Abstract:
A method for execution by an owner of a mailbox in a voice mail system. The method comprises using an access device to access a voicemail message contained in the mailbox and entering a command instrumental in causing the voicemail message to be forwarded over a telephone network to a conversion entity. At the conversion entity, an electronic representation of the voicemail message is created and then the electronic representation of the voicemail message is rendered accessible to the owner of the mailbox, e.g., by sending an email message to a predetermined address. In this way, electronic representations of voicemail messages in a mailbox can be accessed by the owner of the mailbox using a device of choice, not necessarily the access device used initially to enter the command. Also, this functionality is achieved while allowing the voice mail system to remain a legacy voice mail system.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation of PCT Patent Application Ser. No. PCT/CA2005/001515, filed on Sep. 30, 2005, designating the United States and hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
   This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/638,390 to William Crago et al., filed Dec. 27, 2004, hereby incorporated by reference herein. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to electronic communications and, more particularly, to methods and systems for rendering voice mail messages contained in mailboxes amenable to electronic processing by owners of those mailboxes. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Voice mail systems provide a convenient way for a calling party to leave a message for an intended recipient who is unavailable to answer an incoming call. Specifically, a conventional voice mail system detects when the intended recipient is busy or unresponsive to the call, and consequently answers the call by playing the intended recipient&#39;s audio greeting. Following this, the calling party is prompted to record a voice mail message, which is stored as an audio recording in a voice mailbox associated with the intended recipient. 
   When the owner of the mailbox (i.e., the intended recipient) wishes to retrieve the contents of the mailbox at a later time, the owner of the mailbox dials into the voice mail system. The voice mail system authenticates the owner of the mailbox, and subsequently allows the owner of the mailbox to navigate through his or her mailbox in order to perform various basic functions, such as playback, deletion and forwarding of individual voice mail messages. 
   With the decreasing cost of memory, voice mail systems now permit a calling party to leave increasingly lengthy voice mail messages. In view of the large amount of information that can be conveyed in a voice mail message, the owner of the mailbox may desire to do more than merely listen to each message. Instead, the owner of the mailbox may wish to perform a more sophisticated processing function on the contents of one or more voice mail messages. For example, the mailbox owner may wish to use his or her personal digital assistant (PDA) to extract, save and/or distribute specific information conveyed in a given voice mail message. In other cases, the mailbox owner may wish to use his or her desktop computer to transfer the voice mail message to a computer-readable storage medium for archiving. 
   However, the basic voice mail systems which exist in many of today&#39;s businesses do not allow the aforementioned functionality to be achieved. Specifically, conventional voice mail systems do not render voice mail messages electronically processable by mailbox owners using a device of their choice. Rather, mailbox owners who wish to extract information from their voice mail messages are restricted to hastily transcribing their messages on paper while listening to them. Clearly, therefore, a need exists in the industry to alleviate this difficulty, while recognizing that businesses may be reluctant to overhaul their existing voice mail systems. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In accordance with a first broad aspect, the present invention seeks to provide a method for execution by an owner of a mailbox in a voice mail system. The method comprises accessing a voice mail message contained in the mailbox; and entering a command instrumental in causing the voice mail message to be forwarded over a telephone network to a conversion entity operative to render an electronic representation of the voice mail message accessible to the owner of the mailbox. 
   In accordance with a second broad aspect, the present invention seeks to provide a voice mail system, which comprises a plurality of mailboxes associated with respective owners, each of the mailboxes having a capacity to hold one or more voice mail messages; and a processing entity adapted to receive a command indicative of a desire to forward a particular voice mail message held in a particular one of the mailboxes to a conversion entity reachable at a designated telephone number. The processing entity is responsive to said command to forward the particular voice mail message to the conversion entity and to cause the conversion entity to render an electronic representation of the particular voice mail message accessible to the owner of the particular mailbox. 
   In accordance with a third broad aspect, the present invention seeks to provide a method for execution by a conversion entity reachable over a telephone network at a designated telephone number. The method comprises receiving a particular voice mail message forwarded by a voice mail system over the telephone network, the voice mail system comprising a plurality of mailboxes respectively associated with owners, a particular one of the mailboxes holding the particular voice mail message; creating an electronic representation of the particular voice mail message; and rendering the electronic representation of the particular voice mail message accessible to the owner of the particular mailbox. 
   In accordance with a fourth broad aspect, the present invention seeks to provide a system that comprises at least one conversion entity reachable over a telephone network at a respective designated telephone number. Each of the at least one conversion entity has a processing entity adapted for (a) receiving a particular voice mail message forwarded by a voice mail system over the telephone network, the voice mail system comprising a plurality of mailboxes respectively associated with owners, a particular one of the mailboxes holding the particular voice mail message; (b) creating an electronic representation of the particular voice mail message; and (c) rendering the electronic representation of the particular voice mail message accessible to the owner of the particular mailbox. 
   These and other aspects and features of the present invention will now become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the accompanying drawings: 
       FIGS. 1A and 1B  illustrate deposit of a voice mail message into a mailbox of a voice mail system; 
       FIGS. 2A and 2B  illustrate retrieval of the voice mail message from the mailbox; 
       FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate forwarding of the voice mail message to a conversion entity in accordance with two non-limiting embodiments of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3C  is a schematic block diagram of the conversion entity, in accordance with a non-limiting embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIGS. 4-6  show various ways of rendering an electronic representation of the voice mail message accessible to the owner of the mailbox; 
       FIG. 7  is a schematic block diagram showing an alternative non-limiting embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
   Depositing a Voice Mail Message 
   With reference to  FIGS. 1A and 1B , a voice mail system  12  comprises a set of mailboxes. Each of the mailboxes, including mailbox  20 , has the capability of holding one or more voice mail messages. Each of the mailboxes, including mailbox  20 , is associated with a party that is hereinafter referred to as the “owner” of the respective mailbox. 
   In  FIGS. 1A and 1B , a given caller  16  attempts to reach the owner of mailbox  20  over a telephone network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN)  32 . For example, in  FIG. 1A , the caller  16  directly dials the telephone number of the owner of mailbox  20 , whereas in  FIG. 1B , the caller  16  passes through a private branch exchange (PBX)  24 . 
   In the event that the owner of mailbox  20  is busy or not responding, the voice mail system  12  begins an interaction with the caller  16  and prompts the caller  16  to begin recording a voice mail message  9 A for the owner of mailbox  20 . Upon termination of the recording, the voice mail system  12  holds voice mail message  9 A in mailbox  20  for subsequent retrieval by the owner of mailbox  20 . Commonly, the voice mail message  9 A may be stored as an audio recording, which may be in a format such as “.wav” or “.au”, for example. 
   Retrieving a Voice Mail Message from the Voice Mail System 
   With reference to  FIGS. 2A and 2B , the owner of mailbox  20  uses a voice mail access device  18  to interact with the voice mail system  12  in order to retrieve voice mail messages held in mailbox  20 , including voice mail message  9 A. In examples of specific non-limiting embodiments, the voice mail access device  18  may be a conventional telephone which is connected to the PSTN  32  via a digital switch, or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone that is connected to the PSTN  32  via a data network and a gateway therebetween, or a software application running on a computer that is connected to the PSTN  32  via a data network and a gateway, etc. 
   The actions of the owner of mailbox  20  which lead to retrieval of the voice mail message  9 A can take on many forms. In the case where the voice mail system  12  is a legacy voice mail system, the owner of mailbox  20  uses the voice mail access device  18  to cause a sequence of digits to be dialed via the PSTN  32 , which is recognized by a switch (e.g., in the PSTN  32  in  FIG. 2A , or the PBX  24  in  FIG. 2B ) as a command to redirect the call to the voice mail system  12 . Once in communication with the voice mail system  12 , the owner of mailbox  20  is authenticated in a conventional manner and is then given access to the contents of mailbox  20  (which, it is recalled, includes voice mail message  9 A). 
   The owner of mailbox  20  may dispose of the current or most recently played message by entering a command. For example, should the owner of mailbox  20  choose to listen to voice mail message  9 A, the owner of mailbox  20  enters a “playback command” (e.g., a sequence of digits) via the voice mail access device  18 . The playback command is recognized by the voice mail system  12 , which subsequently begins audio playback of voice mail message  9 A. On the other hand, should the owner of mailbox  20  choose to delete voice mail message  9 A, the owner of mailbox  20  enters a “delete command” (e.g., a different sequence of digits) via the voice mail access device  18 . The delete command is recognized by the voice mail system  12 , which subsequently deletes the voice mail message  9 A from mailbox  20 . 
   Alternatively, the owner of mailbox  20  may choose to forward voice mail message  9 A to a particular destination. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in  FIGS. 3A-3C , an example of a destination to which voice mail message  9 A may be forwarded is a “conversion entity”  14 . The conversion entity  14  may be operated by the owner of the PSTN  32  or it may be operated by an independent third party. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3A , the conversion entity  14  may be connected directly to the PSTN  32 . Specifically, the conversion entity  14  is reachable at a designated telephone number (e.g., local, long-distance, toll-free, etc). When a call is placed from the PSTN  32  to that designated telephone number, the call travels through the PSTN  32  and is routed to the conversion entity  14 . 
   Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 3B , the conversion entity  14  may be connected to the PSTN  32  via a data network  34 , such as the Internet for example. The data network  34  is connected to the PSTN  32  via a gateway  36 . As in  FIG. 3A , the conversion entity  14  is associated with a designated telephone number. However, in this case, when a call is placed from the PSTN  32  to that designated telephone number, it is intercepted by the gateway  36 . The gateway  36  recognizes the designated telephone number and thus interprets the call as being destined for the conversion entity  14 . The gateway  36  then consults a table (not shown) which maps the designated telephone number of the conversion entity  14  to an address (e.g., an IP address in the data network  34 ) at which the conversion entity  14  can actually be reached. The gateway  36  then ensures transparent communication between the caller in the PSTN  32  and the conversion entity  14  (connected to the data network  34 ). 
   In either of the above-described scenarios, a PBX  24  or equivalent may or may not be present. For example, when voice mail system  12  is operated by the owner of the PSTN  32 , then there is typically no PBX  24 . Alternatively, in a corporate voice mail system  12 , the voice mail system  12  is owned by a third party and hence a PBX  24  is likely to be present. 
   Forwarding a Voice Mail Message 
   In either of the above-described scenarios, and with continued reference to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the owner of mailbox  20  enters a “forwarding command”  300  (e.g., a sequence of digits) via the voice mail access device  18  in order to initiate forwarding of the current or most recently played voice mail message (which may in fact be voice mail message  9 A) to the conversion entity  14 . The forwarding command  300  identifies the conversion entity  14 , either explicitly or implicitly. For example, the forwarding command  300  may include a first portion which is indicative of a standard forwarding function followed by a second portion that includes either the digits of the designated telephone number of the conversion entity  14  or a code that is translated by the voice mail system  12  into the digits of the designated telephone number of the conversion entity  14 . Alternatively, the forwarding command  300  may be a customized forwarding function that implicitly signals an intent to forward the current or most recently played voice mail message to the conversion entity  14 . 
   Upon receipt of the forwarding command  300  which either explicitly or implicitly identifies the conversion entity  14 , the voice mail system  12  initiates a forward of voice mail message  9 A to the conversion entity  14 . In addition, “ancillary data”  54  is sent to the conversion entity  14 . The ancillary data  54  specifies various parameters associated with voice mail message  9 A, such as the identity of mailbox  20  where voice mail message  9 A was stored. 
   The ability to forward a voice mail message along with ancillary data associated therewith to a chosen telephone number is a feature of most legacy voice mail systems, hence no change is required to existing voice mail systems. For example, network-layer protocols such as AMIS A or D, or VPIM, can be used to forward voice mail message  9 A and ancillary data  54  to the conversion entity  14 . In other embodiments, an outcall can be placed by the voice mail system  12  to the conversion entity  14 . Still other ways of forwarding voice mail message  9 A and ancillary data  54  to the conversion entity  14  will be known to those of ordinary skill in the art. 
   It is noted that where multiple voice mail systems  12 , each with a similar mailbox structure, are in use and are capable of reaching the same conversion entity  14  via the PSTN  32 , ambiguity may arise in the ancillary data that identifies like-numbered mailboxes originating from different voice mail systems  12 . To resolve this potential ambiguity, the ancillary data  54  can be augmented to additionally include the identity of the specific voice mail system from which voice mail message  9 A originated. 
   Conversion Entity  14   
   A specific non-limiting embodiment of the conversion entity  14  is now described in greater detail with reference to  FIG. 3C . The conversion entity  14  comprises an interface  48  connected to a processing entity  46 . It is recalled that under one scenario being contemplated herein ( FIG. 3B ), the conversion entity  14  is connected to the data network  34  (such as the Internet) and thus it should be understood that the interface  48  will be adapted for communication over the data network  34 . Under another scenario being contemplated herein ( FIG. 3A ), the conversion entity  14  is reachable via the PSTN  32 ; nevertheless, as shown in  FIG. 3C , the conversion entity  14  will still be connected to the data network  34 , although in this case the interface  48  will be adapted for communication over both the PSTN  32  and the data network  34 . 
   The processing entity  46  is connected to a memory  50 , which comprises a plurality of records. Each record in the memory  50  stores information forwarded from the voice mail system  12 , such as voice mail messages and ancillary data associated therewith. One such record  52  stores voice mail message  9 A and ancillary data  54  which specifies mailbox  20 . Thus, when the conversion entity  14  is contacted by the voice mail system  12  wishing to transfer voice mail message  9 A and ancillary data  54 , the processing entity  46  in the conversion entity  14  ensures that voice mail message  9 A and ancillary data  54  are properly received and placed into record  52  in the memory  50 . 
   The processing entity  46  is also connected to a database  38 , which maps an “originating mailbox” field  40  to an “associated address” field  42 . The entries in the database  38  may be populated during a preliminary registration phase. For example, the conversion entity  14  may be accessible via the Internet, thus allowing the owner of mailbox  20  to enter his or her mailbox (i.e., mailbox  20 ) in the “originating mailbox” field  40  of a given entry as well as a desired address in the “associated address” field of the given entry. The “associated address” field  42  represents one or more address(es) to which the owner of the mailbox in the corresponding “originating mailbox” field  40  wishes to have electronic representations of his or her voice mail messages delivered for eventual processing or retrieval. The “associated address” field  42  may be an electronic mail address, an instant messaging address, an SMS address, an IP address, etc. 
   Several non-limiting examples of ways in which the processing entity  46  renders an electronic representation of voice mail message  9 A accessible to the owner of mailbox  20  will now be described with reference to  FIGS. 4 ,  5  and  6 , respectively. 
   With reference to  FIG. 4 , the processing entity  46  runs an electronic mail (email) application  400 , which reformats voice mail message  9 A in record  52  into a file  9 B suitable for attachment to an email message  410 . Non-limiting examples of reformatting include changing the format from speech to text, or from .wav or .au to MP3 audio, etc. The email application  400  also consults the database  38  to extract the contents of the “associated address” field  42  associated with the “originating mailbox” field  40  that corresponds to the mailbox specified in record  52 . In this example, the extracted “associated address” is an email address associated with the owner of mailbox  20 . Of course, the extracted “associated address” may include a set of more than one email address. 
   The extracted email address implicitly specifies the address of a mail server  420  that is hosted by a service provider with which the owner of mailbox  20  has an account. The email application  400  proceeds to deliver the email message  410  (which includes the attachment  9 B representative of voice mail message  9 A) to the mail server  420  over the data network  34 . When more than one email address is extracted from the database  38 , then a corresponding number of email messages is sent in similar fashion. The mail server  420  stores the email message  410  for the benefit of its intended recipient, i.e., the owner of mailbox  20 . Once at the mail server  420 , the email message  410  can be pushed to an email-capable device  430 , such as a desktop computer, personal digital assistant, smart phone, etc., that the owner of mailbox  20  may be using. Alternatively, the owner of mailbox  20  may employ the email-capable device  430  to pull the email message  410  from the email server  420 . It should be noted that the email-capable device  430  can be different from the voice mail access device  18  used by the owner of mailbox  20  to enter the forwarding command  300 . 
   With reference now to  FIG. 5 , the processing entity  46  runs an SMS application  500 , which reformats voice mail message  9 A into a text message  9 C suitable for transmittal within an SMS message  510 . The SMS application  500  also consults the database  38  to extract the contents of the “associated address” field  42  associated with the “originating mailbox” field  40  that corresponds to the mailbox specified in record  52 . In this example, the extracted “associated address” is an SMS address associated with the owner of mailbox  20 , such as an IP address of an SMS-capable communication device  520 . The SMS application  500  proceeds to deliver the SMS message  510  (which includes the text message  9 C representative of voice mail message  9 A) to the SMS-capable communication device  520  over the data network  34 . It should be noted that the SMS-capable device  520  can be different from the voice mail access device  18  used by the owner of mailbox  20  to enter the forwarding command  300 . 
   With reference to  FIG. 6 , the processing entity  46  runs both an electronic mail (email) application  600  and an instant messaging (IM) application  610 . The email application  600  reformats voice mail message  9 A into a file  9 B suitable for attachment to an email message  620 . Non-limiting examples of reformatting include changing the format from speech to text, or from .wav or .au to MP3 audio, etc. The email application  600  also consults the database  38  to extract an email address from the “associated address” field  42  associated with the “originating mailbox” field  40  that corresponds to the mailbox specified in record  52 . The extracted email address implicitly specifies the address of a mail server  630  that is hosted by a service provider with which the owner of mailbox  20  has an account. In addition, the IM application  610  also consults the database  38  to extract an IM address from the “associated address” field  42  associated with the “originating mailbox” field  40  that corresponds to the mailbox specified in record  52 . An example of an IM address is an IP address of an IM-capable device  650  such as a smart phone. 
   The email application  600  proceeds to deliver the email message  620  (which includes the attachment  9 B representative of voice mail message  9 A) to the mail server  630  over the data network  34 . The mail server  630  stores the email message  610  for the benefit of its intended recipient, i.e., the owner of mailbox  20 . Meanwhile, an instant message (IM)  640  is delivered over the data network  34  to the IM-capable device  650 . The IM  640  serves to notify the owner of mailbox  20  that an email message  620  containing an electronic representation of voice mail message  9 A has been transmitted. The use of an IM is beneficial when the email-capable device  660  is different from the IM-capable device  650  (e.g., desktop computer vs. smart phone). Upon receiving notification by way of the IM  640 , the owner of mailbox  20  may use his or her email-capable device  660  to retrieve the email message  620  from the mail server  630  at his or her leisure. It should be noted that the email-capable device  660  and the IM-capable device  650  can be different from the voice mail access device  18  used by the owner of mailbox  20  to enter the forwarding command  300 . 
   From the above description, it will be apparent that the owner of mailbox  20  can access electronic representations of voice mail messages stored therein using his or her preferred device (e.g., personal digital assistant, desktop computer, smart phone, etc.) to effect any desired processing or archiving functions. This preferred device may be different from the voice mail access device  18  used to enter the forwarding command  300 . All this can be achieved while allowing the voice mail system  12  to remain a legacy voice mail system, which can translate into a significant cost savings for the owner/operator of the voice mail system  12 . 
   Variants 
   Reference is now made to  FIG. 7 , which shows a plurality of conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N, each of which is reachable over the PSTN  32  using a different designated telephone number. In addition, the conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N are connected to the data network  34 . In some cases, the conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N will be connected directly to the PSTN  32  and in others, they may be connected thereto via a gateway  36  that links the PSTN  32  and a data network  34 . Thus, the gateway  36  and the direct links between the PSTN  32  and the conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N are shown in dashed outline. Moreover, a PBX  24  may or may not be present between the voice mail system and the PSTN  32 , and thus the PBX  24  is also shown in dashed outline. 
   Conversion entity  14 A maintains a database  38 A, while conversion entity  14 B maintains a similar database  38 B, and so on. The structure of the databases  38 A,  38 B, . . . ,  38 N is identical to that of database  38  in  FIG. 4 . That is to say, each of the databases  38 A,  38 B, . . . ,  38 N maps an “originating mailbox” field  40  to an “associated address” field  42 . In fact, the same mailbox (say, mailbox  20 ) will be found in the “originating mailbox” field  40  in each of databases  38 A,  38 B, . . . ,  38 N. However, it is the corresponding entry in the “associated address” field  42  that varies from one database to the next. 
   In other words, each of the databases  38 A,  38 B, . . . ,  38 N maintains a different address corresponding to the same originating mailbox (e.g., mailbox  20 ), thus allowing the owner of mailbox  20  to select a particular address to which to forward a particular voice mail message (in this case, voice mail message  9 A). For example, to trigger forwarding of an electronic representation of voice mail message  9 A to the address to which database  38 A maps, the owner of mailbox  20  enters a forwarding command to cause voice mail message  9 A to be forwarded to conversion entity  14 A. Analogously, to trigger forwarding of an electronic representation of voice mail message  9 A to the address to which database  38 B maps, the owner of mailbox  20  forwards&#39; voice mail message  9 A to conversion entity  14 B, and so on. 
   A variety of techniques can be used to trigger forwarding of an electronic representation of a voice mail message to the address that is the outcome of the mapping stored in the database maintained by the desired conversion entity (one of  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N). These techniques include those based on the previously described notion of a forwarding command, which either explicitly or implicitly identifies the desired conversion entity  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N. For example, the forwarding command may include a first portion which is indicative of a standard forwarding function followed by a second portion that includes either the digits of the designated telephone number of the desired conversion entity  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N or a code that is translated by the voice mail system  12  into the digits of the designated telephone number of the desired conversion entity  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N. Alternatively, the forwarding command may be a customized forwarding function that implicitly signals an intent to forward the current or most recently played voice mail message to the desired conversion entity  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N. 
   Control of message disposition in the above-described manner may be useful in cases where, for example, a mobile professional desires to access an electronic representation of a first voice mail message via his or her wireless email-capable device, while desiring to render an electronic representation of a second voice mail message accessible to his or her administrative assistant who is currently in the office. Other circumstances are of course envisaged. Generally speaking, the owner of mailbox  20  is at liberty of selecting which of a plurality of intended recipients (or sets of intended recipients) is the appropriate one for a particular voice mail message. 
   In a specific case of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7 , consider the case where the number of conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N corresponds to the number of mailboxes in the voice mail system  12 . Each of the conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N continues to be reachable over the PSTN  32  (either directly or via the gateway  36  and the data network  34 ) at a unique designated telephone number. However, in this specific case, each of the conversion entities  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N is uniquely associated with a respective mailbox in the voice mail system  12 . Thus, the mere fact that a particular conversion entity is at the receiving end of a forwarded voice mail message signifies that there is an intent to render an electronic representation of that voice mail message accessible to the owner of the mailbox that is associated with the particular conversion entity. Since each conversion entity knows the address of the intended recipient a priori, there is no need for the conversion entity to store a database that maps originating mailboxes to associated addresses. 
   Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments, the functionality of the conversion entities  14 ,  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N may comprise pre-programmed hardware or firmware elements (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), etc.), or other related components. In other embodiments, the conversion entities  14 ,  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N may comprise an arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) having access to a code memory (not shown) which stores program instructions for the operation of the ALU. The program instructions could be stored on a medium which is fixed, tangible and readable directly by the conversion entities  14 ,  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N (e.g., removable diskette, CD-ROM, ROM, or fixed disk), or the program instructions could be stored remotely but transmittable to the conversion entities  14 ,  14 A,  14 B, . . . ,  14 N via a modem or other interface device (e.g., a communications adapter) connected to a network over a transmission medium. The transmission medium may be either a tangible medium (e.g., optical or analog communications lines) or a medium implemented using wireless techniques 
   While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.