Multiple part facsimile form

Disclosed is a multi-part form comprising a form set with a first form part having prerecorded information thereon and overlying a second form part. Variable information recorded on the first form part is transferred to the second form part, preferably by carbonless transfer using infrared adsorptive dyes, such that the variable information appearing on the second form part is readable by current standard facsimile machines. The second form part is preferably blank, although a minimal quantity of prerecorded information may be provided on the second form part. The second form part is then used as the transmission copy for a facsimile machine whereby reduced time and costs of transmission is effected. The received copy of the facsimile transmission may be provided with an overlay whereby a reproduction of the first form part, including both variable and prerecorded information, may be provided.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a multi-part form for receiving variable 
information and particularly relates to a form having a first part with 
prerecorded information thereon and a second part with little or no 
prerecorded information thereon but which may receive the variable 
information recorded on the first part, preferably by carbonless transfer, 
whereby the second part may be used as a transmission copy for facsimile 
machines. 
Facsimile machines are currently being used to a greater and greater 
extent. Apart from the initial costs of purchasing a facsimile machine, 
the cost of transmitting information by way of facsimile transmission is a 
function of the time of transmission and hence the quantity of information 
being transmitted. To reduce facsimile transmission costs, the quantity of 
information and hence time of transmission may be reduced consistent with 
the capacity to transmit intelligible information. One of the drawbacks of 
transmitting information according to current practice is the need to 
transmit known, for example, prerecorded, information, in conjunction with 
the variable information. For example, business forms are typically 
preprinted. When a business form is completed by typing or otherwise 
recording variable information on the preprinted form, the form itself or 
a copy of the form is used as the facsimile transmission document. This, 
of course, necessitates the transmission of both the known preprinted 
information, together with the variable information The recipient of the 
information is quite frequently well aware of the nature and extent of the 
preprinted information and oftentimes has the same form in blank with the 
preprinted information thereon. Consequently, the time and costs 
associated with the transmission of known preprinted information are, in 
many instances, totally unnecessary. 
According to the present invention, there is provided a multi-part form, a 
first part of which has prerecorded, e.g., preprinted, information 
thereon, and a second part, which has a minimum of prerecorded information 
and may, in fact, be entirely blank without any prerecorded information. 
The first part of the form with the preprinted information thereon may be 
used to record the variable information in the appropriate spaces usually 
provided for such variable information. Transfer of the variable 
information onto the second form is provided. Preferably, carbonless 
transfer is employed using infrared adsorptive dyes such that the variable 
information recorded on the second part of the form may be recognized by 
all currently standard facsimile machines. Facsimile machines presently 
known to applicant will all recognize infrared adsorptive dyes, while not 
all facsimile machines will recognize dyes other than infrared adsorptive 
dyes. Consequently, in accordance with the present invention, only the 
second part of the two-part form may be employed as the transmission copy 
for the facsimile machine. 
It will be appreciated that if such second part is initially blank and 
contains only the variable information transferred thereon from the first 
part, the time and hence the cost of the facsimile transmission will be 
substantially reduced in comparison with the time and costs of 
transmitting the same variable information by facsimile machine but 
including the non-variable information, similarly as if the first part was 
transmitted. More generally, the present invention provides a form set 
which facilitates recordation of variable information on the form while 
reducing the quantity of information transmitted by facsimile by using the 
second part of the form for transmitting substantially only the variable 
information with little or no, non-variable information thereon whereby 
facsimile transmission costs are substantially reduced. 
Where it is desirable at the facsimile transmission receiving site to 
register the received variable information with the non-variable 
information previously contained on the first part of the form or with 
different non-variable information, an appropriate overlay may be used on 
the received copy. Thus, for example, the arrangement of the variable 
information on the received copy may match and register with the 
arrangement of non-variable information on an overlay similarly or 
differently as the non-variable information was originally on the first, 
non-transmitted, part of the form set. Thus, the transmitted variable 
information may regain its intelligible characteristics in registry with 
the non-variable information, if it is not otherwise intelligible per se. 
Accordingly, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present 
invention, there is provided a multi-part form for receiving variable 
information and transmitting the variable information on a facsimile 
machine, comprising a form set having first and second form parts, with 
the first form part having preprinted information thereon and the second 
form part underlying the first form part and being entirely void of 
preprinted information thereon. Means are carried by the form set for 
transferring variable information recorded on the first part onto the 
second part such that the variable information recorded on the second part 
may be transmitted by facsimile using the second part as the facsimile 
transmittal copy 
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is 
provided a method of transmitting by facsimile machine variable 
information recorded on a form, comprising the steps of providing a form 
set having a first part with preprinted information thereon and a second 
part underlying the first part with a lesser content of preprinted 
information thereon, providing for carbonless transfer of variable 
information recorded on the first part onto the second part and 
transmitting the information on the second part by facsimile machine 
thereby transmitting information of reduced informational content on the 
second part as compared with the informational content of the first part 
to reduce facsimile transmission time and costs. 
In a still further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is 
provided a method of transmitting by facsimile machine variable 
information recorded on a form comprising the steps of providing a form 
set having a first part and a second part, recording information including 
variable information on the first part, providing for carbonless transfer 
of at least a portion of the variable information recorded on the first 
part onto the second part and transmitting the information on the second 
part by facsimile machine using the second form part as the transmittal 
document thereby transmitting at least the portion of the variable 
information on the second part whereby facsimile transmittal time and 
costs are reduced. 
In a still further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is 
provided a method for transmitting by facsimile machine variable 
information recorded on a form set and correlating the transmitted 
variable information with prerecorded information, comprising the steps of 
providing a form set having a first part and a second part, recording 
information including variable information on the first part, providing 
for carbonless transfer of at least a portion of the variable information 
recorded on the first part onto the second part, transmitting the 
information on the second part by facsimile machine using the second form 
part as the transmittal document thereby transmitting at least the portion 
of the variable information on the second part and recording the 
transmitted information at a facsimile machine receiving site on facsimile 
receiving paper. Prerecorded information is juxtaposed adjacent the 
received variable information on the facsimile receiving paper to 
facilitate correlation of the received variable information with the 
prerecorded information. 
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a 
novel and improved multi-part facsimile form set and a method of 
transmitting variable information by facsimile wherein the time and hence 
the costs of facsimile transmission can be greatly reduced. 
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will 
become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, 
appended claims and drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of 
the invention, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying 
drawings. 
Referring now to the drawings, particularly to FIG. 1, there is illustrated 
a multi-part form, generally designated 10, for receiving variable 
information and transmitting variable information on a facsimile machine. 
The form 10 includes a form set having first and second form parts 12 and 
14, respectively. While not illustrated, the form parts 12 and 14 may be 
releasably joined one to the other along corresponding edges, for example, 
by a suitable adhesive or mechanically or they may be joined by adhesive 
with registering lines of perforations whereby the forms may be detached 
one from the other along the lines of perforations. Alternatively, as 
illustrated, the two form parts may be initially loose and unattached 
relative to one another. 
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the first form part 12 has prerecorded 
information thereon, i.e., in this case, preprinted information, 
designated 16. The prerecorded information may comprise a series of 
information blocks with indicators specifying the nature of variable 
information to be completed on the prerecorded form. For example, the 
date, customer order number, department, the name and address of a 
customer, the quantity, description price and amount of the products being 
sold, may be prerecorded on the first form part 12. Other types of 
prerecorded information, of course, may be provided on the first part 12 
as desired. It will be appreciated that this prerecorded information 16 
would be common to each of the first form part of a plurality of such form 
sets. 
The first part 12 of the form 10 may thus be completed by recording 
variable information in the appropriate information blocks. For example, 
the name and address of the purchaser may be completed in the prerecorded 
block which specifies that such information should be completed in that 
block. Variable information, such as the quantity, description, price and 
amount of the products being sold may likewise be completed in the usual 
fashion on the form in the blocks specified for that type of information. 
Such information may be handwritten, typed, or otherwise, as desired. 
The underside of the first form part 12 may carry a carbonless 
pressure-sensitive copy-making coating adapted to produce on an 
underlying, also coated, region of the upper surface of a next sheet, 
i.e., the second form part 14, a replica of what is pressed on the first 
form part 12 from above. Carbonless coatings for reproduction purposes are 
well known in this art, a representative example of which is disclosed in 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,174 of common assignee herewith. Preferably, in 
accordance with the present invention, rupturable micro-capsules 
containing infrared adsorptive dyes are provided as the coating along the 
underside of the form part 12 for reaction with the coating on the form 
part 14. Such coating may comprise any one or more of the infrared 
adsorptive dyes disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,631,084; 4,623,391; 
4,482,378; 4,636,258; and 3,959,571. Infrared adsorptive dyes are employed 
as the carbonless transfer agent in the present invention because such 
dyes are readable by all current standard facsimile machines, whereas 
certain other dyes are not. Thus, it is important in the present invention 
that the variable information 18 provided on the first form part 12 and 
replicated on the second form part 14 be readable by all currently 
standard facsimile machines. Obviously, the present invention may also be 
applicable to other types of information transfer systems, such as using 
carbon paper, provided only that the resulting information transferred 
onto the second form part is readable by a facsimile machine. 
The second form part 14 may simply comprise a blank sheet of paper with no 
prerecorded or preprinted information thereon (although in the preferred 
carbonless transfer system it does have a reactive coating on its upper 
surface). Alternatively, the second form part 14 may have a limited 
quantity of prerecorded information. In accordance with the present 
invention, to the extent prerecorded information is provided the second 
form part 14, it would be of lesser quantity than the prerecorded 
information on the first form part 12 in order that the advantages of the 
present invention may be achieved. Also, any such prerecorded information 
provided the second part may be identical to only a portion of the 
prerecorded information on the first form part 12 or may be entirely 
different from or may correspond to some of the prerecorded information of 
the first part and include certain additional prerecorded information. 
Preferably, however, form part 14 is blank. Consequently, when the 
variable information is provided on first form part 12, it is transferred 
or replicated by carbonless transfer using the infrared adsorptive dyes 
onto the second form part 14. Of course, the variable information 
reproduced on the second form part 14 will lie in the exact areas of the 
second form part which underlie and correspond to the areas of the first 
form part 12. 
In using the form set of the present invention and with reference 
particularly to FIG. 2, the variable information recorded on form 10 may 
be transmitted by facsimile machine. In FIG. 2, there is illustrated a 
sending facsimile machine, generally designated 20, and a receiving 
facsimile machine, generally designated 22. These facsimile machines may 
be of any standard type and identical one to the other for both sending 
and receiving. To transmit information in accordance with the present 
invention, only the second form part 14 is employed as the transmitting 
copy. Thus, the transmitting copy 14 is inserted into the sending slot of 
the sending facsimile machine 20 and transmitted over telephone lines, as 
generally indicated by the dashed arrow 24. It will be appreciated that 
the costs of transmitting facsimile messages is a function of the time of 
transmission and that the time of transmission is, in turn, a function of 
the quantity of information being transmitted. Thus, by wholly eliminating 
the prerecorded information from the transmission copy and which was used 
principally only to assist in the recording of the variable information on 
the form set, the quantity of information actually transmitted by the 
sending facsimile machine 20 is greatly reduced. Even if a minimal 
quantity of prerecorded information is provided on the second form part 
14, the quantity of information transmitted and, hence, the time and cost 
of transmission, would be greatly reduced in comparison with the time and 
cost of transmission of the first form part 12 with both the prerecorded 
and variable information thereon. 
The receiving facsimile machine 22, of course, reproduces the transmitted 
information on a blank receiving copy. In the preferred embodiment, only 
the variable information is thus reproduced on the receiving copy, 
designated 26 in FIG. 2. Of course, the variable information originally 
recorded on the second form part 14 will appear on the received copy 26 at 
the exact positions and spacing as it appeared on the second form part 14. 
Thus, the received copy may provide all the information that the recipient 
requires with respect to the variable information initially recorded on 
the form set. 
If it is desired to reproduce the variable information recorded on the 
received copy 26, in the exact form in which it was originally presented 
on the form set 10, an overlay 28, as illustrated in FIG. 3, may be 
provided for this purpose. In FIG. 3, the received copy 26 is illustrated 
with the variable information 18 recorded thereon. The overlay 28 may have 
prerecorded non-variable information thereon identical to the prerecorded 
information on the first form part 12. Overlay 28 is also preferably of 
transparent material. Thus, when the overlay is aligned with the received 
copy 26, the variable information 18 will appear in the appropriate and 
corresponding prerecorded information blocks on the overlay 28. A copy by 
suitable, well-known copying processes, of the overlay and the received 
copy 26 may then be made, with the result that the received information 
may be replicated and reproduced in the exact form as appears on the first 
form part 12, including the prerecorded information. This is illustrated 
in FIG. 4, where it will be observed that the variable information has 
been reproduced on the copy 30 in the exact same blocks as originally 
appearing on the first form part 12. As a consequence, the original 
information may be produced in the same usable form as it originally 
appeared on the first form part 12. 
Alternatively, the overlay may have only a portion of or wholly different 
prerecorded information thereon than the prerecorded information on the 
first form part 12. Thus, it may be desirable to reproduce the variable 
information on a copy which combines it with different prerecorded 
information to provide a totally different form, as desired. That is, a 
different format may be used as part of the overlay at the receiving site 
in order that the variable information may have a different meaning. 
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently 
considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be 
understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed 
embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various 
modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and 
scope of the appended claims.