Method and apparatus for telephonically accessing and navigating the internet
View Patent ↗A method for accessing and browsing the internet through the use of a telephone and the associated DTMF signals is disclosed. The preferred embodiment provides a system that converts the information content of a web page from text to speech (voice signals), signals the hyperlink selections of a web page in an audio manner, and allows selection of the hyperlinks through the use of DTMF signals generated from a telephone keypad. Upon receiving a DTMF signal corresponding to a hyperlink, the corresponding web page is fetched and again delivered to the user via one of the available delivery methods such as voice, fax-on-demand, electronic mail, or regular mail.
1. A method comprising:
receiving a data signal transmitted from a telephone, the data signal including an address of a web page;
retrieving the web page from a computer system using the address; and
transmitting, by the computer system, a facsimile copy of the web page.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a response to the telephone.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the response includes voice signals.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the facsimile copy is a Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) file.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises:
searching a database for an existing facsimile copy of the web page; and
transmitting the existing facsimile copy.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises:
generating a facsimile copy of the web page; and
transmitting the generated facsimile copy.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
storing the generated facsimile copy in a database.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises:
concatenating a first file to a second file.