Patent ID: 7539357

Claim:
A facsimile transmitting/receiving system comprising a standard facsimile machine and a computer based system in communication with said standard facsimile machine, the system comprising: an interface positioned immediately of and in communication with both said facsimile machine and said computer based system; a line for receiving and sending facsimile signals in communication with said interface for selectively communicating directly with said facsimile machine and said computer; means for converting encoded documents to formats compatible with computer supported systems and with said facsimile machine; wherein said means is further adopted for converting facsimile signals to a format for transmission over distributive communication networks and for converting network transmitted signals in a format for transmission over a facsimile transmission line; and wherein said interface further comprises one or more switches for selectively controlling electronic communication between (1) said line and said computer based system and (2) said line and said facsimile machine.