Patent ID: 6956677

Claim:
A method for facsimile transmission over a packet network, comprising: establishing a facsimile call between a sending terminal and a facsimile gateway in communication with the packet network; receiving a first page of facsimile data from the sending terminal at the gateway; conveying the first page of the facsimile data from the gateway over the packet network to a receiving terminal; transmitting a confirmation signal from the gateway to the sending terminal after receiving the first page at the gateway, without having waited to receive a first confirmation packet over the network indicating that the first page was received at the receiving terminal; responsive to transmitting the confirmation signal, receiving a second page of facsimile data from the sending terminal; conveying the second page of the facsimile data over the packet network to the receiving terminal; awaiting arrival at the gateway of the first confirmation packet and of a second confirmation packet over the network indicating that the second page was received at the receiving terminal; and responsive to the first and second confirmation packets, sending a notification from the gateway to the sending terminal before terminating the facsimile call that the pages were delivered to the receiving terminal.