Patent ID: 7751091

Claim:
A communication terminal comprising: a communication terminal interface configured to communicate with a first facsimile terminal using analog facsimile communications; a network control unit configured to control analog facsimile communications of the communication terminal interface; a call detecting unit configured to detect a dial signal when the first facsimile terminal calls a second facsimile terminal; a receiver configured to receive image data from the first facsimile terminal when the dial signal is detected; a network interface unit for connecting to the second facsimile terminal via an internet protocol network; a settings unit configured to set a predetermined storage space requirement; a storage device configured to store image data received from the first facsimile terminal; a switching unit configured to select between communicating using analog facsimile communications or internet protocol facsimile communications based on a comparison of the predetermined storage space requirement to an amount of available storage space on the storage device, the image data received from the first facsimile being stored on the storage device when internet protocol facsimile communications is selected; and a transmitter configured to transmit image data to the second facsimile terminal using a communication protocol selected by the switching unit, the transmitter retrieves the stored image data from the storage device for transmission when the switching unit selects internet protocol facsimile communications.