Granted Patent B2

US 7,659,985 · App. 11/743,416 · Granted Feb 9, 2010

Abstract

Claims (37)

1. A method for an automated fax transmission system to allow a human that receives an attempted transmission of a fax document to interactively control delivery of the fax document, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a fax document to be transmitted;

determining a telephone number that is associated with a destination fax machine to which the fax document is to be transmitted;

initiating an attempt to transmit the fax document to the destination fax machine by using the determined telephone number to establish a telephone connection;

determining that the established telephone connection is with a human; and

automatically and in response to the determining that the established telephone connection is with a human,

providing a spoken message to the human over the established telephone connection that indicates at least one delivery option for the fax document;

receiving from the human over the established telephone connection an indication of a selection of at least one of the indicated delivery options; and

attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options,

so that the human recipient of the attempt to transmit the fax document can interactively control the delivery of the fax document.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the human selects the at least one delivery options by speaking words associated with those delivery options, and wherein the receiving of the indications from the human includes using an interactive voice response mechanism to identify the spoken words.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the human selects the at least one delivery options by specifying information via a keypad associated with a telephone used by the human as part of the connection.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected delivery options include delivering the fax document via an alternative telephone number, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes initiating an attempt to transmit the fax document that uses the alternative telephone number.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the selected delivery options further include delivering all future fax documents for the destination fax machine by using the alternative telephone number, and including:

storing an indication of an association between the destination fax machine and the alternative telephone number; and

for future fax documents for the destination fax machine, attempting to transmit those fax documents to the destination fax machine by using the alternative telephone number.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected delivery options include delivering the fax document via the determined telephone number at a later time selected by the human, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes attempting at the selected later time to transmit the fax document by using the determined telephone number.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected delivery options include delivering the fax document to the human as part of the established telephone connection by speaking text of the fax document, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes automatically converting the text of the fax document into corresponding spoken words that are transmitted to the human.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected delivery options include delivering the fax document as email, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes sending at least portions of the fax document as one or more email messages.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected delivery options include canceling delivery of the fax document via the determined telephone number, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes halting attempts to transmit the fax document.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the selected delivery options further include blocking delivery of all future fax documents via the determined telephone number, and including:

storing an indication of the determined telephone number as a blocked telephone number; and

preventing future fax documents from being transmitted using the determined telephone number.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected delivery options include suspending delivery of the fax document until further instructions are provided by the human, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes contacting of the human by a human operator in order to determine the further instructions.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the indication from the human of the selection of the delivery options includes receiving a voice message from the human to a sender of the fax document, and wherein the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options includes providing the received voice message to the sender.

13. The method of claim 1 including, before the attempting to deliver the fax document in accordance with the selected delivery options, verifying authority of the human to select the delivery options based on information provided by the human.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined telephone number is an incorrect telephone number such that the human is not associated with the destination fax machine.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining that the established telephone connection is with a human includes transmitting one or more signals in accordance with a fax transmission and identifying that a corresponding response signal is not received.

16. A computer-implemented method for allowing a human recipient of an attempted fax transmission to control the fax transmission, the method comprising:

attempting to initiate a fax transmission to a destination fax system by identifying a telephone number to be used with the fax transmission and establishing a telephone connection using the identified telephone number;

determining that the established telephone connection is with a device under control of a person;

providing a control mechanism with which the person can indicate how to control the fax transmission; and

after the person has indicated how to control the fax transmission, controlling the fax transmission based at least in part on the indication from the person.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the attempting to initiate the fax transmission includes, after the establishing of the telephone connection, transmitting one or more fax signals recognizable by a fax machine.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the attempting to initiate the fax transmission includes, after the establishing of the telephone connection, establishing a fax connection with a destination fax machine that is interrupted by the person joining the established telephone connection.

19. The method of claim 16 including, after the establishing of the telephone connection, determining that a destination fax machine is accessible via the established telephone connection and transmitting the fax transmission to the destination fax machine.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the providing of the control mechanism includes providing information to the person that indicates one or more available control options.

Assignments (8)