that the facsimile machine can provide. For others who are constantly traveling and who do not have an office, it may be impractical to own a facsimile machine. In fact, the Atlanta Business Chronicle estimates that 30% of the small businesses do not have any facsimile machines. Therefore, many businesses and households are at a disadvantage since they do not have access to a facsimile machine.

Because a facsimile machine can be such an asset to a company and are heavily relied upon to quickly transmit and receive documents, a problem exists in that the machines are not always available to receive a facsimile message. At times, a facsimile machine may be busy receiving another message or the machine may be transmitting a message of its own. During these times, a person must periodically attempt to send the message until communication is established with the desired facsimile machine. This can be frustrating, can consume quite a bit of the person's time, and prevent the person from performing more productive tasks. While some more advanced facsimile machines will retry to establish communication a number of times, a person will still have to check on the facsimile machine to ensure that the message was transmitted or to re-initiate the transmission of the message.

In addition to labor costs and a reduction in office efficiency, a facsimile machine may present costs to businesses that are not readily calculated. These costs include the loss of business or the loss of goodwill that occurs when the facsimile machine is not accessible by another facsimile machine. These costs can occur for various reasons, such as when the facsimile machine is out of paper, when the machine needs repairing, or when the facsimile machine is busy with another message. These costs occur more frequently with some of the smaller businesses, who are also less able to incur these expenses, since many of them have a single phone line for a telephone handset and the facsimile machine and thereby stand to lose both telephone calls and facsimile messages when the single line is busy. In fact, the Atlanta Business Chronicle estimated that fewer than 5% of the small businesses have 2 or more facsimile machines. Many of the larger companies can reduce these losses by having more than one facsimile machine and by having calls switched to another machine when one of the machines is busy. These losses, however, cannot be completely eliminated since the machines can still experience a demand which exceeds their capabilities.

A main benefit of the facsimile machine, namely the quick transfer of documents, does not necessarily mean that the documents will quickly be routed to the intended recipient. The facsimile machines may be unattended and a received facsimile message may not be noticed until a relatively long period of time has elapsed. Further, even for those machines which are under constant supervision, the routing procedures established in an office may delay the delivery of the documents. It is therefore a problem in many offices to quickly route the facsimile message to the intended recipient.

The nature of the facsimile message also renders it difficult for the intended recipient to receive a sensitive message without having the message exposed to others in the office who can intercept and read the message. If the intended recipient is unaware that the message is being sent, other people may see the message while it is being delivered or while the message remains next to the machine. When the intended recipient is given notice that a sensitive message is being transmitted, the intended recipient must wait near the facsimile machine until the message is received. It was therefore difficult to maintain the contents of a facsimile message confidential.

In an office with a large number of employees, it may also be difficult to simply determine where the facsimile message should be routed. In light of this difficulty, some systems have been developed to automatically route facsimile messages to their intended recipient. One type of system, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,112 to Okada, can route an incoming call to a particular facsimile machine based upon codes entered with telephone push-buttons by the sender of the message. Another type of system, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,326 to Burgess et al. or in U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,591 to Baran, requires the sender to use a specially formatted cover page which is read by the system. This type of system, however, burdens the sender, who may very well be a client or customer, by requiring the sender to take special steps or additional steps to transmit a facsimile message. These systems are therefore not very effective or desirable.

Another type of routing system links a facsimile machine to a Local Area Network (LAN) in an office. For instance, in the systems disclosed in the patents to Baran and Burgess et al., after the system reads the cover sheet to determine the intended recipient of the facsimile message, the systems send an E-mail message to the recipient through the local network connecting the facsimile machine to the recipient's computer. Other office systems, such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,790 to Silverberg and U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,546 to Giler et al., are linked to the office's voice mail system and may leave a message with the intended recipient that a facsimile message has been received. Some systems which are even more advanced, such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,628 to Misholi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,266 to Boaz et al., are connected to an office's local network and provide integrated control of voice messages, E-mail messages, and facsimile messages.

The various systems for routing facsimile messages, and possibly messages of other types received in the office, are very sophisticated and expensive systems. While these office systems are desirable in that they can effectively route the messages at the office to their intended recipients, the systems are extremely expensive and only those companies with a great number of employees can offset the costs of the system with the benefits that the system will provide to their company. Thus, for most businesses, it still remains a problem to effectively and quickly route messages to the intended recipients. It also remains a problem for most businesses to route the messages in a manner which can preserve the confidential nature of the messages.

Even for the businesses that have a message routing system and especially for those that do not have any type of system, it is usually difficult for a person to retrieve facsimile messages while away from the office. Typically, a person away on business must call into the office and be informed by someone in the office as to the facsimile messages that have been received. Consequently, the person must call into the office during normal business hours while someone is in the office and is therefore limited in the time that the information in a facsimile message can be relayed.

If the person away on business wants to look at the facsimile message, someone at the office must resend the message to a facsimile machine accessible to that person. Since this accessible machine is often a facsimile machine at another business or at a hotel where the person is lodging, it is difficult for the person to receive the facsimile message without risking disclosure of its contents. Further, since someone at the person's office must remember to send the message and since someone at the accessible facsimile machine must route the message to the person away from the office, the person may not receive all of the facsimile messages or may have to wait to receive the messages.

The retrieval of facsimile messages, as well as voice mail messages, while away from the office is not without certain costs. For one, the person often must incur long distance telephone charges when the person calls the office to check on the messages and to have someone in the office send the messages to another facsimile. The person will then incur the expenses of transmitting the message to a fax bureau or hotel desk as well as the receiving location's own charges for use of their equipment. While these charges are certainly not too substantial, the charges are nonetheless expenses incurred while the person is away from the office.

Overall, while the facsimile machine is an indispensable piece of equipment for many businesses, the facsimile machine presents a number of problems or costs. For one, many businesses or households are disadvantaged since they are unable to reap the benefits of the facsimile machine. For the businesses that do have facsimile machines, the businesses must incur the normal costs of operating the facsimile machine in addition to the costs that may be incurred when the facsimile machine or machines are unable to receive a message. Further, the facsimile messages may not be efficiently or reliably routed to the intended recipient and may have its contents revealed during the routing process. The costs and problems in routing a facsimile message are compounded when the intended recipient is away from the office.

Many of the problems associated with facsimile messages are not unique to just facsimile messages but are also associated with voice mail messages and data messages. With regard to voice messages, many businesses do not have voice mail systems and must write the message down. Thus, the person away from the office must call in during normal office hours to discover who has called. The information in these messages are usually limited to just the person who called, their number, and perhaps some indication as to the nature of the call. For those businesses that have voice mail, the person away from the office must call in and frequently incur long distance charges. Thus, there is a need for a system for storing and delivery voice messages which can be easily and inexpensively accessed at any time.

With regard to data messages, the transmission of the message often requires some coordination between the sender and the recipient. For instance, the recipient's computer must be turned on to receive the message, which usually occurs only when someone is present during normal office hours. Consequently, the recipient's computer is usually only able to receive a data message during normal offic