Patent ID: 7148982

Claim:
A communication system that realizes a real-time facsimile communication between a facsimile apparatus on a PSTN and a partner terminal unit on a packet network, the gateway unit comprising: a communication controller configured to adjust required network bandwidth corresponding to a transmission speed set up between the facsimile apparatus and the partner terminal unit to become equal to or narrower than the allocated network bandwidth, wherein a gateway unit connected to the packet network and the PSTN issues a demand for network bandwidth allocation to a gatekeeper unit on the packet network prior to starting a communication, and the communication through the packet network is performed within an allocated network bandwidth allocated by the gatekeeper unit in response to the demand, while a packetized facsimile control signal received from the partner terminal unit through the packet network is converted in real-time into a modem signal and transmitted to the facsimile apparatus through the PSTN, and a facsimile control signal received from the facsimile apparatus through the PSTN as a modem signal is packetized in real-time and transmitted to the partner terminal unit through the packet network.