Patent Publication Number: US-2007115500-A1

Title: Method for operating communication device

Description:
FIELD OF THE APPLICATION  
      The present application relates to communication devices and a method for operating the same.  
     BACKGROUND  
      U.S. patent application Publication No. 2004/0105599-A1 discloses a facsimile transmission machine wherein a destination data element (in the form of a telephone number for a receiving facsimile machine) can be read from a cover page fed into the machine.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY  
      One aspect of the application provides a method of operating a communication device. The device may be of any type, such as a document facsimile transmission machine (i.e., a fax machine), a flatbed scanner, a photocopier machine, or any other device that communicates data from one location to another.  
      The method comprises reading a plurality of destination data elements from a medium that is separate from the communication device. A destination data element is any data element that instructs the device where data should be transmitted. Non-limiting examples may be a telephone number, an e-mail address or an IP address.  
      The method also comprises transmitting data from the communication device to one or more other communication devices corresponding to one or more of the destination data elements.  
      Another aspect of the application provides a communication device comprising a reader for reading a plurality of destination data elements from a medium that is separate from the communication device. The device also comprises a transmitter for transmitting data from the communication device to one or more other communication devices corresponding to one or more of the destination data elements read by the reader.  
      Other objects, features and advantages of the present application will become apparent based on the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a document facsimile device;  
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the device of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of another document facsimile device; and  
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the device of  FIG. 3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS  
      In general, the present application is directed to method of operating a communication device. The device may be of any type, such as a document facsimile transmission machine (i.e., a fax machine), a flatbed scanner, a photocopier machine (including digital copiers), or any other device that communicates data from one location to another. In the illustrated embodiment, the device is a document facsimile transmission machine, and thus the invention will be described in the context of such a device. However, the broad principles of the disclosed invention may be practiced with any type of device, including those currently in existence or developed in the future, and no specific references to a facsimile transmission device should be regarded as limiting.  
      A general description of a document facsimile transmission device is first provided for context.  
      Document facsimile transmission devices are generally well understood.  FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate a document facsimile transmission device  20 . The facsimile device receives at a document input  22  a document  24  (or multiple documents) to be scanned and transmitted. The document is usually printed on paper. The device  20  scans the document with a scanner  26  to generate an electronic representation of the document, and transmits the electronic representation of the document to a destination facsimile device (not shown). The transmission process generally includes converting the electronic representation of the document into an analog signal, and transmitting that signal over the telephone system, as is well known.  
      The device  20  includes a housing  28  that encloses many of the working components, such as the document scanner  26  ( FIG. 2 ), a central processing unit (CPU)  30 , and device memory  32 . The device  20  may also include a printer element (not shown) and be adapted to receive data from other devices and print images based on that data. A document input  22 , such as a document input tray, receives the document  24  to be scanned and transmitted. In operation, the facsimile device  20  draws the document  24  along a paper path  34 , past the scanner  26 , and to an output tray  36 . The scanner  26  scans the document to generate the electronic representation of that document. The facsimile device  20  includes a user interface on the exterior of the housing  28  for providing information to the user, and for the user to instruct the facsimile device  20 . The user interface includes a keypad  40  for the user to input information, such as the telephone number of the destination facsimile device. A display screen  42  provides graphical or text information to the user. Other buttons or switches  44  may have specific defined purposes.  
      The CPU  30  is connected to the scanner  26  to receive at least some of the electronic representations of the documents scanned by the scanner. The scanner may deliver the electronic representation of the documents to the memory  32 . Therefore, the CPU  30  may receive the electronic representation of the documents directly from the scanner  26 , or from the memory  32 . The CPU may be a software controlled general purpose microprocessor. The CPU may also be configured to perform other functions of the facsimile device. In other implementations, the CPU may be a special purpose device for performing the particular tasks described herein, and other control mechanisms may be provided to perform other functions in the facsimile device.  
      As an alternative to manually inputting the telephone number corresponding to the communication device to which the scanned image data is to be sent, the device  20  may be adapted to read a plurality of telephone numbers (i.e., destination data elements) from a medium that is separate from the device  20 . Then, the image data derived from scanning the document would be transmitted from the communication device  20  to one or more other communication devices corresponding to one or more of the read telephone numbers. That is, the device  20  would dial those telephone numbers and transmit the electronic representations of the scanned documents to the devices located at those telephone numbers in a well-known manner. Possibly, instead of telephone numbers, other destination data elements could be input, such as e-mail addresses or IP addresses, and the device  20  could be adapted to transmit to computers located at such addresses. Thus, when reading the destination data elements from a document using optical character recognition, they could be any type of destination data element formed of alphabetical and/or numerical characters.  
      In the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the user would feed a document with a list of telephone numbers into the paper path so that the scanner  26  can read the telephone numbers off the document. This may be done before the document(s) to be faxed is scanned in, or after the document(s) to be faxed is scanned in.  
      In this approach, the scanner  26  would read the telephone numbers from the document with the list using optical character recognition techniques as described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0105599 A1, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
      In another approach, as illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the medium may be a machine readable storage medium that contains the destination data elements (e.g., telephone numbers) in computer readable format (i.e., as binary data). Such a medium may be a flash memory, floppy disk, CD, DVD, compact flash, a USB drive or any other such suitable medium that is designed to store data.  
      In the embodiment of  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a reader  50  is provided and has a slot opening to the exterior of the housing  28 . The same reference numbers are used between the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2  and the embodiment of  FIGS. 3 and 4  to designate the same structures. The reader  50  removably receives the medium (in this case a compact flash card), and the CPU is adapted to read the destination data elements from the medium. The remainder of the operation would operate much like the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , where the scanner  26  reads the destination data elements from a document.  
      When using a machine readable storage medium, an advantageous option is to encrypt the destination data elements. The device  20  would then allow the user to input access information into the device  20  by the user interface to enable the reading of the encrypted destination data elements. Such access information could include, but is not limited to a passcode that is keyed in, or biometric information, such as a fingerprint or retinal scan that is obtained using an appropriate biometric input device (not shown).  
      As an option, the device  20  may be adapted to enable the user to select one or more of the destination data elements from the plurality thereof. That is, irrespective of how the telephone numbers or other destination data elements are obtained by the device  20 , the device  20  may enable the user to select one or more of those from those read or scanned. As such, the data would be thereafter transmitted to the one or more other communication devices corresponding to the one or more destination data elements selected by the user.  
      To enable the user to select the desired destination data elements, they may be visually displayed on a screen on the communication device  20 , such as screen  42 , as alphabetical and/or numeric characters. The selecting may be performed by manually operating the user interface. For example, the keypad  40  may be used to scroll through a list of the data elements displayed on the screen  42 , and select the one or more desired destination data elements.  
      The user may also select the desired destination data elements using other arrangements. For example, if a document with a list of destination data elements is being scanned in, the user may circle the selected ones, or mark check boxes next to them. The optical character recognition operation could be adapted to recognize such markings, and read in only those checked or circled (or in accordance with whatever marking is used).  
      As an optional feature, the device  20  may be adapted to enable the user to store one or more of the read destination data elements in a storage memory in the communication device for later retrieval. Often in devices such as fax machines, the user will be able to store such information in a memory, such as a non-volatile storage memory for later retrieval. The user could use the user interface to effect such storage. Also, as another optional feature, the destination data elements may not be stored in a storage memory in the communication device for later retrieval by a user. With the machine readable storage medium, the device  20  may be adapted to read the destination data elements directly from the medium, thus avoiding even temporary storage of the information. When the destination data elements are being read from a document, the information may be stored temporarily, such as in a volatile memory, so that they cannot be later retrieved.  
      The ability to provide a list of destination data elements on a medium that is separate from the communication device may have various advantages. For example, if a user often send personal documents from work to a number of different locations, the user may have the desired destination data elements read from the medium without having to input them into the memory of the device. This avoids the need for the user to store the destination data elements (and other identifying data such as the recipient names) into a device that is shared by co-workers. The same advantage may be appreciated in commercially sensitive areas or governmentally classified work where it is not desirable to have telephone numbers or other destination data elements stored in a device shared or accessible by others. Likewise, where the user wants to broadcast a transmission to wide variety of recipients, instead of either entering the destination data elements for each and every recipient or retrieving it from a storage memory in the device  20 , the user can simply have the list read from the medium. The user may or may not desire to select certain destination data elements from the list.  
      These advantages are not intended to be limiting, and are merely reference possible advantages that one may appreciate. The invention may be broadly used for other purposes that achieve some, none, or all of the advantages.  
      Any patents and/or applications mentioned herein are incorporated into the present application in their entirety for all purposes.  
      The foregoing detailed description has been provided solely for the purpose of illustrating one or more exemplary embodiments of the invention, and is not intended to be limiting. To the contrary, the present invention is intended to encompass all modifications, substitutions, alterations, and equivalents within the spirit and scope of the following claims.