System and method for sending, delivery and receiving of faxes through computer based networks with a publicly switched telephone network as a backup
View Patent ↗Embodiment of systems and methods for the sending, delivery or receiving of faxes are disclosed herein. In particular, certain embodiments include a fax connector that may be deployed at users' sites, and a fax registration system that may be deployed remotely from these users' site. The fax connector can be accessed at a user's site over a computer based network in order to perform functions associated with faxing, including sending, receiving and obtaining status on faxes. The fax connector deployed at a sending user's site communicates with the fax registration system to obtain destination data associated with a recipient user's fax connector and transmits the fax to the destination fax connector over the computer based network based on the destination data obtained from the registration system. The fax can then be presented to the recipient at the recipient user's site.
1. A system for faxing, comprising:
a computer device with a processor, wherein the computer device is coupled to a fax registration system over a network and the computer device comprises a computer readable memory having instructions executable for implementing a fax connector configured for:
receiving at a sending fax system, from a separate client device, a request to send a fax to a destination on a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN);
determining a location on a computer based network associated with the destination on the PSTN by sending a request for the location associated with the destination on the PSTN to the fax registration system and receiving the location associated with the destination on the PSTN at the sending fax system, wherein the location associated with destination on the PSTN comprises a URL;
receiving a public key for the location associated with the destination on the PSTN from the fax registration system;
encrypting the fax with the public key prior to transmitting the fax to the URL;
connecting to a fax receiving system at the URL; and
transmitting the fax from the sending fax system to the URL over the computer based network, including:
transmitting the fax as a plurality of chunks;
calculating a sent chunk checksum for a chunk of the fax;
receiving a received chunk checksum for the chunk from the fax receiving system;
determining if the sent chunk checksum and received chunk checksum match; and
in response to determining that the received chunk checksum and sent chunk checksum do not match, transmitting the fax over the PSTN.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fax connector is further configured for determining if an error occurred during transmitting the fax and if an error occurred, sending the fax to the destination on the PSTN over the PSTN.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the fax connector is further configured for determining if the destination is one of a first set of registered destinations at the sending fax system.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the fax connector is further configured for synchronizing the first set of registered destinations at the sending fax system with a second set of registered destinations at the fax registration system.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the destination on the PSTN was registered at the fax registration system in association with the location on the computer based network.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fax registration system is deployed on a cloud based computing platform.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the location on the computer based network is provided by the cloud based computing platform.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fax connector is further configured for:
sending a request to initiate the transmission to the URL; and
receiving a token from the fax receiving system to utilize for transmission of the fax.
9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising the fax registration system, wherein the fax registration system is configured for storing a plurality of destinations on the PSTN, URLs associated with the destinations on the PSTN and public keys associated with the destinations on the PSTN.
10. A method for faxing, comprising:
receiving at a sending fax system, from a separate client device, a request to send a fax to a destination on a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN);
determining a location on a computer based network associated with the destination on the PSTN by sending a request for the location associated with the destination on the PSTN to a fax registration system and receiving the location associated with the destination on the PSTN at the sending fax system, wherein the location associated with the destination on the PSTN comprises a URL;
receiving a public key for the location associated with the destination on the PSTN from the fax registration system;
encrypting the fax with the public key prior to transmitting the fax to the URL;
connecting to a fax receiving system at the URL; and
transmitting the fax from the sending fax system to the location over the computer based network, including:
transmitting the fax as a plurality of chunks;
calculating a sent chunk checksum for a chunk of the fax;
receiving a received chunk checksum for the chunk from the fax receiving system z
determining if the sent chunk checksum and received chunk checksum match; and
in response to determining that the received chunk checksum and sent chunk checksum do not match, transmitting the fax over the PSTN.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining if an error occurred during transmitting the fax and if an error occurred, sending the fax to the destination on the PSTN over the PSTN.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining if the destination is one of a first set of registered destinations at the sending fax system.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising synchronizing the first set of registered destinations at the sending fax system with a second set of registered destinations at the fax registration system.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the destination on the PSTN was registered at the fax registration system in association with the location on the computer based network.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the fax registration system is deployed on a cloud based computing platform.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the location on the computer based network is provided by the cloud based computing platform.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
sending a request to initiate the transmission to the URL; and
receiving a token from the fax receiving system with the URL to utilize for transmission of the fax.
18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising storing at the fax registration system a plurality of destinations on the PSTN, URLs associated with the destinations on the PSTN and public keys associated with the destinations on the PSTN.
19. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising instructions for:
receiving at a sending fax system, from a separate client device, a request to send a fax to a destination on a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN);
determining a location on a computer based network associated with the destination on the PSTN by sending a request for the location associated with the on the PSTN to a fax registration system and receiving the location associated with the destination on the PSTN at the sending fax system, wherein the location associated with the destination on the PSTN comprises a URL;
receiving a public key for the location associated with the destination on the PSTN from the fax registration system;
encrypting the fax with the public key prior to transmitting the fax to the URL;
connecting to a fax receiving system at the URL; and
transmitting the fax from the sending fax system to the URL over the computer based network, including:
transmitting the fax as a plurality of chunks;
calculating a sent chunk checksum for a chunk of the fax;
receiving a received chunk checksum for the chunk from the fax receiving system;
determining if the sent chunk checksum and received chunk checksum match; and
in response to determining that the received chunk checksum and sent chunk checksum do not match, transmitting the fax over the PSTN.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions are further for determining if an error occurred during transmitting the fax and if an error occurred, sending the fax to the destination on the PSTN over the PSTN.
21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions are further for determining if the destination is one of a first set of registered destinations at the sending fax system.
22. The computer readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the instructions are further for synchronizing the first set of registered destinations at the sending fax system with a second set of registered destinations at the fax registration system.
23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the destination on the PSTN was registered at the fax registration system in association with the location on the computer based network.
24. The computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the fax registration system is deployed on a cloud based computing platform.
25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 , herein the location on the computer based network is provided by the cloud based computing platform.
26. The computer readable medium of claim 19 , further comprising instructions for:
sending a request to initiate the transmission to the URL; and
receiving a token from the fax receiving system with the URL to utilize for transmission of the fax.