Patent ID: 6973167

Claim:
An Electronic Document Answering Machine comprising: a CPU and memory connected by a communication bus; a modem connected to the bus for communicating on a telephone line; an announcement system for communicating stored documents to a user; an alert apparatus for signaling a user that new documents are waiting to be reviewed; an input device for a user to signal the system to communicate the new documents to the user; and a serial port for connecting to a host personal computer (PC), wherein the CPU, executing stored control code, periodically connects to remote sources over the modem, downloads and stores digital documents in portions of the memory, and activates the alert apparatus as new documents are stored, and wherein the CPU in response to input from a user via the input device, communicates stored documents one-at-a-time to the user, and the Electronic Document Answering Machine is adapted to communicate stored documents to the PC for processing.